Glimpse of my Fall 2019 sessions | Springfield, VA Family Photogrpahy

Wow. What a Fall! This was my second official Fall in business and the learning curve was steep. I thoroughly enjoyed it and took LOTS of notes as I went along my journey. Here are a few things I learned and a picture from (almost) every session I had from September to December.

1. Being a family photographer is a seasonal job. This may sound obvious to you and, honestly, it seemed obvious to me as well. But actually LIVING it and watching my workload pile up is a whole different experience than simply saying it. Now that I have been through a busy Fall I can truly say I understand how heavily seasonal this job is. Do I still have more to learn? Of course.

2. Three weekday sessions in a week is too much (for now). I love weekday sessions for my families – there are less crowds at the location and they have a different feel than a weekend session. That being said, figuring out childcare was more of a struggle than I expected. Add Daylight Savings Time into the mix and earlier sessions meant an earlier need for childcare. Then the 1-2 weekend sessions I had plus the time it takes to edit all of them and that is a FULL workload.

3. Editing speed is key. Snapping the shutter at a session is only part of the job. Again, I knew this, but it all seemed amplified by having more sessions stacking up. More shuttler clicks meant more culling and more editing. I had my fair share of difficult editing, but it forced me to grow in my efficiency and knowledge of Lightroom.

4. Continue to take pictures for myself. I found it refreshing during the busy season to go out and just photography my own babies. There is something about taking the camera out just for fun that was feeding my creative soul. I am doing the 365 Project (take a picture every day for a year) which was sometimes super difficult this Fall, but sometimes it was just what I needed to light the creative fire for me. It kept me relaxed and that was important when I was feeling tired of clicking the button sometimes.