5 pro tips to slay your next portrait session!

Hello there, I’m so happy you’re here! Whether you book me as your portrait photographer or not, I created this helpful resource for anyone to rock their next photo session!

I’m Taylor Moulton, a small town portrait and wedding photographer that’s photographed dozens of families and couples over the last six years and I’m happy to say I’ve learned a thing or two when it comes to having a truly rewarding portrait session and it boils down to these top five tips.

1. Outfits

The single most, immediate question that *probably* shoots through your mind when you are either thinking about booking a session or just have is:

“What am I/or we going to wear?”

And it’s completely normal and totally valid. And my most helpful tip when I’m asked this question is this –

Start with a print.

No matter who is wearing it; You, dad, brother timmy or little sister susie…find what print you like and then pull everyone’s colors/patterns and textures from that. Here is an example from a family session I did where you can see all their colors aren’t exactly matching but they are all in the same family or relative to the print mom is wearing and it all looks really cohesive and put together.

*Bonus tip* make sure you feel comfortable in whatever you choose to wear and can easily move around/sit. My sessions always have some kind of movement involved and a long flowy dress you can twirl around in, is an added plus!

2. Embrace the chaos

This tip is more for families with younger kids or kids entering that “independence stage” and you might be cringing right now at the thought of your kid mid photo session having a level five meltdown but rest assured…We will make it out alive and we will get some good ones of them. I promise. Some of the best photographs I’ve taken of children with their parents have happened in the middle of a temper tantrum. It’s the loving grace and patience that comes out of you when you see your babies breaking down, it’s scooping them up in your arms and holding them close to you and telling them it’s going to be ok. And in that moment of you naturally mothering them, I’m capturing it all for you and it’s almost as though I planned for it to happen that way. It’s ok if it gets a little messy, it’s ok if your kids don’t act the way you thought they would. This is your beautiful family and your very unique story that is so worthy of being documented and you will love to look back on it.

3. Connection over Perfection

If you’ve seen the viral trend going around right now about “smiling FOR the picture vs smiling IN the picture” this tip is exactly that. Personally, I like getting a few images of you smiling at me, because yes of course I want to photograph your beautiful faces but I LOVE taking photos of you smiling/laughing and looking at each other because then I’m getting to photograph your connection – your love for one another and I think that’s an even more beautiful moment to hang on your walls and walk by every day. So tip number three, fight the urge to constantly look at the girl with the camera and fall in love with looking into your significant other’s eyes again.

4. The First 20 minutes

Alright, you’ve booked the session – you’ve read my outfit tip and you have a fabulous wardrobe laid out. You get to the location and meet up with me and now the session is about to start and suddenly you have butterflies going crazy in your stomach because you’re so excited but also a little nervous…You’ve never done this before and don’t know what to expect. Girl, I got you. Just know that the first 20 minutes is going to feel a little awkward, especially for couple sessions. Unless it’s your norm to be constantly rubbing your noses and dancing together in the streets like some cheesy rom-com movie…which it may be and there’s no harm in that…but for many couples I meet; it’s not – just know and understand that the first 20 minutes feels awkward for just about everyone and that’s not a weird or bad thing, I promise it’s a very, very normal thing and it will feel immediately better with just a little time.

5. Don’t come starving

My best advice for moms of little kids or wives of hangry husbands or even moms to be – really this tip is for anyone and everyone. Don’t show up starving to a photo session and also don’t come completely stuffed full either, you don’t want to feel uncomfortable moving around for an hour. Eat a reasonably clean, small snack right before we start. Since my sessions on average last an hour to an hour and a half we don’t want anyone super famished and already cranky before we even start. Here are some good options to set everyone up for success:

  • Apple slices
  • popcorn
  • cuties oranges
  • pretzels
  • peanut butter crackers…ect

The idea here is we want to stay away from anything super juicy, sugary or “cheese dusty” Lol. And then as a great reward for following directions and participating with Ms. Taylor – eating at someones favorite restaurant or getting a treat afterwards is a wonderful idea too!! 🙂

And another bonus tip *Just have fun!!* Photo sessions become immediately less stressful when you just only have one goal in mind;

have fun and trust the photographer to capture it beautifully.

I hope these five helpful portrait session tips come in handy for you for your next session and I’m praying I’ll be the photographer you entrust with your story!! 🙂

Be blessed,

Taylor

Love with a lake view

Hello there, 

 

It’s been quite a long minute since I’ve written about a session I’ve done and in the absence I actually switched blog platforms so if you hadn’t noticed – Welcome! Scroll on down and take a tour of the new place lol. 

If you don’t know me and you’re wondering who you stumbled upon. My name is Taylor Moulton. My company name is Wombs to weddings Photography and in total I’ve been in business 3 years this October; but I have been physically in love with Photography Since the 9th grade. In high school I would some times skip lunch to stay in the photo room a little longer. I would get a heart racing, stomach flipping, palms sweating kind of feeling every time I would drop a print into the developer and see it appear before my eyes in the red light of the darkroom. And I think it was then in that time of my life I knew in my heart photography was something I wanted to do forever. After high school I attended Daytona State for photographic technology, and after college God paved a way for me to start working as a photographer at my local hospital. I am so so grateful for all the opportunities I’ve been given, for all the lives  I’ve entered and wonderful people I’ve met along the way in this incredible journey. Truly I say to you I am blessed. People say it all the time like it’s some kind of trendy catch phrase right now… But sincerely, my life has been miraculously changed by God and my business is thriving proof. I am blessed and highly favored. And so are you. If you don’t know it yet, I hope you figure it out soon.   

So without further ado “Love with a lake view” or as I am naming it – was a brilliant family session I did with this gorgeous Spanish family I met at – you guessed it – Citrus Memorial Hospital. And like I have said a million times already, I will say it again; I love re meeting my vicarious babies again as adorable walking toddlers; it is without a doubt the biggest perk of my job and makes me want to hug and squeeze them like nieces and nephews.

For the small hour we spent together I dug up every bit of Spanish from my brain that I could remember from my high school days and when I said “Hola” to Maximino it triggered a big smile from ear to ear and he started waving at me. Hahah it made my heart melt a little. The nats were insane, and basically there was a cloud of bugs in every picture I took that I had to edit out but my people braved them like champs. And we got some amazing, amazing photographs out of it. 

Ooooh my goodness, the struggle of trying to narrow these down was SO real. Baby Maximino gave me smiles, he gave me puckered kissy faces, he gave me sour gummy worm faces, serious faces, he was waving and just being as cute as he could be with every expression under the sun. How could I throw any of them away?!? The answer is I couldn’t. The gallery is extra extensive because really how do you pick and choose between this sweetness? And mom and dad…Pure FIRE! Here is a glimpse of the magic. But as always if you’re interested to see more you can browse the website here

And if you’d like to schedule a family session like this of your very own contact me here

Be blessed, 

Taylor