mama love prep info
Important information for your Mama Love session
Please read for guidance on how to prepare and what to bring for your Mama Love session. If you have any questions at all you can definitely email me :)
For Date and Time confirmation please check the email you received when you booked!
Location: 7139 rue Briand, Montreal QC
What to do if I am early ?
Please wait in your car and only ring the bell at the time of your session. We are on the second floor, so it may take me time to get to the door, so please only ring the bell once, as my son may be napping when you come.
What to do if I am late?
Hey it happens! I am rarely on time, so no judgement here, text me at 514-462-1960 with an estimate on when you will arrive. Please note: because I am doing sessions back to back, I may not be able to extend your session time past it's allotted time, so we may have to make do with a shortened session, but please do not worry I can do a lot with little time.
What if I can’t make my session time at all?
Please let me know at least 48 hours beforehand, so that I can offer your time slot to someone else. If you cannot make it due to illness, we will definitely try to reschedule you, it will depend on my availability.
Information on the session itself:
The session is booked out for 30 minutes, but depending on the age of your child and the mood they are in, it may only take 15 minutes. Trust that I will have gotten everything we needed for the session even if it feels super quick. Keep in mind this is not a regular portrait session, photos of everyone posing and smiling at the camera, while lovely, are not the priority of these sessions. This is about your relationship with your child or your own mother if you are including her. This means you will not be looking at the camera at all likely. I will still be guiding you on where and how to sit or stand for ideal lighting and flattering angles, but the rest of it will be all you and your loves. Bring things that you won’t mind being in the photos that you and your child love to do! Puzzles, favourite stuffies, books, whatever will make both of you enter into your own little world.
the vibe is so important…
First off, if your child is at the age where they are still napping and this session falls right around nap time, my advice is to adjust nap time to earlier so that they come well rested. It is not ideal to have a tired and cranky kiddo for these sessions. Also try not to plan a lot of things to do on the same day of photos, especially not before the session happens. This will help us to not overstimulate your little ones, as well as gives you a bit less stress of running around!
When you come to this session you may have worries about how your kid will act, whether you will look good in the photos, whether your kid will refuse to play along, and this is completely normal! Just try to remain present with your child, interacting with them, playing with them, even just being with them would result in lovely photos. Is your kid a bounce off the walls, never wants to be in Mama’s lap kinda kiddo? That’s fine too! We work around them and they will have so much fun regardless. I will give guidance on where to sit, how to face the light, etc, but the rest will just be me orbiting you while you play and enjoy each other’s company :)
Keep present, playful and try your best to trust that I will get the best shots of it all! <3
So deep breaths, we got this.
“Reina, I am so happy you are doing these sessions again! You have so many mammas that need an uplift right now and being in your warm presence to experience this amazing session will make such a difference. My kids are getting older by the minute. M is turning 10 on Tuesday and A is getting ready for high school next year! My most cherished photographs are from our last mamma session and they adorn our big wall we walk past dozens of times per day. ”
What to wear
As usual, I have plenty of dresses for you to choose from if you have nothing you feel comfy wearing for this. I also have outfits for kiddos from 0 -10 years old. If you would like to confirm my available outfits please reply to the prep email I sent this link in, and let me know your concerns.
If you would like to dress yourself, wear something comfortable, with movement and texture. Dresses are always nice, especially when they are loose and flattering, or jeans and a loose flowing top is a beautiful option. Wear something that will be easy to sit and have a possible tickle fight :)
Here are a few examples of clothing with movement and texture that I enjoy as well as the ideal colour palette (earthtones are the most timeless and richest colours in my opinion).
I feel like textures like lace, cotton, linen and even velvet have such beautiful play with light and shadow, and flowy loose fabrics give the vibe of relaxed and carefree vibe we are going for.
the most important thing is that you feel like yourself!
So if what I have shown above is not your style then please dress as you prefer, I only ask that you stay away from black, I work in natural light and black just absorbs all of the light so it is hard to photograph in this space. Also small and delicate patterns are great, but nothing too distracting. And again, if you are not sure, bring options, I can help you choose what would work best as well :)
After the session
We will discuss in more detail at the session what to expect, but we will be meeting via zoom for the reveal of your photos, whether you plan to upgrade to a higher package or not, the reveal is an important and lovely part of the experience, and I would not like to miss experiencing that with you. Please expect a turn around time of about 3 weeks.