What I Have Learned From Photographing 100+ Mini Sessions In 6 Weeks

Have you been thinking about wanting to do mini sessions? Are you not sure where to start? Does it feel intimidating?

That’s okay! This is all normal. It’s okay to feel. That’s a beautiful gift.

The thing with mini sessions to remember is that families are looking for a quick fast efficient way to get their photos for their holiday card or annual family photo. They are intentionally a SUPER QUICK experience. That’s a big reason that you are offering the sessions at a lower price point. It gives your client the opportunity to work with you and see a glimpse of a full session experience.

When you are offering mini sessions, you want to create an experience, that is quick, fast, easy, and stress-free for your clients.

After photographing families for over 16 years, I have been able to condense what used to take me an hour into a 15 minute session. And if kids are listening and things are flowing, after timing it, I realized I can do it in 7 min. Over the years I’ve done 90 minute sessions all the way to seven minute sessions and I have found that the 15 minute spot for me works really well. With a vision and strategy, It’s enough time to capture an entire gallery for a family and quick enough that usually the kids are finished before they even realize photos were happening.

It might feel intimidating at first, thinking about organizing a schedule, clients arriving on time, kids behaving to get the photos taken, all of these things. If you choose to allow that to be what stops you from taking the steps to actually doing it, then you may never get started. I have been in a cycle for over 10 years about creating photography courses. And now, I am here, creating them. And it’s because I am ready, I know I am worthy and that its from my heart. I know how much I have always loved teaching and guiding others to learn what they are passionate about and reflect for them that anything is possible. Truly it is. And the more You believe in yourself, and in your vision, the faster you will align to that which is in your heart.

Our egos tend to get really loud when we’re trying something new. I am speaking to myself here too! It still happens all the time. The difference is I can now recognized it when it’s happening, check in with myself, and then take the steps to feel good and keep moving in the direction of what I am creating. It’s the getting to the point of realizing that it’s happening so that you can pause, make a heart aligned decision in that moment, and then take your steps. That’s The Work. As you grow in your self awareness, you are able to get to the space where you can pause, see yourself, and consciously choose to make a different decision, instead of just going based on fears or from an old conditioned thought pattern / belief. That’s how you change things. It’s the growing and evolving part of life. It’s a beautiful process when you understand and allow it to happen, by flowing with all that life has to offer us.

Here I am in my own process of allowing and flowing through the waves of ego stories that I am laying to rest. I am feeling strongly called to document the journey as I create this experience. It’s Raw and vulnerable. Relatable.

It’s totally normal but the more you become aware of the way that your ego shows up in these moments of you expanding, then you can notice it and realize that you and you can choose to move forward in this into focus on exactly what you want and create that. And know that no matter what unfolds, it’s going to be the most perfect thing for you with where you’re at right now so that you can learn and grow.

When I used to do Mini Sessions 14 years ago, I started them with a 30 minute time slot. Over the years, I realized I didn’t need to keep that much time and that I could do it much faster and create more of a profit for myself. I was soon seeing how much my clients were appreciating how quickly I could photograph their family. I was noticing a trend. Over the years I was seeing more and more how much of a premium service I was offering.

I will always remember this one session when I finished really fast and the client I’d been working with for several years, said to me that they oughta pay me less because it was less time and because the kids have been trained over the years to behave and move through it fast. I wasn’t really sure how to take it in that moment because I knew that I had showed up and put my heart and soul into the work. But now looking back, I’ve reframed that entire situation and realize that actually instead of paying me less because it’s less time, I will ask for higher amount because of the service that I offer, because of how quickly and efficiently I can photograph your family. That’s a huge Perk, bonus, and clients LOVE it. Kids do too! I also see it as : I am creating an experience that’s fun and inviting for your family. It’s changing the narrative of what a family photo session is like. The kids and families that arrive for photos that I have worked with before, they know how we roll. And they know if they listen and have fun, it will be done before they know it! It’s a HUGE win win for everyone. Kids and parents are happy. And now I’m getting feedback from clients that their kids are so excited for the photos for the following year!!

The first 10 years of doing this, so many clients showed up and share stories about their ” Not Ideal” experiences or would preface the session with “my kids can only last a minute or my kids don’t like getting their photos taken, etc”. and I always ensure them that I have lots of things we do to help them move right through all of that. I also very kindly focus the sessions on what We Want to create. If I hear a parent saying something that is “negative” I will do my best to find a graceful way to speak the words of what we all want. I also share that I have lots of things that we do to help the session fun and joy filled. I ask everyone to please have fun and trust. Even if it sounds silly, if they flow with it, It will create beautiful images.

I have found when setting up mini sessions it’s really great to have a vision of what you’d like to accomplish within the session. It can be really helpful to make a list and familiarize yourself with a sort of workflow for each session so that you can ensure getting the photos that are important, and also giving enough of a variety so that you can inspire your clients to want to purchase additional images and or book a full session with you.

Which is the perfect segway into the YOU part of this formula. It’s asking yourself the questions,
how do you want to show up to your photo shoots?
What kind of experience do you want your clients to have when working with you?
How do you want your clients to feel while they’re working with you?
How do you want to feel as your photographing families?

These are just a few questions to get started. There’s always deeper to go into this.

Another really beautiful gift that I have found is, the more that I have worked on me, loved myself, given myself space and time to be creative, prioritize my daily self-care rituals, eat healthy, love my body, prioritizing healing the relationship that I have with money and old perspectives, the more it is reflected in the people that I work with today.

The more you show up for yourself, the more beautiful and easy the reflections are that show up in the world around you. The more I have loved myself, believed in myself, and gotten really clear who my ideal client is, the more I see they are right here.

Here is one of the absolute sweetest photos I’ve ever taken. For me on this day, Olivia showed up with the most perfect, beautiful, excited energy and smile to take photos. It was also the very same day that I was setting the intention and creating the first official photography course for Mindful Photography Edu. It was so perfect. It reflected the excitement that I have within myself to share all of this wisdom and all of these experiences that I’ve had over these years with the intention to help you grow and flow through this beautiful journey that you are beginning.

Thank You Olivia for shining so Bright <3