Why "Mini" Photo Sessions Are Awesome

Photos by Morgan Bayard Photography

Wanted to share a little photo shoot we did with one of my go-to photographers, Morgan Bayard, a few months back on an unseasonably warm day in November. It was a "mini session," which if you have kids, is really one of the best things ever.

Here's why: While I am perfectly content posing for anyone who wants to take my picture for hours on end (#blogger), both my kids (and, honestly, my husband, too) are not. With them, photo shoots have to be quick and to the point. None of them can possibly muster smiles, cooperation, and patience for anything close to the two whole hours that most photographers have as their minimum for portrait sessions. 

That's why "mini sessions" are so genius for us. If you're not familar with the concept: Photographers block off an entire afternoon in one location (for ours, it was Pier A park on the waterfront in Hoboken), and book individual sessions in 20-minute blocks. You show up ready to go, stand around awkwardly for a few minutes while the previous family finishes their session, and then jump right in when it's your turn.

You bribe your kids to smile, they begrudingly comply for 15 minutes while the photographer snaps away, and then by the time they start to really lose it, it's over anyway. (And honestly, mine barely managed to do that! One would smile, but the other wouldn't. Then the first kid would start to frown, while the other one finally decided to smile. I kept asking Morgan,"Do you think you've gotten anything good?!?") Still, if you have a good photographer, somehow you get lucky, and you end up with that one holiday card shot you needed, plus lots of adorable shots of the kids. In comparision to a full, private shoot, mini session pricing is usually very, very reasonable, too.

You just know the first photographer who came up with the mini-session concept had to be a mom, right? ;)

For more cute shots of my kids, check out the mini session we did with Morgan two years ago in the same location here. (omg, my kids look so young in it. Especially my daughter!). She also shot our family here, here, and here.