I'm a dance mom, I've been there... the studio photos that come and are REALLY cute but don't speak to your dancer's personality. Even at 6 years old our daughter can't be described in 5 photos where her hands are on her hip and she is looking straight into the camera infront of a white backdrop and studio lighting. She is extra in the best sense possible and is ever moving, ever changing in her dance abilities and capturing her journey in dance as the years go on can't be marked by the same thing every year.
On top of that we are learning the value of a great headshot, both in competition season and in auditions. Dance photos are evolving into so much more and I promise I am here to keep up with it for y'all.
I started doing dance sessions three years ago when a few friends asked me if they could get some fun and exciting photos of their dancers. At the time Riley was in Cheerleading and I didn't completely understand the value that these photos bring, not only to the family of the dancer but of the dancer them selves. Watching these sweet girls get so excited about new poses and moves and back drops and being able to look into the back of the camera after a few photos and to see how incredible they are is the kind of positive energy these dancers need. My favorite is a specific client who has done these photos with me exactly one year to the day apart and being able to see how her technique has changed in one year, it was incredible.
We start the entire process with a phone call or FaceTime and we talk about the look you are going for, the costumes you have in mind and any themes that were in your studio that year that you wish to carry on with you into these photos and then we talk about locations and dates. I may throw in a few ideas I have as we talk as well, that may not include current costumes but hopefully include items already in your dancer's closet.
Feel free to team up with another dance buddy and we will make use of the downtime between costume changes for one dancer by doing photos of the next dancer. This option saves both time and money.
I am happy to shoot in studio, out doors or anywhere you have in mind. I love speaking with the dancer as well ahead of time to make sure their image is being captured too. After all, these photos will be with them for a lifetime. We are rather limitless on costume changes and locations but I prefer to lay as much of that out ahead of time time as possible.
(I do tend to keep sessions with younger girls shorter as the burn out from being out too long is completely real and we are looking for a successful shoot.)
Once we get our date, time and location down I will send you a short list of what I am thinking for the order of shots so you can plan for things like hair and make up because any dance parent knows, once you get that hair up correctly it just doesn't look the same if you try to take it back down. You can also plan on having your costumes packed in order of the shoot and don't have to worry about shuffling around on photo day. I usually start with headshots and then move on to costumed and technique photos.
After our session, I will post a sneak on Facebook and instagram (unless told not to) and you will have your gallery sent to you in 2 to 4 weeks (usually much closer to the 2 week mark) and all of the photos that I send to you are yours to do what you like with. I hate making my clients choose only a few photos so I send what I edit and let y'all pick your favorites. The gallery below is Riley's gallery from last year (she was 5 years old at the time) so you can have an example of what your session you receive may look like.
Pricing of these sessions depends on the length of session we do but I try to make the rate fair to everyone because I understand that dance in and of itself is pricy. I also prefer to shoot in the summer so you can get past nationals and focus on the year to come but am also available this spring as well.
Please reach out with ANY questions that you have and I will answer them as quickly as I can.
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