We are now offering Mini Maternity shoots at our Suffolk Farm Studio in addition to our full Maternity Sessions at Alison McKenny Photography and as many of my clients are not sure which option is best for them,  I thought I’d write a blog post on the topic so you can compare for yourself. The main reason that clients book a Maternity shoot is because they understand it is such a fleeting but special time in a woman’s life and what better way to celebrate it, than by having some beautiful and timeless portraits taken that they can look back on and share with their child in years to come. However, as funds are not always freely available when starting extending your family so being unselfish, they often opt for photos of their little one instead which is totally understandable. But I don’t want my lovely clients to miss out, so I’ve devised a Mini Session option for them, which differs from a full session in the following ways.

• Mini Sessions are paid in full on booking and Full Sessions have a Deposit of £99 and this includes my time, talent during your shoot and editing your images, use of my fabulous Maternity Studio Wardrobe, and a gallery of images to choose which images to buy.  This Deposit is deducted from your whatever Package you order after your shoot.
• Mini Sessions are 30 mins long and Full Sessions are 1.5 hours long and in that time we can shoot x2 different looks in a Mini Session and up to 5 in a Full Session.
• Mini Session images are only soft edited before you see them, and I will show you the best 10 images at your viewing and ordering session, and give full assistance when it comes to choosing your favourites.  The images you choose to buy will be fully edited before delivery.
• Full Session images are fully edited before you see them and I will show you the best 15 to 20 images at your viewing and ordering session, and give full assistance when it comes to choosing your favourites.
• Mini Session Packages cost £199 and includes x3 Digital Images.  Full Sessions Packages start at £399 and include x5, 10 or 15 Digital images plus the matching mounted prints PLUS in the top package you will receive some credit to spend on Wall Art or a stunning Folio Box to store your Mounted Prints.
• Mini Sessions are only available on Monday to Friday, but Full Sessions are also available on Weekends.

To give you an idea of what to expect, here are some photos from a few Maternity shoots I have done in our Suffolk Studio recently.  These are a mix of Mini and Full Sessions.   I always have a pre-shoot consultation call with my clients so I know what sort of images they would like to achieve from their shoot.  I ask them to look through my Maternity Gallery on my website and also my Instagram Page and send me screenshots of their favourite images or dresses/poses/backgrounds so I can have everything set up and ready to go before they arrive.

Some clients opt to go outside on the farm for their Mini Maternity shoot.   I always recommend shooting at the end of the day when the sun is going down and we can make the most of that gorgeous golden hour light.   We did this with Issy early last Autumn, so the flowers in the wildflower field were still out and made for a stunning backdrop! As did the golden leaves in the trees! If you would prefer a Full Maternity Shoot, you will have more time to include some Family shots and some with your partner too, so here are some favourites from a full session I did in the studio late last year. We had some time at the end so I took the opportunity to take a couple of beautiful Fine Art Portraits of the girls! They are still very young but were so well behaved for their session and they really enjoyed it! They also loved trying on the vintage dresses that I keep in the studio and these ones fitted them perfectly! One other benefit of having a Full Maternity shoot is that you get a discount if you are also booking a newborn shoot at the same time, as it costs £150 for 2 sessions instead of £200 if booking them separately!   Also, all of my Maternity and Newborn clients that book a full session rather than a mini-session qualify for a Mini Sitter Session when their little one is sitting up unaided (but not yet crawling) which is £200 for the shoot plus 5 Digitals.   This is just a little extra to say thanks for booking me for your Maternity or Newborn shoot and for making that investment.   Babies at that age are usually so smiley and easy to work with, a Mini session is a lovely way to capture them and to add to your photo gallery. So I hope that this post has been useful and helped you to decide which Maternity Shoot is best suited to you!  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or call me on 07966 468944. Thanks so much! x