Sunrise Session

How to Prepare for a Sunrise Session

As a Mama of 5 and Photographer, I should be the spokesperson for preparing Families for an upcoming Session. Here are some tips I have learned from personal experience and also from dealing with kiddos for a long time. I always advise that you lay out your clothes the Night before. Go to bed early so that you don't show up to your session with tired eyes. Give yourself extra time in the Morning especially if you have children, you can never have too much time! This one is important; allow children to release some energy before the session (go for a walk around the block). Children are naturally energetic, so try and get all the wiggles out and have fun while doing it. Eat before you get dressed; there's nothing worse than a stain on your outfit of choice. Picture Day can be stressful, especially if you have a large family. I myself stress out and I do this for a living haha, but I can't stress enough to parent's about how gentle parenting before the session works! Children feed on the energy we give, so when you are calm and speak positive words, they perform better. Pack mess-free snacks (cracker's, veggie sticks, pretzels and clear liquids). Play your favorite songs during the car ride. Allow children to explore the area, those make for the best candid shots. Don't overthink things and last but most importantly, bring your confidence!

Benefits of a Sunrise Session

• You won't need to deal with a crowd
• You obtain the same lighting as sunset
• You can hear and see nature at it's best
• No traffic
• Children are energized and ready to start their day
• Pet's are less overwhelmed since there's no crowd
• More privacy
• Breathtaking landscape shots
• You can get your session over and done with

Location tips

When choosing locations for a Sunrise session, I encourage my client's to choose areas that will invite lighting. Open areas without tall structures are great to help maximize lighting. Early Morning sessions don't call for a ton of light like midday sessions offer; so to capture those first peaks of light without ending up with underexposed photos, open areas and landscape shots are necessary for a successful session.

Location's to consider:

• Beach
• Park
• On top of Mountains
• Meadow
• Open Field

things that come in handy

I won't go too deep into detail about what to wear since you can read more about that in my "Photographing Large Families Like a Pro" post found on my blog. You should obviously dress appropriate for weather and location which is also talked about in my post; but I wanted to mention a few things that may come in handy for a Sunrise Session.

Blanket or Throw- These are great for chilly Morning's! Blanket's and throw's can also be a prop for intimate shots or ground cover to keep clothe's from getting wet and dirty from the Morning Dew.

A Change Of Shoes- Depending on location, sometimes a change of shoes are wise to bring especially if you will be climbing, walking a lot or standing in an area that calls for a different type of footwear.