Mini Session Season is Upon Us
The What:
First, I feel like we need to discuss what is a mini session to appropriately set up expectations. A mini session is not simply a discounted photoshoot. Mini sessions provide a valuable resource for clients in a variety of ways (discussed in the next paragraph). Mini sessions are shorter photoshoots, with significantly less photographs than a typical session. Each image your photographer delivers is edited (if you booked someone worthwhile) so they spend less time in post production as well as on the front end of the session when you are booking a mini. A mini session is just that “mini” not discounted. Mini sessions typically happen in closely booked back to back sessions at one predetermined location (to prevent your photographer from actually making less per hour for offering a perk to their clientele). So, that in mind, it’s really important to be on time for your session (arriving 5-10 minutes early is a good goal). Expect to get less posing and variety of shots for each pose because of that important “mini” quantifier. However, mini is not synonymous with “low quality” or “discount”… just smaller. It’s typically bad form to ask for a mini session outside of mini session day, or request a separate location than the rest of the photoshoots your photographer has booked for that mini session date. Why? Would you be upset if your boss asked you to go to work for a short period of time, less pay per hour, at a location you have to go out of your way to get to? Most likely. That hardly makes it worthwhile to get out of bed, let alone to pay childcare and get dressed. Am I right? I need incentive to get out of bed and wash my hair in the form of monetary gain. When you’re self employed, time is literally money.
The Why:
Mini sessions have a lot of perks for potential clients! Mini sessions typically last between 15-20 minutes and allow a quick “snap and run” portrait style session. These mini sessions are great for clients who are looking for just “one good photo” for their holiday cards or seasonal greetings. Mini sessions also provide potential new clients a low opportunity cost situation, in both terms of monetary and time costs, to get to know a new photographer for their family. Perhaps you are on the market for a new recorder of family history (my self proclaimed title in the family portrait business), but don’t want to invest the full 1-2 hours and $200+ that goes into a full session. This is a great way to test the waters to see if you mesh well with the new photographer. Also, lets be honest, sometimes it’s nice to save a little cash!
The Why Not:
Mini sessions are not for everyone! Their fast and furious tempo doesn’t work well for all families. Perhaps the 2 hour long marathon of a regular photo session isn’t for you, but a mini session is just not enough time for your tiny hoard of monsters *cough* children to warm up to a new person and sit still to smile! I’ll be straight, some adults don’t warm up fast enough to capture an authentic photograph in that time line. Mini sessions also don’t allow for a variety of posing or backgrounds due to their quick nature. You will get 5-10ish photos (depending on your photographer), however, a vast majority of those images will be of similar style posing. It takes a long time to resettle tiny humans into a pose, so your photographer is limited in how many times they can move your little people around. (assuming this is being done with a family of course!) For those of you thinking about a mini session with your significant other, oversized house cat, or pet rock (hey, represent the rock and mineral lovers in the audience, lets talk about pyrite and citrine sometime!) you have a different set of circumstances you may want to consider! If you are uncomfortable in front of the camera, you could seriously benefit from a longer session. This will allow you and your photographer time to make a connection and really pull out some more natural faces/posing than a 15 minute “snap and run”.
I hope that helps clear up some expectations and reasons why/why not to book a mini session. This time of year there are a lot of opportunities to book mini sessions, and it’s always important before committing time and money, to weigh the costs and benefits! Happy photographing!
