"It is important not only to be photographed in ways that indicate caring, nurturing, love and success, but also to see those images and take them in."
– David Krauss
What is a Day in the Life session?
A Day in the Life is a photojournalistic style session where I tag along and capture a day in your life with my camera. It’s an opportunity for you to spend time interacting with and enjoying your family during your normal daily routine, with nothing planned or posed.
What is the intent of a Day in the Life session vs a traditional family portrait session?
The intent is to capture the everyday scenes of your life — from the mundane to the spontaneous and unexpected.
These sessions allow me to capture your family interactions during the in-between moments, the routines of your everyday, that wouldn't normally be considered worthy of a photo shoot but get much closer to portraying the realness and essence of your life than your entire family dressed and posed perfectly, smiling at the camera.
I want to document your family's routine and relationships in a natural and timeless way that you will cherish in years to come.
The unposed nature of a day in the life session results in images that couldn’t be captured in a traditional portrait session: a family having a dance party at home, a mother giving her kids a bath, a father entertaining his kids in a subway car.
These images will take you back to the different scenes and spaces of your everyday life.
I find traditional portraits to be meaningful, but the images from a day in the life session will add something special to your photo collection-–they are tied to your life in an intimate way, that will spark memories of those places you will want to remember long after they have changed, or you have moved away.
If you schedule a Day in the Life session once a year or every 2-3 years you will create an invaluable collection of the stages of your family life over time.
What is the philosophy behind Day in the Life sessions?
A Day in the Life session lends itself to the kind of images that some psychologists are using to help their patients.
David Krauss, a licensed psychologist who uses people's photography and family albums to assist in mental health therapy said, "I think it is really important to show a family as a family unit. It is so helpful for children to see themselves as a valued and important part of a family unit. A photographer's job is to create and make the image look like a safe holding space for kids where they are safe and protected. Kids get it on a really simple level."
A parent's connection to their children, and the ways their daily routines and even mundane interactions reveal how much parents care for, nurture, and sacrifice for their children is one of several patterns I've noticed in many of my Day in the Life images.
How long is a Day in the Life session?
I offer both 4 and 8 hour Day in the Life sessions. Both my 4 hour and 8 hour sessions can be shifted to capture any hours of the day between 6:30am–9:30pm. I can also create an extended session for your family if you would like to capture your entire daily routine, a weekend or a vacation.
What is the investment in a Day in the Life session?
Day in the Life pricing varies based on your individual needs, session time and end goals. I generally recommend a half day (4 hours) or a full day (8 hours) but I’ve started customizing these sessions so I can work with more people to create something that fits each family/individual’s needs and schedule. Just let me know if you would like a shorter session or longer one. We will design a custom package/pricing that will work for you.
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"My personal and clinical bias is there is something very powerful in touching your fingers to an actual print. Touching the photograph where a face is smiling or the shoulders, it is the same thing as touching a book when you read it,” said Carl Steinberg, a licensed psychologist working with kids in Eugene, Or. “There's a lot of stimulation of the brain when you have that sensory experience. That is a bit lost in the move to digital."
Day in the Life sessions lend very naturally to prints and family albums as they tell a story of a day in your life. If you choose to create an album with your images I can help you select and curate your images in a sequence and narrative that feels genuine and reflects your real life.
What will I receive for my investment in a Day in the Life Session?
In addition to your session time, you will receive a pre-shoot consultation where I walk you through my process and give you all the information you need to prepare for your session. I will share my photography approach and philosophy, and you can share anything you think will help me to understand your family culture, as well as your individual personalities and interests.
During your session you will receive either a half day (4 hours) or full day (8 hours) of shooting time. I will draw from over 10 years of experience in photography including years of assisting and freelancing, as well as many years of education through workshops, courses, mentoring, and professional critiques.
After your session, you will receive an in-home or zoom image reveal (your choice) where your entire family is invited to view your images together and I will share options for adding prints, folios, albums, and slideshows to your package that suit you, your design preferences and your lifestyle. I can help you curate a collection you will love and view everyday.
All of the best images from your session will be delivered to you via a convenient online gallery and edited in a natural, timeless style. These will be made available for viewing, downloading and sharing with family and friends for 6 months. You will be given the option to download both web-size and high resolution versions of your images.
One year from now what images will you wish you had captured of your family today? What stages of your children’s lives will have passed into new stages? What memories will these images allow you to access 10 years from now, 20 years from now? What details from your life, that you don’t want to forget, may fade in your memory with time without a visual reminder? Contact me at reed@rebeccareed.com to set up a free consultation for a Day in the Life Session. Let’s make some images you will be so grateful you made the time for in 2022.