Holiday Mini Sessions at Marian Bear (Part 1)

My first week of mini shoots was a success! I’ve never done anything like this before so I was extremely nervous going in. I’ve walked around Marian Bear a few times before, but never in the context of planning a photoshoot, so I went and scoped out the location the day before the shoot. An ideal spot would have a pretty background and enough space for me to move around. It also needed to be close to the parking lot so I could easily move all the props from my car to the shoot spot. I walked around for about an hour with my dog (which she LOVED) before landing on what I thought would be a good location.

The day of the shoot, I arrived with my “assistant”/great friend Sarah to find the parking lot absolutely packed with photographers and families dressed up for their mini shoots. Looks like I wasn’t the only one with this idea! We got lucky because the spot I picked wasn’t taken so we quickly unpacked everything from my car and got set up.

Each family got 15 minutes of shooting time, and I really think that’s the perfect amount of time for these types of shoots. By the end, most of the small kids were completely done smiling and posing and were ready for whatever treat their parents promised them at the end of the shoot if they behaved.

I’m extremely critical of my own work, so there are a few small things I might have done differently, but overall I’m really happy with how these turned out! Let me know what you think of them!