5 Easy Steps to Finding Your Dream Maternity Photographer
Finding the right maternity photographer can be a difficult task. You need to find someone that will get you. Will understand what you want and make it a reality. You also need someone that speaks your language and communicates in a way that won’t add to your stress. And someone you can depend upon. Someone you can trust.
Basically you need to make a best friend in a few weeks…
Nah, I’m only joking. But also not really. Photography is an intimate relationship. This person is capturing your likeness. She is preserving your legacy. And she will be up in your face, adjusting your hair, and your bra straps while she does it. So, yeah, you do want to be comfortable with this person.
To help you make this gargantuan task a little more manageable, here’s 5 Easy Steps to Finding Your Dream Photographer.
Step 1 - Determine Your Photography Goals and Set a Budget
Determine Your Goals with Your Photography
To determine your photography goals, there are certain things you’ll want to consider. Below are the questions I recommend thinking about when determining those goals.
Final Product
What products do you want to get out of your maternity photography?
Do you want a couple of photos to share and print on the wall?
Do you want an album full of images?
Do you want to get digital image files from your photographer and DIY the rest?
Do you want to be able to order prints and albums from the photographer?
Type or Style of Photography
Do you want an indoor studio session? Outdoors session? Underwater session?
When it comes to outdoors, what type of outdoors? Do you want urban? Manicured lawn areas? Wilderness? Beach?
When it comes to studio, what type of studio? Modern? Traditional?
Do you want lifestyle photography? Traditionally posed photography?
Do you want it to be emotive or more reserved in emotion?
Level of Service and What the Photographer Offers
Do you want family members to join in on the session? Your partner? Your other children? Grandparents?
Do you want to have the photographer provide a client closet or would you prefer to buy your photoshoot outfits yourself?
Would you like help in choosing a location for your session?
Would you like assistance in figuring out outfits for the other family members of your party?
Do you want your session custom styled or are you flexible with the location and style of your session?
Do you want a photographer that offers more than maternity? Do you want a photographer that also does newborn sessions? Do you want a photographer that also does milestone sessions for the first year? Do you want a photographer that does first birthday sessions? And do they offer the style you’d like in these sessions?
Budget
How much are you willing and able to spend on your session?
What do you want to be included in that investment?
Where are you willing to bend in order to get the photographer you want, even if they are little out of budget? Time? Final Product? Customization options?
Do you want a photographer that has a payment plan available?
What do you feel comfortable investing up front before you see the photos? Would you feel more comfortable paying the entire sum before or would you like it broken down? (Tip: Check out my post, What is a Sitting Fee, to learn about photography pricing structures)
Do you want to be able to invest in an entire baby plan or just a maternity session at this time?
Step 2 - Compile a List of Possible Photographers
Compiling a list of possible photographers is probably one of the hardest parts of this process. This is simply because a simple Google search may not suffice. As a result, I’ve put together a list of resources I personally use when looking for a photographer myself:
Google
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
Step 3 - Narrow Down Your List of Photographers to Three
Based on your goals criteria determined in Step 1, rank the photographers. Choose three who you feel will meet most, if not all of, your goals. Also, make sure that you will want to work with this person. It is important that you feel like you can connect and trust this person. You’ll get more of a feeling for that during the interview stage, but you should already feel like this is someone you could spend some time with and feel comfortable around.
Step 4 - Reach Out to the Photographers
If you ask me, this is the point where the interview starts. Because photography is a service industry, it is so important that the service is exceptional. And that service starts with your inquiry.
Before I dive into how to judge a photographer’s service based on your inquiry, I should take a step back and talk about how this stage might look for different photographers. There are two processes you might encounter with a photographer.
The first is that your first move is scheduling a meeting or call with the photographer. In this case, there really isn’t anything to judge about the photographer prior to the meeting. The interview really starts in the meeting itself. Although they may send you additional information prior to your meeting that helps you identify if you two are a fit, so pay attention to that.
The second is that your first move is filling out a form on their website or sending them an email. In this case, there is a red flag I want you to watch out for when working with this type of inquiry process. The red flag is the amount of time it takes a photographer to respond to you. You really should be hearing from a photographer within three business days. Any longer than that and I would recommend moving on. If a photographer doesn’t get back to you within three business days (specifically with an email that isn’t auto-generated), that means that they do not prioritize communication and may be difficult to get a hold of throughout the entirety of your work with them. Since communication is so important to a good service experience, not receiving good communication at the beginning is a big red flag.
Obviously there is one caveat to this. If you receive an out-of-office response. So make sure you do check the auto-response you get from a photographer.
Step 5 - Interview Your Prospective Photographers
I urge you to be diligent about interviewing your potential photographer. It is a vital step to making sure they are the right fit for you. That you two will work well together. And that this working relationship will be a good one. When I say interview though, I don’t necessarily mean a question and answer session in person. This can and will look different depending on the style of communication you’re conducting with this photographer. It might mean meeting with them or just reading the material they send to you thoroughly and emailing them follow-up questions. Here is how I suggest proceeding.
Review the information sent and make sure that it matches your goals from Step 1.
If you have follow-up questions, ask them immediately and gauge how the responses line up with your goal.
Ascertain a photographer’s attitude and response time with follow-up questions. Do they respond in a timely fashion? Are they receptive to your questions? Are they helpful in general? A photographer that is hesitant to respond to your questions or not helpful should be counted out and you should move on.
What type of communication is being utilized? For cheaper services, you should expect email only. For more luxury and higher end services, you should be speaking with the photographer in person, over the phone, or over video conferencing software. If they are not willing to do that, it is a red flag.
Final Notes About Choosing a Maternity Photographer
Why is it a good idea to qualify/interview your photographer?
Because no photographer is the best photographer for everyone. So even with great reviews, they may still not be the best photographer for you. Being diligent in picking a photographer that meets your photography goals is pivotal in making sure that you have a good photography experience.
What if the photographer doesn’t choose to work with me? And why can this actually be a good thing?
I think a lot of clients would be surprised to find out that we, as the photographers, are interviewing you as well. We know our services well and our style of service. We know what types of people will work well with us and enjoy the experience and which types of people will not work well with us. It isn’t a value judgement and definitely, under no circumstances, should be conducted based on a person’s identity. It is just a personality thing. Some personalities click and get each other and others don’t. As I said above, no photographer is the photographer for everyone. There are just certain people we click with better than others. So we may choose to not work with you and suggest that you work with someone else as a result. It is great if a photographer identifies this, because she just saved you time and stress.
This will also be the case, if after speaking with you, we realize that what we offer doesn’t match what you’re looking for. I’d trust a photographer, if they say this. Because we know photography really well. If we get the feeling that you’re looking for a different style or a different type of session than what we offer, we will let you know. We know how to read between the lines and see if you’re really looking for something else.
Regardless, a good business person, if they are saying that you two aren’t the best fit, should offer you referrals to a business that would better suit you. So going through that inquiry process with someone that doesn’t work out shouldn’t be a loss. You should get a better idea of what you’re looking for and where to look next.
Sara Herkes is a maternity, newborn, family, and senior photographer based in Longmont, CO. She serves the the Denver Metro Area, the Colorado Rockies, and the Northern Front Range and captures your pregnancy amidst the Colorado wilderness. Learn more about her services here.
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