Outdoor Sessions Now Available
“In the Bloom of Youth”, a portrait of Stephanie in the apple blossoms, is one of my images that was accepted into the Professional Photographers 2017 National Salon. I am also accredited by the PPOC in Environmental Portraiture, which is a fancy way of saying outdoor portraits.
I’m so happy to announce that I’m taking sessions again! While my home studio remains closed, I am now booking outdoor sessions because they allow us to maintain social distancing and to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Outdoor sessions are perfect for Graduation, Glamour, and even Social Media sessions. Spring sessions are my favorite because everything is green, and the flowers are blooming, which makes for some gorgeous backdrops. Here’s a few of the spring sessions I’ve done in previous years to see what’s possible.
This is Stephanie in the apple blossoms for her Sweet 16 Birthday Portrait Session
Outdoor sessions have a few different requirements than in-studio ones. This is because of lighting and weather conditions. The majority of my outdoor sessions are held in the evening near sundown because this is the best time of day to catch that soft, flattering, golden light. Also when booking an outdoor session you will need to select several back-up dates so we can reschedule your session in case of bad weather. Spring weather in Calgary is very unpredictable, but sessions usually will go ahead unless there is heavy rain.
An apple blossom session is beautiful, but one of the trickiest to co-ordinate. The blossoms only last for a few days and with the unpredictable weather here in Calgary it doesn’t leave much room to get the right conditions. I typically only book one apple blossom session per year.
This is Hannah in the apple blossoms for a Social Media Session.
Most of my sessions include professional hair styling and makeup, however for outdoor sessions I highly recommend doing your own hair and makeup. The reason is that if we have to reschedule the session due to bad weather it’s very difficult to reschedule my stylists on short notice, and there would be extra costs involved. You can still request to have my stylists do your hair and makeup, but doing your own gives us much more flexibility to reschedule at the last minute, or multiple times, if needed. All of the young women featured in this blog post did their own hair and makeup. If you need makeup application tips, or product suggestions, please contact me.
After the apple blossoms comes lilac season. There’s a little more session date flexibility with lilac sessions because the blooms last longer.
This is Jacey in the lilacs for her Graduation Session.
With an outdoor session you can have up to two outfits, although most of my clients typically only wear one outfit. It’s often hard to find a place to change outside, plus there are time constraints because of the quickly changing outdoor light. If you want to change up your look I suggest bringing easily swapped out items like jackets, wraps, and even different shirts. Props are also a great item to bring along which gives variety to your portraits. Many of my high school grads like to bring their musical instruments with them, and of course I usually like to use flowers too.
This is Carolyn in the lilacs for her Graduation Session.
Outdoor sessions are a bit trickier to co-ordinate and require a bit of flexibility, but they are so beautiful that they are worth the extra work. They allow for extra creativity, incredible light, and background variety that just isn’t available in-studio, and are hands down, my favorite sessions.
