Mini Session or Full Session. What is best for me?
For those who don’t know, I offer two types of sessions – mini sessions and full sessions – each designed to suit different families and needs.
Mini Sessions take place on set dates throughout the year (usually spring and autumn) at a fixed location. These are £50 – £99 per family and include a 15-minute shoot, followed by a gallery of 30–60 beautifully edited images to choose from. You’ll receive between two – ten high-resolution images (depending on the package you select), with the option to purchase more if you wish.
A full session can happen at an agreed date over the year, at a mutually agreeable location within the entire region of D&G, and for this you get me for up to an hour. Usually, you will get anywhere between 80 – 250 edited images to choose from. The cost of this session is £90 (with packages available to include prints, digital images or coffee table books).
The question I am asked often is, what is the best session for me. So this blog will explain the pros and cons, which should make your decision an easy one.
MINI SESSIONS
These sessions are perfect for children of all ages and their families. They’re quick, fun, and a great way to capture lovely moments in a short space of time—ideal for busy families or for updating your photos each year. Most children enjoy them as I try to make them fun for all involved.
Because of the short and lively nature of mini sessions, they work best when children are happy to jump straight in. If your child prefers a little more time to warm up, a full session can offer a more relaxed pace. I’m always happy to chat and help you decide what would suit your family best.
Mini sessions are generally best suited to smaller family groups. While they can work well for a small group of children or cousins, larger groups can feel a little rushed in the time available. For bigger families or multiple young children, a full session often allows for a more enjoyable experience and a wider variety of images.
Overall, mini sessions are a brilliant, affordable way to capture special moments and keep your family album up to date.
FULL SESSIONS
If you want a session with a larger group, say an extended family shoot such as the one above, and you also have a particular location in mind within the region, then a full session is for you. With this family, we took a walk up the Castramond Woods in Gatehouse of Fleet as the bluebells are wonderful there, and let the younger boys explore, climb trees and generally enjoy themselves.
Again, this smaller family had a location in mind in Dumfries, but we spent an hour exploring the beautiful grounds and letting the girls have fun in the process. Because it’s more relaxed, I do manage to capture more natural images than I might do in a mini session.
With a full session, you can have a more personalised experience – I have photographed families on their farms, with the family horses, at the beach, even in gardens if they are suitable, and at locations covering the length and breadth of the region.
Another reason for booking full sessions would be if you’re looking for a newborn or baby shoot at home, or if you wanted a more bespoke package. The family in the images below actually ended up combining three full sessions into a package – from maternity, to newborn, to first year. I am always happy to offer bespoke packages.
Hopefully this gives a little taste of what to expect from both sessions, but please get in touch if you want any more information, I’d be happy to help. 🙂
