What actually happens at an outdoor mini session

By Deep Arora · Still & Golden Photography · Frankston & South-East Melbourne

A mini session is thirty minutes in a park. That sounds almost too simple to write about, which is exactly why people hesitate over it — thirty minutes doesn’t sound like enough, and “outdoors” sounds like it depends on everything going right. Here is what actually happens, start to finish.

Where we meet

Somewhere close to you, with trees and open grass and a car park you can reach without a forty-minute drive. That last part matters more than it sounds: the drive is where small children fall asleep, or don’t, and a session that starts with a long car trip starts one nap behind.

George Pentland Gardens in Frankston is the one I use most — big old trees, easy parking, a toilet block, and enough separate corners that you never feel watched. The Frankston foreshore works when you want water and sky instead of leaves. Around Cranbourne there are quieter reserves that suit families who’d rather not run into half their kinder class.

If you have a spot that means something to you — the park at the end of your street, the beach you walk at on Sundays, your own back garden — that is almost always the better choice. A place you already know beats a place that photographs well.

The light decides the time

Outdoor sessions run in the last two hours before sunset, or the first hour or so after sunrise. Midday sun sits directly overhead, which puts shadows under everyone’s eyes and makes children squint. There is no fixing that afterwards, so I’d rather work around it.

In practice that means a late-afternoon start most of the year, and an earlier one through summer. If your toddler’s good hour is 9am and their meltdown hour is 5pm, say so when you book — morning light is perfectly good, and a happy child at 9am beats beautiful light at 6pm every time.

How the half hour runs

We start walking. Not posing — walking, to the first patch of decent light, while your kids work out who I am. The first five minutes are usually the stiffest and I mostly let them be. Nobody arrives relaxed.

From there it is loose: a few frames of everyone together while you still have their attention, then the parents, then the kids on their own, then whatever the children invent. Chasing, being carried upside down, finding a stick. Those are the frames people order prints of.

• Everyone together — done early, while patience is at its highest.
• The two of you — the photo that never otherwise gets taken.
• Each child on their own — a year of them, at this exact size.
• Whatever happens — which is generally the good part.

I don’t ask anyone to say cheese. If a child refuses the camera entirely, we photograph them doing what they’d rather do, and the parents get a lovely photo of themselves in the meantime.

What to bring

Very little. Water, and a snack you’re happy to have in photos if it comes out. A change of clothes if your child is at the stage where mud is inevitable.

For what to wear, the short version is soft colours, layers and no big logos — there’s a full walkthrough in what to wear for your family photo session. Don’t buy anything new.

If the weather turns

Melbourne being Melbourne, this comes up. Light rain is fine and often beautiful — overcast skies are the softest light you will ever get for free. Actual rain, wind or heat that isn’t safe for a baby, and we move the session, at no cost. I’d rather reschedule than hand you thirty minutes of everyone being miserable.

Which session size

A mini — Glimpse, from $195 — is thirty minutes and ten edited images. It suits one small family, an update of the kids, or a first try if you’ve never done this before. If you want extended family, more than one location, or simply more room to breathe, Golden at sixty minutes is the more comfortable fit. Both can be upgraded to the full gallery afterwards if you want everything rather than my selects.

More detail on minis specifically is on the mini sessions page.

Where I travel

I’m based in Cranbourne East and travel is included across Frankston, Chelsea, Seaford, Langwarrin, Mt Eliza, Cranbourne and the surrounding south-east suburbs. Further afield is usually fine too — ask, and I’ll tell you honestly whether the drive makes sense for the session length you’re booking.

Afterwards

Your edited gallery arrives within two weeks, in a private online gallery you download at full resolution and print wherever you like. No watermarks, no per-image fees, no upsell meeting.

If you’d rather be indoors — particularly with a newborn — the same session runs at your place instead. That version is covered in what actually happens at a family session.