Portrait Locations

Rightio – let’s talk about where you’d like to have your photos done. If you want fabulous images, it’s important to get this part right. Here are the options:

Pollard Park

This is the go-to for outside portraits in Blenheim. It’s got the path with the big trees for brilliant framing, and we generally walk a loop of about 800 meters or so and stop in several places where the light is good. This means that the kids are kept busy and feel like it’s a fun outing, not told to stand in one place and behave for an extended time. If we make the experience fun, the photos will be much better. Pollard Park is also a favourite because there are so many great places no matter what time of the day and it really doesn’t matter how big your group is, we can fit you all in! Another good option is to go to the bottom of Quail Stream at the base of the Wither Hills, it’s best a couple of hours before sunset as the light is soft and the paths aren’t in full sun.

Rarangi Beach and Monkey Bay

This is a great place for slightly older kids. There are usually places with great light, but the start or the end of the day is infinitely the best time to be there for light.

New born at home

I well remember those early days of staring at my babies and just feeling totally besotted. Spending many hours looking at them in their tiny beds and those seemingly endless cuddles in the feeding chair. To me, newborns and home go hand in hand. I love to focus on the life aspect of this precious time, so that you’ll look back and remember how these fleeting weeks felt, as well as how your baby looked. I don’t pose baby rolled up and naked on a blanket or with props. There are some amazingly talented people who do that, if that’s what you’re after. This is what I focus on:

Family at home

Real, raw and beautiful. Let me see the interactions between the kids, the fun they have in their everyday activities, their backyard. I want to meet their favourite cuddly toy. I don’t even mind some mess. Just sayin’.

Extended family at home

If you’re looking to have posed photos at home in your backyard or vineyard, perhaps an extended family shoot at Nana’s house – there are some things you’ll need to know. Harsh sunlight is yucky and makes you squint and makes your wrinkles worse. I’m going to need to put you in some open shade. This means BIG trees with a decent amount of shade, enough to sufficiently cover everyone. An olive tree and a couple of bushes won’t do it, if you want pretty pictures. I know that sometimes it’s more about being at a certain home for family heritage and special memories, if that’s the case, let’s do it there and do our best to minimise the wrinkly light. However, if you just want pretty pictures and you don’t have the trees or shade to make it so, let’s get everyone to meet me where there is a decent backdrop, ie. Pollard Park. If you’re not sure about your backyard, send me a picture! If you particularly want to shoot in the vineyard, this will need to be done during the golden hours before sunset.

Studio

The good thing about the studio is that it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing! We have several backdrops we can use. Studio portraits will always look like studio portraits, so they are posed and fairly structured. This is great for headshots, or for a couple of kids or for a cake smash. There’s not enough room for more than three or four people, so if you’re wanting a family shoot with fun and spontaneity, outside or at your place is the place to be. Don’t forget, we also have quick easy Tiny Mini Sessions once a month if you want to just pop in to the studio with your little person from time to time.

So now that we know where to go, how does it all work?

Step 1: Together we’ll decide on a day/time/location and I’ll send you the booking form to fill out and send you our bank account number to pay the session fee (either $95 for 45mins or $150 for up to 1.5hrs) Your session comes with one 8×12” print and matching digital file. If you decide to go for the Story Session, it’s $795 and comes with 30+ digital images. This option is particularly popular with extended families. If you don’t already have it, email me and I’ll send you the pricelist pdf.

Step 2: Have our shoot, either 45 minutes for a small family or little kids, or up to 1.5hrs for an extended or Story Session. If the weather turns foul, and it’s an outside shoot, we simply reschedule. This goes for anyone being sick too. There’s no point in photographing someone who is feeling gross.

Step 3: A few days after the session, at the time agreed upon, you come into the studio and I’ll show the collection of images. You can choose as many or as few as you like, prices start from $55 per digital image and $60 for prints (all prints and canvases come with a digital image in colour and black and white). This usually takes up to about an hour, depending on how decisive you’re feeling. It’s a good idea to come in with thoughts on the sizes you’re leaning towards. How much space do you have on your wall? Do you have frames that need filling? Take note of these before you come in, it’ll help you no end when you’re deciding what to get printed and how big. We have eftpos so you can pay for your purchases at the time of ordering, or do it online. Whatever’s easiest for you.

Step 4: Give us a few days to process your order, and we’ll have them all done and ready for you to pick up once they’re ready. Canvases can easily take a couple of weeks, and albums can take even longer depending on the time of the year, so keep this in mind if you’re wanting your products by a certain date (ie. Christmas!)

Contact Me

So feel free to get in touch with me, if you haven’t already, and organise a time and place to have your family photographed. Just so you know, Saturdays in summer are like hens teeth with weddings booking them up a year in advance, and we keep Sundays as our family day. So weekdays is probably the most likely to be available Jan-March.

So go ahead and email me: info@jessicajones.co.nz