The photography session is finished.
Everyone has breathed a sigh of “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be”
You’ve packed everyone back into the car and you’re off to get those ice creams you promised the kids 20 minutes into the session.
You’re probably wondering whether I actually got anything amongst the chaos.
And I go back to the studio and make a cup of tea.
Priorities.
Then the part of the process you don’t really see begins.
Because taking the photographs is only one part of what I do.
From backing everything up, sorting through the images, preparing your viewing appointment, helping you choose what you actually want, retouching your favourites, printing, framing and packaging everything — there’s still quite a bit to happen before your photographs make it into your hands.
So here’s what actually happens after your family photo session.
First: Tea. Then Backups.
As soon as I’m back at the studio, the first proper job is getting your photographs safely off my camera cards.
I download everything and make sure the files exist in at least two different locations before I relax about it.
Because photographs of your family are not something I’m willing to entrust to one memory card and crossed fingers.
Then, usually within the next couple of days, I start the cull.
That basically means sorting through everything I photographed and removing the definite nos.
The blinks.
The duplicates.
The frames where someone walked directly in front of me.
The photograph taken approximately half a second before everyone looked great.
The photograph taken approximately half a second after everyone looked great.
The photograph taken when everyone looked great but I missed the bloody focus.
All the things nobody needs to see.
The aim is to bring everything down to a manageable collection of good options rather than making you sit through hundreds of almost-identical photographs.
Because nobody wants to do that.
Including me.
You’ll Get One Little Sneak Peek
Usually, we’ve already organised your viewing appointment before you leave the photography session.
A day or two afterwards, I’ll send you an email confirming the time.
That email includes another copy of the price list, some information about how to prepare for your viewing appointment, and usually one photograph from the session as a little sneak peek.
Just one.
Enough to reassure you that yes, despite whatever your children were doing, I did actually take photographs.
Then I disappear back into the process until your viewing.
Your Viewing Appointment Is Usually One to Two Weeks Later
Most families come back into the studio about one to two weeks after their session.
And this is when you see the photographs properly for the first time.
The images you see at this point haven’t been manually retouched, cropped or finished yet.
That work happens after you’ve chosen the photographs you actually want.
There’s not much point in me spending hours carefully retouching an image that you’re going to immediately say no to because you prefer the expression in the photograph beside it.
So at the viewing appointment, you’re seeing the photographs in a state that lets you make those decisions.
Then the final polish happens to the ones you choose.
I Don’t Just Send You Hundreds of Photos to Sort Through Alone
This is a fairly deliberate part of how I work.
I could send you a giant online gallery containing every reasonable photograph and say:
“Good luck. Let me know what you want.”
But I don’t think that would actually make the process easier.
If I’ve photographed a particular family grouping several times, you might have multiple very similar photographs.
Maybe someone’s expression is slightly better in one.
Maybe the kids are looking at each other in another.
Maybe Mum loves one and Dad likes the next.
Looking at all of those on your own can become overwhelming very quickly.
Instead, at your viewing appointment, I show you the images in small groups — usually three or four similar photographs at a time.
We work through them together and sort them into:
Yes.
No.
Maybe.
You are not being asked to look at one enormous gallery and somehow reduce it to your favourites while also remembering what photograph number 74 looked like compared with photograph number 163.
We make the decisions in small, manageable pieces.
By This Point, You Usually Already Know What You Want
This is something that’s important to understand about my viewing appointments.
I don’t really think of them as a big sales appointment.
Technically, yes — it’s the appointment where you place your order.
But by the time we get there, most of the “selling” has already happened naturally through the process.
At your planning appointment, you’ve already seen the products.
You’ve already seen the full price list.
We’ve talked about wall art, albums, matted prints, digital files and payment plans.
You’ve already had a chance to think about your home.
You’ve probably got a rough idea of what you like and approximately what it costs.
So when you come back to see your photographs, I’m not suddenly unveiling a mysterious product menu and trying to convince you to buy something you had never heard of ten minutes earlier.
Usually, it’s much simpler than that.
You already know you’d love something for the lounge room.
Or you think an album probably makes the most sense.
Or you want a few prints for yourselves and something for the grandparents.
The viewing appointment is really about taking that idea and working out exactly which photographs are going into it.
Then We Work Out What You Actually Want to Do With Them
Once we’ve worked through the photographs, we start talking about what you want to do with them.
If you’re thinking about wall art, we’ll usually start there.
Which photographs?
One large piece or a collection?
Framed, canvas or acrylic?
Where is it going?
If you’ve sent me a photograph of your wall, I can show you different arrangements to scale so you can actually see what they’ll look like in your home.
No standing in the lounge room afterwards wondering whether 20 inches is enormous or suspiciously tiny.
If wall art isn’t what you want, that’s fine too.
Maybe an album makes more sense.
Maybe you want matted prints.
Maybe you want gifts for family.
Maybe it’s a combination.
There’s no minimum order, and you don’t have to buy one particular type of product because I think that’s what you “should” have.
My job is to help turn the photographs you love into something that actually makes sense for your family, your home and your budget.
Once You’ve Ordered, I Start the Proper Retouching
This is when your chosen images get their final attention.
Once I know exactly which photographs are being used, I manually retouch and prepare those files for the products you’ve chosen.
That means I’m working on the photographs that are actually going to become finished pieces rather than doing the same detailed work to every single image from the session.
If you’ve got retouching requests I make sure they’re noted down.
If I’m going to modify your body, we’ll talk about it first.
As a general rule, things that are non permanent I’ll remove.
Got a pimple that rocked up the day of your shoot? - Gone.
Did your kid fall on their face and now has a bruise on their forehead? - photoshopped away.
Permanent things like scars, moles, freckles and birthmarks we’ll always have a conversation about it.
Maybe you love your birthmark and you don’t want me to touch it.
Maybe you hate it and want me to photoshop it into oblivion.
Either is fine, but whatever I do, it will be with your guidance.
And then we move into production.
Some of Your Photographs Are Printed Right Here
Anything that is being framed or supplied as one of my matted prints is printed by me in the studio.
I have a 24-inch professional printer in my office, and I genuinely love this part of the process.
Before I was a photographer, I worked in photographic print production making wedding albums and printed products, so printing has always been a really important part of photography for me.
There is something very satisfying about watching an image go from something on my computer screen to an actual physical photograph.
Once the prints are ready, anything being framed goes to my local framers.
I deliberately have my framed work done locally because I do not possess enough faith in Australia Post to hand over finished framed family photographs and hope for the best.
Some risks are unnecessary.
Other Products Head to My Lab
Products like albums, canvases, IceTiles and acrylic pieces are made through the professional lab I work with in Queensland.
I prepare the files and place the order, they produce everything, and then it all comes back to me.
The turnaround for finished products is usually around four to six weeks.
Some things are faster.
Some things take the full time.
But that’s generally the window I ask families to expect.
Then Everything Comes Back to Me
Even when something has been produced elsewhere, it comes back to me before it goes to you.
I want to see it.
I want to make sure everything looks right.
Then I package everything up properly and let you know your order is ready to collect from the studio.
And honestly, collection days are one of my favourite parts of the whole process.
Because there’s something very different about handing someone an actual framed photograph, album or box of prints compared with sending a download link.
Suddenly the photographs feel real.
Your Digital Files Come Afterwards Too
For every printed photograph you purchase, you also receive the corresponding social-media-sized digital file.
I send those through after you’ve collected your finished products.
They’re there so you can share your photographs online and keep a digital version alongside the physical piece you’ve chosen.
But the physical artwork comes first.
Because that’s the part that’s going to live in your home.
There Shouldn’t Be Any Surprises By This Point
One of the reasons this whole process works is that none of this should suddenly appear out of nowhere after your photography session.
We’ve already talked about it at your planning appointment.
You already know there will be a viewing appointment.
You already know how we choose images.
You’ve seen the products.
You’ve seen the pricing.
You know roughly how long things take.
So after the photography session, you’re not wondering:
“When do I get my gallery?”
“Am I supposed to choose everything myself?”
“What am I going to be asked to buy?”
“How much is this going to cost?”
We’ve already covered it.
By the time you come back for your viewing, it should feel like the next logical step rather than a surprise.
The Session Is Only One Part of It
It would be much quicker for me to photograph your family, upload a pile of files somewhere and send you a link.
But that isn’t really the service I want to provide.
I don’t want you to go through all the effort of organising family photos only to end up with another folder of digital files sitting somewhere waiting for you to eventually decide what to do with them.
The photography session is one part of the process.
After that, I keep guiding you.
I help you narrow down the photographs.
I help you work out what belongs on your walls or in an album.
I retouch the ones you’ve chosen.
I print some of them myself.
I organise the rest through the people I trust to make them properly.
I check everything when it comes back.
I package it.
And eventually, a few weeks after you first stood in front of my camera wondering whether your children were going to cooperate, you walk out of the studio carrying finished photographs of your family.
That’s when the process is actually complete.
Not when I put the camera down.
When the photographs are finished, printed, and finally in your hands.