Fall Outdoor Family and Portrait Sessions
Everything you need to know plus booking links
It’s that time of the year again! We are getting ready for Fall photoshoots – the best time to do pictures in Chicago!
First of all I’d like to talk about Covid. I am fully vaccinated. I arrive to every shoot with a mask. If you are vaccinated as well and you’d like me to take off the mask so you can understand me better I feel comfortable to do that with outdoor shoots, though I will still keep some distance to the kids. I am also totally fine with keeping the mask on so if you don’t specifically ask me to take it off, I will just keep it on.
I am still going to be very flexible with rescheduling if you or any family member feels sick at all. I just ask that you give me as much notice as possible so I’m not already on the way to our shoot.
Now – October is always my most busy month. There are several reasons why October is so popular – it’s cooler and less humid, sunset is earlier and sunrise is later so we catch that amazing golden light without having to worry about sleep schedules or cranky kids and most of all – of course the beautiful Fall foliage. However – October is also notoriously rainy. In October I cannot postpone shoots because we have an overcast sky or a windy day – there simply aren’t enough days. I will shoot in any weather except full on rain or very strong winds. If you have kids under 3 I highly recommend booking your session for August or September (my August booking is in the previous blog post). Small kids do not do well with cold winds and rain. If you are really set on late October/early November, just book a mini session or wait for my studio sessions to open up in November.
About studio sessions: at this point I am not sure how I am going to proceed about studio sessions. I will most likely offer my holiday minis in November in a studio but I haven’t decided yet where this is going to be. Stay tuned! I wish I could tell you more right now but I think I won’t know for sure until school starts in September. If you want to do an indoor shoot, for example newborn shoot – I do indoor shoots at your home – so that is an option. Send me an email to info@alinesternphotography.com to inquire about indoor sessions!
Here is my Fall pricing for 2021:
Mini Sessions
$350
Do you need an updated family picture? Do you just want some nice pictures of you and your kids but you don’t want anything time consuming? Then the Mini may be a good option for you.
Outdoor Mini sessions are 20 to 30 minutes long. I shoot most of my outdoor Mini sessions at Winnemac Park. It’s the perfect place for Minis because we can get a good variety of pictures in a short amount of time and the foliage there is gorgeous. I sometimes shoot Minis in other places if I have a Full session before or after.
Included in the price of a Mini are ten edited photos in both color and black-and-white. You may purchase extra pictures for $25 or upgrade to a full gallery. You will receive an online gallery with your photos to download as high-resolution files and an option to order prints.
Full Sessions
$490 on weekdays $550 on weekends
In the Full sessions we take our time and try to capture moments and emotion. We spend 40 to 60 minutes together. We start out with the sort of pictures we’d do during a Mini session – smile in the camera, the perfect family portrait. After we get those shots, we play, we laugh, we run around. I’m going to make this experience as relaxed and positive and fun as possible for you and your kids. My goal is to get everybody out of their shell and to just capture love and personality.
With a Full session you receive at least 60 pictures, usually more, in both color and black-and-white versions. You will receive an online gallery with your photos to download as high-resolution files and an option to order prints.
Extended Family Sessions (up to 20 people)
$550
Since Extended Family Sessions are very popular this year I have decided to officially put them in my price list. For booking just book them as a Full Session but please mention in the comments during booking that it is an extended family session and how many people will be part of it. I do not travel further than 45 minutes from Lincoln Square/Chicago for sessions so if you are in a far West or South suburb, let me know, I know lots of photographers and should be able to send you some recommendations.
My extended Family sessions are always posed sessions. We simply don’t have enough time to do fun, unposed shots in extended family sessions and these kind of sessions can be very overwhelming for little kids so I try to not drag them out. A lot of clients book both a full session for their extended family photos as well as a mini or a full session for their own family on a different day if they want to get more pictures of just their family.
If you have more than 20 people, please contact me for pricing.
Booking Links:
October/November Mini Sessions
September/October Weekday Full Sessions
September/October Weekend Full Sessions
If you’d like to change the day of the shoot (Sundays are my backup days for rain so I will only book a Sunday if absolutely no other day works) or if you’d like a different kind of session, like a newborn shoot, please email me at info@alinesternphotography.com
Thank you for your support and I hope to see you this Fall or before!
