“Do you have anything in mind for your session?” I ask my clients this all the time. Almost always I get back a really vague response, or more often I get, “We really like your work, so whatever you come up with will be great.” My head spins out of control after that. The possibilities are literally endless. Which sounds like a great thing as the artist, right? Wrong. While endless possibilities can be fun when doing a shoot I am designing and creating solely for myself, it is really hard to have literally nothing to go off of to help a client create something they are going to like because the session is in fact for THEM, not me. I do need some direction to go off of, otherwise you may get a unicorn themed set when your little girl is more of a Batman fan. Or your family portraits may get shot in an overgrown field, when you literally can’t stand to walk through long grass….in fact, your little one refuses once we show up to shoot. Or the entire background is pink, and you HATE pink. You see where I’m going with this.

We all really do have a preference, even if we aren’t sure how to communicate what they are. The more personal we can make your session, the more meaning it is going to have, and the happier you will be with the outcome. Being able to communicate basic things - like places you like to go, hobbies you have, colors you like, things you like to do, etc. may seem like they have nothing to do with a photoshoot, when in fact, they have everything to do with it. The more you communicate to your photographer about who you are, the more ideas you plant in their head to help them personalize your session. Simply say, “Hey, we are Matt and Elodie and we’re definitely nature people, you could call us hippies I guess. We love going to the park, enjoy going for hikes together, love animals, drinking coffee, playing badmitton, and eating ice cream. We like to sit outside together in the morning and read books on our porch swing. Oh, and we have a boat we take out on the lake almost every weekend - sometimes we pop a tent up and camp. We don’t really have a specific location in mind for our session, or know what we want, but that’s us in a nutshell. Can we maybe work off of that to come up with a plan?” Its a great way to get a conversation started with your photographer and have them help you start creating a plan, or maybe you even want to do a little “research” before you even contact the photographer you’re going to work with.

The thing that I find most helpful when creating sets or coming up with ideas is Pinterest and Google Image Search. Photos are a great way to make a visual communication of what you like. “Idea boards” - my favorite thing - they are the birthplace for all of my ideas, especially my mini sessions you see. I use boards to collect color schemes, theme ideas, location ideas, poses I like, etc. When I am at a complete loss for a session, I’ll start with a super simple search like “six month old portrait session” or “portraits in a park”. From there, maybe it will give me some more specific things I know I like and can search for more in depth. Next, I might search “superhero themed sitter session” or “engagement portraits at a coffee shop”. One search will lead you onto another until you’ve formulated a few ideas you can communicate to your photographer to start up a conversation about what you “have in mind.”

Back to the previous example client with the two nature loving hippies….maybe I would start by searching for “portraits at a lake” or “portraits with a boat” to get some inspiration, because I like that path for them. I mean, taking photos out on the boat might be fun and its kind of different….or maybe the lake they go to has some good scenery around it, so I’ll ask about where they go to. When I do, they like the direction I am going for the session, so we decide to use the lake and probably their boat, so location is set. I know they like coffee and reading, so I’m going to ask them to bring a couple favorite books and coffee along (in cute cups) as well, because they may make for some cute shots. And since they are self professed “hippies”, I already know wardrobe wise what I am going to make suggestions about for them, too (like lets definitely pass on shoes and go barefoot!) The session just got WAY more personalized and fun than if they had just suggested they like nature, and I suggest we go to a park because it has some pretty trees and take a stroll, lol.

And I understand that some people just like “pretty” photos. And that is perfectly find…so do I. You don’t have to make portraits more complicated than what they need to be. But you still need to communicate some ideas to help determine what “pretty” is to you….because to some it is a field of flowers, and to others, a cityscape.

Here’s an example of what a really simple idea board may look like for the example “hippie” session, but you get the idea. Idea boards are really just a way to collect visual ideas and communicate them. As a visual person, I find them much easier than words. Even if a client sends me a board with a hodgepodge of different images that have nothing to do with each other, I can at least see what they like, and something might strike me as something I want to help create. So when you “just aren’t sure” next time you want to set up a session, do a little “research” and create an idea board or list of some of the attributes that make you special, I promise your photographer will be thankful for it.