Photographers ask me all the time, “do you only photograph seniors?”  My answer is yes and no!  Yes, I concentrate my business toward the senior genre.  However, especially at this time of year, branching out into the family genre is a great way to keep busy!

Senior seasons vary across the country.  Some are done once the yearbook photo is due.  So what can you do to extend that season or keep your calendar full?  Add the family!!

This year my fall was full of seniors!  It has taken me a while to really educate my market on how wonderful fall photos are and since fall is right before the holidays when most families want Christmas card photos, adding the families into the mix was a great way to extend my senior season.

Whether the family includes a sibling, a family pet or the entire family, adding them into the photos really makes mom happy and gives them something to treasure.  Their son or daughter will be heading to college soon so their family will change a bit when that child leaves the nest.  Having photos to capture the family before this big step in life is something they will love!!

So how do you begin to incorporate families into a senior session?  Here are a few tips.

– Show it!!!  You know from when you started photographing seniors…people respond to what they see!  They need to know it is an option so they will want to do it!  Reward your best referring rep with a family session and use those photos to showcase how much fun a family session with a senior client can be!

– Do Holiday Mini Sessions for your current senior clients!  For all the seniors you have photographed so far this year, offer a special mini session day.  This is a great way to get lots of clients in a short amount of time and make extra money!

– Offer sibling sessions!  This is a great way to get to know younger siblings before they are seniors while capturing the special sibling relationship!  When it comes to brothers, this is perfect!  In my experience, the boys don’t want to spend a ton of time at a photo shoot.  So by having them come at the very beginning or showing up at the very end, you can capture the senior and her brother but not have the brother spend a ton of time at a shoot!

I asked a fellow photographer who also loves to incorporate families and siblings into her senior sessions for some other tips!  Courtney DeLaura of Get Schooled Photo shared the following…

I have always offered to parents during the booking call that they are welcome to bring siblings along for the first 15-20 minutes of the senior session. I encourage it actually for a few different reasons.

1. It will set you apart from the crowd. When a parent calls to book or ask questions about your studio offerings, the simple fact that you offer a quick ‘free’ sibling session before the Senior session will give you a leg up.
2. Really warms up the senior and gets those nervous ‘getting my picture taken’ jitters out of the way with the comfort of others in the photograph.
3. Really increases overall sales averages. Parents will purchase sibling poses as add on items or the sibling shots are just enough to bump them to your largest collection.

Don’t make it complicated, set expectations. Only allow one outfit and have 5 or 6 quick pre-determined poses you can easily execute in one location. You will not regret adding this service and families will be SO appreciative.

Thanks for your advice Courtney!

Be sure to incorporate families, siblings and even pets into your senior sessions this season!