Full Service Raleigh Family Photography at Lake Crabtree | J.Crane Photography

When this family booked their Signature Family Session, they weren’t new to me.

I had photographed their children for heirloom portraits and had photographed their family during a mini session before. But this was their first time experiencing a full Signature Session from beginning to end.

And this time, we started somewhere a little different.

We started with the wall.

Designing Their Family Session With the End in Mind

During our planning, Mom showed me a specific spot in their home where she wanted a framed family portrait.

I love knowing this before a session.

Instead of taking beautiful photographs and trying to figure out what to do with them afterward, we could create this session knowing exactly what we hoped one of those images would eventually become.

We talked about the space, the feeling she wanted for the photographs, location, wardrobe, and all of the little details that would help everything come together.

That meant more than one planning appointment for this family, and that was perfectly okay.

One of my favorite things about a Signature Session is that there isn’t a one size fits all formula. Some families need very little help deciding what they want. Others want me involved in every detail.

For this one, I was very involved.

Taking the Stress Out of Family Photo Wardrobe

Wardrobe is often one of the biggest sources of stress when families start thinking about professional photos.

What should everyone wear?

Do the colors work together?

Does this dress photograph well?

Are the kids too coordinated? Not coordinated enough?

My goal is for my clients to not have to carry all of that themselves.

For this family, I brought pieces from my client wardrobe directly to their home so we could see everything together. I even shopped for a few additional pieces for the children when we realized we needed something specific to complete the look.

Was that necessary for every family session? No.

But it was what this family needed.

And that’s really the point.

Full service doesn’t mean giving every client the exact same experience. It means having the flexibility to give each family the help they need.

Hair and Makeup…At Home

On the day of their session, my professional hair and makeup artist went directly to Mom’s home a couple of hours before we were scheduled to begin.

She could get ready in her own space while the family prepared for the evening, rather than adding another appointment and another place she needed to be.

By the time I arrived, she looked beautiful, felt like herself, and we were ready to have some fun.

This is one of the reasons professional hair and makeup is included with my Signature Sessions. Family photos tend to require a surprising amount of work from Mom.

I want at least one part of getting ready to feel like someone else is taking care of her.

One Family Session, Two Locations

We had already decided that we wanted to take a few photographs in front of their home before heading to our primary location.

So that’s exactly what we did.

We started at their house, created the images we wanted there, and then drove over to Lake Crabtree County Park to spend the rest of the evening together.

Lake Crabtree gave us a beautiful natural backdrop for the rest of their Raleigh family photography session and plenty of space to move, play, and let the evening unfold naturally.

That’s another thing I love about Signature Sessions: we have room to make them personal.

We aren’t racing through a 15 or 20 minute time slot or trying to fit every family into the exact same formula.

If there is something meaningful we want to incorporate, we can.

For Dad and their son, that meant baseball.

They brought their gloves and spent part of the session throwing the ball together.

Those are the kinds of photographs I especially love creating. Of course I want the beautiful portrait where everyone is together and looking wonderful.

But I also want the things that feel like your family right now.

A dad tossing a baseball with his son.

The way your kids make each other laugh.

The little interactions that probably feel completely ordinary today and may mean everything to you someday.

“That Was Actually Fun.”

There was a moment toward the end of the session when Mom and Dad were laughing and telling me how much fun they and the kids had had.

They thanked me for making the entire process feel so easy.

And that may be one of my favorite compliments.

Because family photos don’t always have the best reputation.

Parents sometimes arrive bracing themselves for an hour of telling children to smile, stop moving, look at the camera, leave their sibling alone, and please just cooperate for five more minutes.

That’s not what I want your family session to feel like.

Yes, I will guide you. Yes, we’ll create the beautiful family portrait that belongs over the mantel or on the wall.

But we’re also going to move, play and let your kids be themselves.

I don’t just want you to love what we create.

I want the experience of creating it to become a good memory, too.

Two Weeks Later, We Started With That Wall Again

About two weeks after their family session, I returned to their home for their ordering appointment.

Their house was already filled with framed family photographs, so this was certainly not a family I needed to convince of the value of printing their pictures.

But the custom framing I brought with me was different from anything they already had.

As we looked through the moulding samples together, Mom commented on how unique and eccentric some of the options were.

That’s exactly why I love offering custom framing.

A frame doesn’t have to simply disappear around a photograph. It can become part of the artwork itself and part of the design of your home.

We returned to that space we had talked about before I ever picked up my camera and found the perfect combination for it: a 20×20 deckled edge fine art print, mounted and finished in a custom frame selected specifically for their home.

The photograph hadn’t just been taken because it was pretty.

It had a destination.

From My Camera to Their Wall

About a month after their ordering appointment, I returned one more time.

This time, I wasn’t carrying wardrobe or frame samples.

I was carrying their finished artwork.

I hand delivered their framed portraits and installed them in their home myself.

And this is where the entire process comes full circle for me.

We started by standing in their home and imagining a family portrait in a particular spot.

Then we planned.

We chose wardrobe.

Mom had her hair and makeup done.

We photographed their family at home and at Lake Crabtree.

Dad and his son threw a baseball.

They laughed.

We created photographs that looked beautiful, but more importantly, felt like them.

Then we sat together, chose the photograph, paired it with a beautiful moulding, decided exactly how it should be printed and finished…

and eventually put it exactly where we imagined it from the beginning.

This Is What Full Service Family Photography Means to Me

Full service photography isn’t simply having someone help you choose outfits or offering prints after your session.

To me, it means looking at the entire experience.

What do you want to remember?

What feels like your family?

Where do you want these photographs to live?

What would make getting everyone ready easier?

And what can I take off your plate?

Sometimes that means pulling wardrobe from my studio.

Sometimes it means shopping for the missing piece.

Sometimes it means photographing in two locations because both matter.

And sometimes it means standing in your home with a hammer at the very end, making sure the portrait we dreamed about months earlier is hanging exactly where it belongs.

Because the goal was never just to give this family more photographs.

It was to create something of their family that gets to become part of their home.