Tips for choosing the best location for your family photo session

Here are some tips to consider when you’re choosing a photo location for your next family photo shoot!

Privacy

This is one main factor to take into account! A Crowded location is not ideal for many reasons. First of all, it very hard to relax when you have a crowd of onlookers walking around during your family photography session!

Because of this, I try to find locations that tend to be a little quieter and out of the way. For example, the Lighthouse beach on the NAS base. There is barely anyone ever there! Especially when compared to the main Pensacola Beach area.

Another way to avoid crowds is to venture out at sunrise – then it’s usually just us and the dog walkers! 🙂

Practicality

When you have young children, it’s worthwhile to think about how practical a location is going to be for your photo shoot. Some locations are simply beautiful and don’t have many distractions going on around them (kids running around, playgrounds, etc.). This is great for a session because it allows the children to focus a little bit better!

If there IS a playground or something around, that’s a great motivator for after the photo session. For example, Breeden’s Orchard in Mt. Juliet, TN has a play area and a cute gift shop. Moss Wright Park in Goodlettsville, TN sometimes has family festivals going on. These things are GREAT if you’d like to make your family session into a “family day” while you’re already out together.

Sunrise vs. sunset

Having a session at sunrise can be a perfect way to avoid crowded, busy areas! Another thing to consider is the placement of the sun for the session. Your photographer should know which direction the sun rises and sets in that location. Before I ever shoot in a location, I always visit there first to scope out where the sun is in the sky. In Pensacola, the sun rises on one side of the beach and sets on the other side. This makes a difference, because depending on whether you choose a sunrise session or a sunset session, your backgrounds will be different.

Variety

How blessed am I to shoot in locations that have such a wide variety of backgrounds! Nashville, TN, Pensacola FL and soon Greenville, SC. All of these have an incredible variety right outside. Whether you’re looking for the beach, the mountains, greenery, open fields, southern charm, we can find it! Let me know what kind of location you’re picturing in your mind and we can find it.

Accessibility

Unfortunately, not all locations are wheelchair accessible so something important to take into consideration if that is relevant for you. If you book with me, you will receive a questionnaire before our session so you can let me know if that’s something we would need to think about beforehand.

One last note…

If you’ve booked a photographer (either me or someone else), please remember that locations change. There are so many things that can impact the look for your photos, so they will not look exactly the same as another photo you’ve seen! The weather will be different, the sun may be in different spots depending on the time of year, and the overall scenery will be different depending on the time of year. Your family will be different to the last family I photographed, so your photos will never look exactly the same as another family’s. But personally, I think that’s part of the beauty of it all! Your photos should be unique to you, shouldn’t they?!

I hope you’ve found this helpful to you! If you live in Nashville, TN Pensacola, FL or Greenville, SC feel free to check out my packages and get in touch if you like what you see! I would love to hear from you!