The studio sessions are cute and fun, but nothing compares to being outdoors on a beautiful day and capturing you and your babies in action. And I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was to take the focus off getting posed shots and capturing you beautiful mamas doing what you do best! I know it can be tough on parents when their kids are...well, being kids during a photo session, but I always plan for the first 15-30 minutes to be a little bit of warm up time and posed shots because kids like to run and play and I love to take pictures of them doing it! So, getting to designate themed sessions for kids to run and play with mama bear was pure awesomeness!
We had three beautiful days filled with sweetness. The opportunities for us mommies to get out from behind the camera and be in pictures with our babies are too few and far between. I really wanted to give as many moms as possible the opportunity to share beautiful pictures of those precious bonds this Mother's Day. I'm going to call the Mommy & Me Micros a huge success!
Aren't they beautiful?!? Glowing and happy mommies for the win! The only thing I might have changed was to hire an assistant. I'm a very punctual person (yes, even with three kids) and my inability to watch the clock so that nobody was waiting around too long was stressful. It was a constant battle of worrying how people were doing on the sidelines while being fully sucked into my job as comedian, maker of crazy animal noises, camera technician, and magician. Add in trying to keep props in one piece, making sure the tablet was working properly, answering questions about paperwork, and chasing runaway toddlers and it's probably no wonder that I've been nodding off in front of my computer since Friday night.
But, do you know what? I love it. I really do. I love knowing how much these pictures mean to you and that they will likely be a part of your family for a very long time. I love seeing that perfect picture pop up on my screen just waiting for me to turn it into something spectacular...and every time, I am excited about sharing it with you. I also really feel like I'm in my element when I'm running around like a clown with a black box on my face. I wish I could be as funny and patient with my own kids, but I go home and I'm a typical, exhausted mom hoping for a moment of quiet.
I'm struggling with the decision to stop offering micro sessions or make them a seasonal thing with themed options (I'm kind of a sucker for themed shoots). They are A LOT of work. The planning, the props, the advertising, the scheduling, the changes, the weather, the insane number of pictures, the organization, the accounting, the editing, the teasing, the delivery, the troubleshooting, the quick turnaround, and the absolute exhaustion. I've done this four times now and it is a huge production. I want to make high quality photography more accessible and more fun, but I also need to make sure that they are lucrative enough to continue without charging so much that it makes more sense to wait for your family session to get updated pictures (if you want to see my regular pricing options, visit my website: www.LittleLeapling.com). The main benefits of holding these micro sessions to me as a small business owner is the opportunity to attract new clients, to drive traffic to my website and boost it in the search engines, and to have a lot of people sharing my images on social media. It's really important that I'm given proper photo credit for that to do me any good, so thank you for respecting the copyright and me as an artist. And thank you for any extra efforts to help me by following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
I do have plans for a set of Summer micro sessions. These will be designed just for kids and will probably cost less than the Mommy & Me Micros, but will be another fundraiser for the Riley County Humane Society. Think flowers and a live horse. Right? I might be a little excited. ;)
If you want to see more sweetness from the Mommy & Me Micros, check out my Facebook album.
