CT Family Portrait Information

Many clients come into our studio for a consultation to plan the session, discuss wardrobe and location and see our product selection ahead of the photo session. The session can be on location at your home, a park, the beach or in our studio in West Hartford Center. Our studio sessions last 30-40 minutes and the location shoots last about an hour. Within 2 weeks of the session, your proofs will be edited and posted to a password-protected online gallery. You’ll have three days before your ordering meeting to view the images online, with all your family’s input. Next up: your in-person ordering meeting in our studio. You’ll see your images on a big screen and view a variety of products we have to offer. We have a great software program that enables you to narrow down your favorite photos, comparing them side by side, and showing you how your images would look in a variety of frames. While you are choosing the best expressions of your family, we can offer advice and help make choices for displaying your images. This is a very low-pressure sales experience—we always want to work within your budget and want you to be happy with both the images and your experience.

Simple sessions are for clients who want true and beautiful professional photographs but don't necessarily need our full-service sessions. For $95 you’ll have a 25-minute photo session. Then you'll view your images in a 3-day online gallery with the option of purchasing three digital file package options starting at $395. All photo files include color-correction, exposure-correction and cropping, but not fine-retouching. These files can be used for making prints, holiday cards, sharing online, etc. Note that other products and individual files are not available with our Simple Sessions. Simple Sessions are only offered at certain times/locations throughout the year—please join our E-news or contact us directly to find out our next Simple Session promotion.

It’s best for your family not to match exactly, but instead you should pick a clothing style (e.g., beachy, dressy casual, formal) and a color palette (navy, khaki, and white are great neutrals and you can add another color or two) and let everyone dress within that style and palette. For families, we recommend the kids wear the bold patterns and colors and parents are more neutral. Moms can wear a piece of jewelry that brings your eye to their face. Dads should think of themselves as a neutral background…for the kids to climb on! Check out our Pinterest page to see popular color combinations.

We want great photos just as much as you do so if the weather is rainy, we’ll postpone and reschedule the session.

Yes, prior to the ordering meeting you can send us a photo of your wall with a ruler or 8.5x11 piece of paper in the picture (smartphone photos are fine) and in our meeting we can lay out exactly how different images and frames will look on your wall.

Props are fine if they are yours and have meaning…a special “lovey”, toy, hat, blanket or outfit. We’re never going to use gimmicky props to pose your baby—the best props for babies are simple furniture, blankets and their parent’s arms, laps, and hands.

All prints ordered in a custom session are fully retouched. While we don’t like any images over-photoshopped, parents may appreciate a little de-aging, slimming, teeth whitening, touching up hair roots, etc. We’ll go over any specific requests on a photo-by-photo basis at the ordering meeting. Simple sessions have a light edit upfront but are not retouched.

Yes, all the time. Whether it’s in the summer or during the holidays, gathering your extended family is a wonderful opportunity for a family portrait session. We do these either at your home or a nearby park (Elizabeth Park and Westmoor Park are ideal). During a session, we not only photograph the full extended family, but do the individual families, kids, grandparents with kids, the cousins, and more. There is no additional cost for extended families to share the session.

Please reach out via the contact form. We will send you detailed information about our shoots, pricing and a link to our booking calendar. We look forward to hearing from you!