Family Portraits

Family Portrait Photography Christchurch, New Zealand.

Family portraits are a very important part of our history. They tell us where we’ve come from. They capture love and relationships. How many of us have a treasured photo of us as a small child with our mum or dad? 

Family photo shoots can be small – two siblings, mum and child, dad and baby – or they can be big, with cousins, grandparents, dogs and cats. I love to photograph them all and capture the things that make your family special. I create fine art family portraits that will be handed down to your children and to your children’s children. 

What I offer is unlike any other portrait studio around. Getting your portrait taken with me is far from a "sit and pose" session. I'd like to think of it as a time of expression in which to capture you and or your family's personality and the relationships you share. Allow me to document a time in your life that will soon be gone and preserve it to be remembered always.

I come up with plenty of ideas for the photo session and welcome your ideas. It’s a fun packed exciting and creative photo shoot.

You are welcome to have your family portrait taken in my studio or choose your favourite park, beach, any place you like. It maybe a place that has meaning to you. Your family home is an excellent option; it's comfortable, personal, and accommodating for changing wardrobes if need be. I can come and set my portable studio up in a jiffy, and or use your natural home surroundings.

Birthdays, christenings, wedding anniversaries, graduations, children's parties, family functions and reunions are all fantastic opportunities to capture you and your family when you are all together.

My focus is on beautifully presented high resolution digital images for you to get any prints of any size on any medium you choose to have anytime in the future, or share on social media. I also offer high end pieces of artwork for your walls, mantle piece or bedside cabinets. 

I always work with maximum passion and professionalism to capture the emotion, the details, and the love in photos that will make your memories last forever. You are guaranteed custom-made work of the highest quality. I would love to hear from you; please feel free to get in touch for more information.

Portrait Price List:

The session usually lasts up to an hour (but seems very quick). Then I spend a few hours editing / culling down providing you with an amazing bunch of images. You can choose to help select the finals or leave it up to my well trained eye. 

You may just be after one awesome image of your family or many different images - combinations like shots of everyone together, kids together, separate shots, doing lots of different ideas together. You can get easy up to 25 completely different amazing images. It all depends on what Im shooting for how many images you get, but no good images are left out and no two images are the same. I also provide you a 6x4 inch size (postcard size) print of every digital image you receive. 

My fee for all this is only $595. 

There is no extra fee for location portraits within Christchurch as I love to get out of the studio and I think some folk are more relaxed and happy at a spot they like or that has meaning.

Providing you with a 6x4 inch print is so you get a hard copy to know (by not just looking at the screen) what you may want more reprints of, or to enlarge for the wall in the future. The 6x4 inch prints are also great for most small frames you have lying around and are easy to buy everywhere.

My fee is really good with this flat rate = no hidden costs like many other portrait photographers who charge you a small or free sitting fee then push you to spend up to even thousands for the pictures and that's maybe not even including the digital images. 

Extended family portraits (6 - 20 people) - Great for larger families, photos of those rare family reunions, and for portraits of the whole group gathered for the holidays, birthdays, or other special occasions that have brought the whole bunch together. $795 and up to 50 full resolution digital images and a 6x4 inch print of each image.

Extra Info:

Booking - You're very much welcome and I think it's a great idea to make a time to meet up in advance under no obligation so I can help you plan your session in person. If time or distance is not easy than we can chat via phone / email. Upon booking you will be required to pay the full amount anytime until 24 hrs prior via internet banking or at the start of our session in cash. I provide a 100% money back cancellation fee. So do not worry if someone not feeling well or the weather is terrible and you need to postpone or cancel. On the day of the photo session we will meet at the location you have chosen and the creative fun will begin. It's important for you and your family to be yourselves. A fun and relaxing photo session results in great portraits you can treasure. 

What to wear for family portraits - Just wear what you and your family / friends think you look good in. Wear what you are. For a family it definitely doesn’t have to match. It's all about feeling good in what you're wearing. Dressing smart is good. But it's fine if its the latest fashion for your daughter with ripped jeans. Or a surfing logo on a shirt. Someone can be smart and someone can be casual. It's what is the person is about. Maybe a good idea to bring 2 or 3 tops. Extra bling if you're not to sure and then we can choose. It's all up to you. If you do all want to match then that's cool. As long as everyone digs their outfits. A favourite hair do and lippy or no lippy is good. Bling is totally fine. My only thing is no creases in the tops. Tough to photoshop out on some with tops with patterns. Best to check prior and iron if need be. 

Hair and Makeup - Totally up to you. How you like. If you are not sure I can recommend and organise the best makeup artist & hairstylists I know in this town. $150 for makeup or $190 for hair and makeup. You may want to visit your hairdresser / makeup store just prior the shoot for a quick style or feel confident getting a friend or just doing it yourself. 

The session - Expect the entire session to be an hour but it's so much fun it seems very quick. We shoot as much as we can as many ideas we can to get our awesome bunch of images.

After the shoot - I will spend a couple of hours reducing the hundreds of photos we took down to a nice manageable number for you to view. We then make a time to come on in to pick your favourites. You are also welcome to leave it up to me and my well trained eye if you like. (I've had a good 20 odd years of editing experience). I then spend a couple of hours ever so slightly improving the image quality. That is exposure, colours, framing, taking out anything distracting, photoshopping your requests of the images.. Then email you the high / full resolution images for you to download on your computer to have forever. I suggest you share the images to other computers and stick on an external hard drive i.e. create multiple backups. We do keep back ups here in case you ever lose the images.

Portrait Styles

Classic - For a timeless look that always works, go for a classic look. These photos give you a chance to turn your best look on for the camera. You can't go wrong with a classic pose in your family portraits.

Artistic - From creative lighting to unusual composition, artistic photography gives you special family portraits. You can go with funny pictures or something more serious. With artistic photos, you can work with your photographer for a unique look. It will let your family's personality shine!

Candid - If posed photography isn't for you, capture the spirit of life with some candids! I can make even spur of the moment enjoyment look ready to hang on your wall. Candids are great either in the studio or on location.

Know that kids will be kids and photographers often get the best family portraits when children are allowed to be silly and free.

Feed and hydrate your children (and yourselves) before the shoot and snacks during the shoot.

Don't be afraid to include the family pets ($50 extra)

Bring along any props you might want to incorporate.

It's all about having fun!

Reprints & Enlargements:

You can order reprints and enlargements easily through me for no fee (only what the lab charges for the cost of printing). This is excellent after sales service. So a 6x4 inch reprint = $1, 5x7 inch = $3, A4 (8x12 or 8x10 inch) size print = $10, 10x15 inch = $15, 12x18 inch = $20..

If you're after getting great quality photo prints yourself up to 16x12 inch in size then I fully recommend going to Photo & Digital in Addington. You can go in with your digital images on USB or order online. 

If you are after really big prints for the walls now or anytime in the future there is Kens Cameras on Victoria street. If you do choose to order at Kens I can meet you there for no fee to see what images you would like printed to what size and what medium as in prints that you can frame, canvas, metal, acrylic etc. Or just pop in yourself as they are very helpful and have samples and sizes and no obligation to get any printing done if your still deciding.