Going forward during the COVID-19 outbreak | New Jersey Photographer

Hey folks!
First off, I want to say that I hope you are all staying safe during this time. It is a scary moment in our lives with a lot of misinformation floating around. During this time, Krick Smith Photography will be abiding by all local and state laws and will be shutting down full operations until further notice.

There has been a popular trend in recent weeks of “front porch sessions” but as photography has been listed as a non-essential service, shooting these sessions is currently illegal and could result in fines. As such, I feel it is important to remain inside until we are told otherwise. While it is a bummer to not be able to use my camera as much as I would like right now, the plan is to stay safe now so I can provide you with the best service possible when the world steps into the sunlight after this has blown over (whenever that may be).

While I cannot shoot sessions right now, bookings are still available for future dates and I will do everything I can to accommodate clients in this time. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Stay home. Stay safe. I hope to see you all soon.

Shawn Krick-Smith

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, I was still able to get out and photograph the cherry blossom next to my building.

The Pros & Cons of Mini Sessions | New Jersey Photographer

With our recent Summer and Beach Minis announcement and the amount of interest and bookings, we have been hit with many questions and we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to list some of the pros and cons of minis!

The Pros to a Mini Session

• For those who don’t have a photographer they exclusively use, mini sessions offer a little peek and a chance to work with that photographer to “try them out” and just see how it goes.
  

• Everything is essentially taken care of, the props and location - you just need to show up!
  

• If you have kiddos with particularly short attention spans, sometimes mini sessions and the shorter times can be helpful! You get their best attitudes and attention for 20 minutes and they are all done. Of course, this could be a con as some kids need some warmup time (we will talk about that later).
  

• It fits busier schedules and are usually held on weekends. Weekend schedules for photographers fill up quickly and as long as you can snag a spot in time, you’re good to go!
  

• They are much cheaper than a photographer’s regular rate and usually have a theme! Since we can stack multiple sessions back-to-back, there’s no travel cost so we can eliminate that off the top which makes it a third of the price!
  

• It’s a great way to keep your family photos updated through the year.
  

• This one mainly is for photographers, but minis are a great way to build your clientele. Usually once you post one sneak peek of a family from your minis, their family and friends will also see your work and may contact you also!

The Cons to a Mini Session

• They are short! Going back to one of the pros with the kids, if it takes a while for your child to come out of their shell - it could be tough and a little challenging.

• You won’t receive as many images. Typically, our full sessions yield 60-80 images with a wide variety of looks. With our Minis, you can expect anywhere from 10-20 images.

• Sometimes there’s a limit on the amount of people. With large groups, it can eat up a lot of time posing and swapping out the groups which can decrease the number of images you will get.
  They aren’t as personalized as full sessions. We really like to give each client their own photo shoot and find ideas they love or even a place that is meaningful to them. Mini sessions don’t allow a lot of time for those fun and more artistic photos, though we do the best we can!

• If you’re late, it will severely cut into your time and the outcome of your shoot. Bouncing off that, we’ve known photographers and heard stories of those who won’t allow you to come if you’re late or won’t refund your money if you can’t make it. It’s important to get that information beforehand so you are at least aware of their policies.

• They are super limited and sometimes fill up before even getting a chance, so keep an eye out if you’re holding off for an event!

Those are the main points of the pros and cons, as you can see much of it deals with time. I like to be sure mini sessions fit for those potential clients we haven’t worked with so we can be sure you are going to have a great experience in our short time and beautiful images you’ll love. We love Mini Sessions as photographers, sometimes we catch up with the families we work with all the time or we meet new families that end up being fantastic clients and friends!

We are so excited to meet our new clients this go around and cannot wait to catch up with our friends!