prep info
Important information for your Women’s Day Session
Please read for guidance on how to prepare for your mini session! I will be doing this session based on my Mama Love portraits I do every spring for my clients and their children, but if you don’t have a child and still want to participate don’t worry! I am also able to do portraits of any woman staying or working at the shelter who would like some solo portraits as well.
Information on the session itself:
The session is booked out for 15 minutes, and depending on the age of your child and the mood they are in, it may only take a few minutes, or we may need a little extra time. When I finish our session please trust that I will have gotten everything we needed for the session even if it feels super quick. Keep in mind this is not a regular portrait session, photos of everyone posing and smiling at the camera, while lovely, are not the priority of these sessions. This is about your relationship with your child, or an empowering image for yourself to just exist in this moment. This means you will not be looking at the camera at all likely (which most of my clients SUPER appreciate haha!). I will still be guiding you on where and how to sit or stand for ideal lighting and flattering angles, but the rest of it will be all you and your loves.
the vibe is so important…
First off, if your child is at the age where they are still napping and this session falls right around nap time, my advice is to adjust nap time to earlier so that they come well rested. It is not ideal to have a tired and cranky kiddo for these sessions.
Often when my mama clients arrive they are a ball of anxiety, and I completely understand! When you come to this session you may have worries about how your kid will act, whether you will look good in the photos, whether your kid will refuse to play along, and this is completely normal! But, it is my advice that we do what we can to challenge these thoughts. There is very little you can control about this session, especially if your child is pretty young. So trust that I will be able to capture the most flattering angles of you, and as for the rest, I have tips and tricks that can help you to get your little one on board with doing some playful time or sweet snuggles.
When you arrive, I can help you with a mini emotional regulation meditation at the beginning of the session, just let me know if that would be helpful for you. You may see that when your energy is calm, your child will also be calmer as well. We can let your little one adjust to the new space, and we can give you time to just drink in the moments you are getting with your child.
So deep breaths, we got this.
Just trust me that some of my more beautiful images are mom's consoling their little one, it's completely normal and is a beautiful part of your motherhood journey, because you are their safest space! (Even if they seem to sometimes prefer daddy haha.)
“Reina, I am so happy you are doing these sessions again! You have so many mammas that need an uplift right now and being in your warm presence to experience this amazing session will make such a difference. My kids are getting older by the minute. M is turning 10 on Tuesday and A is getting ready for high school next year! My most cherished photographs are from our last mamma session and they adorn our big wall we walk past dozens of times per day. ”
What to wear
I will be bring a lot of dresses, in many sizes, for you to choose from if you have nothing you feel comfy wearing for this. I also have outfits for kiddos from 0 -10 years old (mostly for girls, but some for toddler boys).
If you would like to dress yourself, wear something comfortable, with movement and texture. Dresses are always nice, especially when they are loose and flattering, or jeans and a loose flowing top is a beautiful option. Wear something that will be easy to sit and have a possible tickle fight :)
For kiddos that may not fall in my age range of available outfits, I would highly suggest you dress them in jeans and a white logo free t-shirt or even just a white or beige shirt or sweater. I always ask kiddos to not have socks on - so make sure to prep your child for that.
Here are a few examples of clothing with movement and texture that I enjoy as well as the ideal colour palette (earthtones are the most timeless and richest colours in my opinion).
I feel like textures like lace, cotton, linen and even velvet have such beautiful play with light and shadow, and flowy loose fabrics give the vibe of relaxed and carefree vibe we are going for. And remember, if you like the style of clothes above but have nothing like that, I have LOTS to dress you in :)
the most important thing is that you feel like yourself!
So if what I have shown above is not your style then please dress as you prefer, I only ask that you stay away from black, I work in natural light and black just absorbs all of the light so it is hard to photograph in this space. Also small and delicate patterns are great, but nothing too distracting. And again, if you are not sure, bring options, I can help you choose what would work best as well :)
When you arrive
Someone from the Auberge Transition staff will be there to help you with choosing a dress or outfit should you need to. Then you will come to see me in the living room near the window where I will be set up. I will work with you and your child(ren) to pose you and get you comfy, and I will also take time to photograph your child as well as you on your own.
After the session
All photos will be edited and uploaded to an online gallery and sent to Auberge Transition to distribute the photos. There are no limits to how many photos you will receive, I will just give you all the best ones, and you will be able to download them all in full resolution. My suggestion is to put them in cloud storage right away and try and back up your photos with a hard drive or a USB. Please expect a turn around time of about 3 weeks.
If you have any questions at all please let us know! <3