Spring and Summer Booking 2024
Everything you need to know on how to book your Chicago family session with Aline Stern Photography!
I think we can officially say it’s Spring now! The temps are up, the sun is shining, the trees are blooming!
I am officially opening up Spring booking for May 1st – however – if you see the blooming trees and the nice weather and you decide you’d like to do an outdoor session RIGHT NOW (I am writing this blog post on April 11th), please shoot me a message at alinesternphoto@gmail.com and I’ll find a way to fit you in asap!
I know with things getting more expensive, that family photography is a luxury, so I am not raising my prices for the Spring and Summer season. I will see how this Spring and Summer seasons go and then make a decision about Fall prices later. But if you want to make sure to get my cheaper pricing – I’d suggest booking now!
One thing the photography community has been a little worried about this year is the cicada invasion! Current forecast for the emergence of the 17 year cicadas is end of May-mid June. But don’t you worry because I have backup plans! Yes, several! First – consider beach shoots! I think we’ll be safe at beaches! Or downtown or an in-home shoot or there is always my North Center studio!
As in previous years I am offering my Gold and Silver Sessions, as well as Extended Family Sessions. This Spring and Summer I will also be offering Studio Mini Milestone sessions. More infos on those and all my other sessions below!
I am also going to be out of town from July 31st till August 21st, visiting my family in Europe. So please keep that in mind for booking! My last day for mini sessions and Silver Sessions will be July 20th, my last day for Gold Sessions is July 23rd – since I want to make sure I can get your photos to you before I leave.
Everything you need to know including booking links:
If you have ANY trouble booking, please just send me an email to alinesternphoto@gmail.com!
How it works: You click on either “Silver Session” or “Gold Session” and my scheduler will pop up. You select a date (my Spring and Summer calendar goes from May 1st-July 31st – my late summer/Fall calendar will be live in early June), it will prompt you to enter your name and email address. I will send an email with my contract and invoice. Once you sign the contract and pay the deposit ($100 – which is the first part payment on the invoice) – you have reserved that date. IMPORTANT: your date and time are NOT secured until you paid the the deposit! For an Extended Family Sessions or Milestone Minis please contact me directly!
Spring and Summer Prices
Silver 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 Silver Session may be a good option for you.
Outdoor Silver sessions are 20 to 30 minutes long. I shoot most of my outdoor Silver 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 also shoot Silver Sessions in a few other locations close to the Lincoln Square/Andersonville Area.
Included in the price of a Silver are EIGHT edited photos in both color and black-and-white. You may purchase extra pictures for $30 or upgrade to a full gallery for $200. You will receive an online gallery with your selected and edited photos to download as high-resolution files and an option to order prints.
Gold Session
$550
In the Gold 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 Silver 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 Gold 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 Session
$800
(up to 20 people)
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 Silver Session but please mention in the booking questionnaire 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
To book just click on the link below to the session you’d like to book, then select your date. If you’d like to book a different day than the days available, shoot me an email and I will see what I can do! I generally keep Sundays as rain make-up days but will make an exception if it’s the only available day for you.
Milestone Minis
$250
Milestone minis are only held at my studio in North Center and only available on weekdays. These are perfect for Sitter sessions, One year sessions (for cake smashes we do longer sessions though!), kids who are starting school … any time you just want a snapshot of you or your kids or your family. These sessions take about 15-20 minutes and include 3 pictures with the option to purchase more pictures later. Please be aware that these are not good for kids with sensory issues or kids who might need a long time to warm up! Let me know if that’s the case and we can talk about other options. I do have lots of experience photographing neurodivergent kids (and different kinds of neurodivergence need different approaches!) – so just let me know and we’ll figure out the perfect plan for you!
I am so looking forward to working with you! If you have any questions or any troubles booking – please shoot me an email at alinsternphoto@gmail.com.
