The Olesya Photography Experience
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Reserve your Shoot Date:
I recommend booking at least 4-6 weeks prior to allow time for styling. I shoot on weekdays for less crowds, and only offer occasional weekend dates for travel sessions. The session fee reserves your date in my calendar. Note that Fall dates are especially popular and book 3-4 months in advance.
Location + Styling:
Once you reserve your date, I spend time getting to know you. I learn what you enjoy doing together and get an overall feel of your family. I then recommend locations that are the best fit for your family’s personalities and the type of experience you would enjoy most. For example, running on the beach may not be your thing, but a casual evening hike with a picnic is. We will then start planning wardrobe based on the location, what would photograph well and what you feel most beautiful in!
Note – Clients also have the option to collaborate with me on a custom creative concept/idea for your shoot.
Shoot Day:
The time we spend together is really all about you! It may take a few moments, but I will get you to feel at ease and spend time having fun and loving on each other. I may direct you to kiss or hug, or go play, but really it takes off from there. You’d be amazed at the moments we capture and how I can truly see you when you’re not worried about looking at the camera. The time is meant to be spent how you normally would as a family out to have some stress-free fun. There is beauty in chaos, and that’s what I am after. We will spend 1-1.5 hours together. Newborn at-home sessions can take up to two hours.
Photos:
You will be able to view your slideshow with ALL hand-edited images from your session (60+) within 3 weeks. The day before your session you will prepay for Collection 1 package of 25 digital images. After viewing your slideshow, you can choose to either keep or upgrade your package to all images. Finally, you will get access to the gallery to download your high resolution digital images and use your bonus print credit on professionally printed products.
Investment
My rates are the same for a family, newborn, maternity, motherhood, or couple session.
SESSION FEE $300
The session fee reserves your date in my calendar and covers my time and talent. Location scouting, styling your family and borrowing items from my client closet are included in the session fee. The fee is non-refundable and does not apply to collections.
COLLECTIONS
You must prepay for Collection 1 one day prior to your shoot date. After viewing your gallery slideshow with all the hand edited images (60-80), you can select to keep Collection 1 or upgrade to Collection 2.
Collection 1: The Highlights
25 high resolution digital images from your gallery
$100 complimentary print credit to redeem in your personalized online print store
$750
Collection 2: The Full Story
All the high resolution digital images from your gallery
$200 complimentary print credit to redeem in your personalized online print store
$1050
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The session fee reserves the date in my calendar and covers my time and talent to scout locations, style your family, and prepare for your session. Collection packages are additional to the session fee.
I shoot all over Southern and Central California, from Morro Bay to San Diego. I take a lot of time to scout gorgeous locations and know how they look during different times of year, how the light falls, and whether they are accessible due to tide patterns. Clients often book with me months in advance to get their dream location at the perfect time. I will send you location recommendations (with sample photos) for your shoot date taking into account where you live, how far you will travel, what kind of session you want, ages of your kids. and how locations will look on your shoot date. Please note that if you are booking me for a travel session that is 2-3 hours outside of South Bay LA (eg Joshua Tree), there would be an extra travel fee, unless you are purchasing collection #3 in advance. I also shoot indoors as well in a more intimate setting whether that be your home, my in-home creative studio, or somewhere that feels like home to you.
I only shoot 1-2 hours before sunset or at sunrise for that beautiful light. If you have young kids who go to bed early, keep in mind that sunset times are much earlier in the Fall and Winter. However parents are always amazed how long kids can last in sessions past their bedtime especially when they are having fun on the beach! Or consider a sunrise session – you will love greeting the sun to start your day.
I love it when grandparents join! Both kids and grandparents light up in the presence of each other, and capturing these moments is priceless. I just ask that grandparents are styled in advance along with your family, and come ready to interact and play. There is no extra fee to add 1-2 extended family members to your session. If you are having a reunion with more family members, pricing for an extended family session would be different.
What you wear plays a hugely important role in how your photos will look and how I will edit your session for a given location and light. I share my guidelines of what photographs well, give color scheme suggestions specific to your taste and your location, suggest my favorite retailers for photoshoots, and provide access to an online styling tool to help style your whole family. I often also pick out specific pieces for each family member to wear. Most clients end up purchasing new clothing to mix with some of their existing pieces, however you will also get access to my client closet (in the South Bay LA) to try on and borrow free of charge certain mom’s and kids’ outfits. While most of my sessions are styled in timeless bohemian inspired clothing, I also love working on a look with you specific to your family if you have a unique styling vibe or idea.
As part of the styling process, I also give you full complimentary access to my client closet! This is a collection of name-brand feminine, beautiful dresses and some kids outfits. A lot of the outfits are bohemian or romantic in style They look beautiful against that golden light and add interesting texture and poetic movement to your sessions! Once you book with me, you will get a link to my client closet to see the pieces I own and you can set up a time to come and try them on in the South Bay LA area.
I adore photographing kids during your session. Their joy and wonder is pure magic. While I have done kids only sessions in the past, I am not offering them at this time. My passion lies more in capturing your connections with your kids – how you love on each other, interact, and play. So yes I will absolutely photograph your kids, but you must be a willing participant in the session. And I promise that you will get better photos of your kids this way, and that I will do my best to make you look and feel great. You will never regret being in photos! Just do it!
If you are worried about your husband participating, I do my best to make everyone including him feel at ease and in their element! Tell him that he won’t be posing and looking at the camera, but instead playing with and loving on this family. Dads usually tell me they enjoy my sessions, even when they had reservations going in. And if he needs to take breaks or only be part of some we can always make that work. However, yes! I do offer motherhood sessions as well where we can beautifully document your story with you and your children.
I love working with you to customize sessions to truly reflect your family and your story. If you have a vision of a certain vibe you want for your session – what you want your session to feel like, look like, or reflect an activity your family enjoys (eg surfing, skateboarding, playing music etc) – we will work together to bring that vision to life. See more info about my custom creative concept sessions and experience sessions here.
I offer two kinds of sessions, my experience sessions and my custom creative concept sessions. My experience sessions are all about having fun in nature or at home and enjoying an activity everyone loves in order to be fully immersed in the moment, and connect with each other in a meaningful way. My creative concept sessions are when a family has a custom idea they want to do for their session that best encapsulates their unique personalities. It is more hands-on planning with me and bringing the vision to life. Both of these sessions can be applied to families, couples, motherhood and maternity sessions. Not sure which one you are interested in? You can read more about my experience sessions here, and more about my custom creative concept sessions here on the blog.
Note: I also offer in-home newborn sessions as well.
Unfortunately I do not offer shorter sessions for several reasons. I put a lot of time and effort into getting to know your family and planning and executing your session, no matter how long it would last. A short session doesn’t allow enough time for capturing your story, beyond a few basic portraits. Worried about your babies and toddlers lasting 1-1.5 hours in front of the camera? They easily do all the time in my sessions because they do not need to look at the camera and pose. They will be engaged playing or snuggling with you and interacting with nature.
While my passion lies in creating storytelling and lifestyle images, I always make it a point during the session to get a great photo of the family happily looking at the camera because I believe that you need an image like this in your gallery. Typically we do this shot first before we move into the rest of the session. However if you expect to have multiple combinations of people all statically looking at the camera, I am not the right photographer for your needs. I do love to catch kids’ eyes and smiles throughout the session, so you will see a lot of those in your gallery!