Why I Ask So Many Questions Before a Photo Session?
Understanding Your Client is the Key to Success
After more than ten years as a professional photographer, I've learned that the best photographs don't result from simply photographing people beautifully, but from building trust with your clients.
How I connect with family, newborn, and maternity photography clients before session day is key to a successful experience for both myself and the families I photograph. This begins from the very first point of contact on my website. My website provides everything a prospective client needs to know: clear pricing, booking process, and step-by-step what their experience will be like from booking to delivery. When someone intends to work with me, they first complete my booking form, which is linked throughout my site, and then we have a pre-session consultation via zoom. The questions that I ask on my form and during the zoom call are intentional and help to insure a successful client experience. This two-step process provides me with valuable information about who my clients are and what their expectations are for their session while allowing my client an opportunity to ask questions that are important to them. It also allows me the opportunity to communicate details about the services I provide, my contract, delivery timelines and payment processes. Most importantly, these points of contact allow us to get to know each other and form a trusting relationship. Come session day, we will both feel more confident and comfortable with one another. What follows may be years and years of photo sessions together and clients soon become like family!
The Value of Your Booking Form
My booking form is the first step in preparing a client’s session. My form goes beyond just asking basic questions such as their name and address and what kind of session they are booking. It also asks them to describe their vision for their photographs, details about their interests, activities they like to do, as well as any special needs or concerns they have. The more information they provide, the better prepared I feel and the more confident they are that I care about them, desire to hear their needs, value their interests, and want to know about who they are.
Pre-Session Consultation Calls are Essential
After they complete their booking form, we take the next step to connect through a pre-session zoom call. This is the point where our relationship begins to develop. I require a zoom call before every session. During this call we not only get to see each other, but we begin to connect. After initial introductions, I always say, “tell me what questions you may have and these will guide our conversation.” As they ask their questions, my answers incorporate details about what their session experience will be like as well as what my booking and delivery process is. I try to incorporate important information that is also found in their contract so that we are all on the same page from the initial point of contact to gallery delivery.
Tell Me About Your Family and What Should I Know?
This question is on my booking form and we talk about it on our zoom call, too. Clients are asked to share what makes their family unique, and any information or concerns I should be aware of. Maybe a child has special needs, and a quieter pace, extra breaks or a different approach to posing will help them feel more comfortable during the session. Maybe a client’s husband dreads being in front of a camera, or a family member is uncomfortable being photographed. Maybe a new mom is self-conscious about their changing body, or they’re recovering from a hard birth. When I know about these things ahead of time, I can plan for them and I will be sensitive to any special needs that a family may have.
What Do You Love to Do Together as a Family?
This is my favorite question and is what allows each session to become a unique story. I want families to really think about what brings them joy or what they are most comfortable doing together: whether reading a story together, playing guitar, gathering around a campfire, picking wildflowers, blowing bubbles, or simply just exploring - these are details which will determine how I will lead them through a session. Yes, we'll get the classic images of them cuddled up and looking at the camera but what precedes that determines how successful that traditional shot will be. When families are absorbed in an activity that they are comfortable doing, they naturally begin to relax and the most genuine expressions result. Asking this ahead of time allows my families to come to a session prepared and with an activity in mind, and it makes the session more enjoyable and more memorable for everyone. Talking about this beforehand also sets clear expectations as to what kind of photographer I am and what style of images my families can expect.
What Is Your Vision for Your Photographs?
When you think about your favorite details about your family/children, what do you want to preserve forever?
I want them to describe to me what they love about the people in their family and what they want to remember years down the road. When I hear that, I feel like I am now inspired to create their story. I also ask what style of photographs they love, and how they foresee using them: a wall of canvases, framed prints in a particular room, digitals and framed images, or digitals only. I even invite clients to tell me how they struggle with this. These questions clarify the style of photography I offer, and what they can expect to receive.
My work represents moments that are timeless, filled with beautiful light, wonder, and joy. I want to make sure that I have an idea of what my clients love in photographs so that I can bring who they are to life in all of these ways. It is also my goal that their photographs don’t stay digital files, but become tangible heirlooms that they pass down from generation to generation. Having an idea of how they want to use their images is helpful for me when I send them their gallery. This allows me the opportunity to offer them products that match their vision and also allow me to receive additional sales income.
How Can I Help You Feel Prepared With What You Will Wear?
What to wear is the question I hear most from clients, and it's often the biggest source of stress for moms before a session. Offering a client wardrobe has been one of the best business decisions I have made because it meets a need the majority of my clients have. It also allows me creative control over my sessions and further develop my signature style. I ask for their color preferences and sizes, because I offer styling help and a client wardrobe for moms and little ones. I also ask whether they'd like hair and makeup with one of the stylists I partner with. Taking care of these details gives clients confidence that they will look good in their pictures while relieving them of the stress of figuring it out on their own. 30 days prior to their session they receive a Styling Email which provides them guidance on what to wear as well as access to my wardrobe where they can make selections that interest them. I will then give feedback on their selections and make any necessary suggestions. I then prepare everything for them come session day - dresses are then ready upon their arrival at the studio or I bring them to our chosen on-site location where I provide them use of a pop-up changing tent.
The Importance of a Thorough Intake Process
I encourage every photographer to build a thoughtful intake process of their own. A few lessons I've learned:
The More Information You Gather about Your Clients the Better. Questions about what clients love to do together, and what their kids love, give you the moments that make a gallery feel personal.
Get to Know Your Clients Before Session Day. An open-ended prompt about anything you should know builds trust and prevents day-of surprises. Ask your client more about these details during your pre-session zoom/phone call.
Listen to Their Vision and How They Will Use Their Images. It helps you to see over time what clients want. Maybe they want more than just digitals, but don’t know where to begin. This provides an opportunity for you to provide them even further assistance and can help you shape what print products will serve your clients best leading to better service to your clients and potentially more income for you.
Repeat Important Information in Print and In Person. Most unhappy clients aren't unhappy with the photos. They're unhappy because information they were provided wasn’t clear to them. BE REDUNDANT! Important information about your payment process, your editing and delivery process, when clients can expect to receive their galleries, how you will communicate with them between booking and session day, and details about their session day experience should be clear to your clients. You can accomplish this by communicating the same information multiple times and in more than one way. For example: 1) Session Information Pages of Your Website, 2) Your Booking Form, and 3) During your Zoom Call, 4) In Your Contracts, and 5) Follow-Up Emails such as Session Day Reminders.
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