a few thoughts/lessons


I have been meaning to do this for a while now but life has just been so busy!


So here we are. Its been a few weeks since my mothers day minis were done at the Peach Palace studio in Auckland, and I loved my time there as well as the people I met on the day. I just wanted to write about my experience with minis and what you could possibly take away from this.


Minis can be such a difficult thing to plan! When I tried minis for the first time as a photographer last year I had no idea what I was doing, and I guess it showed because only one person booked. It was sad but I did learn a few things for when I tried again. Thankfully this time was much better and all my mini sessions I had available were booked within 24 hours. So what have I learnt?


  1. Plan ahead - when I say plan, I mean weeks if not a couple months. Start researching ahead! use this opportunity to work with other small businesses/owners if you can. If you have to pay then make sure its within your budget and charge your minis accordingly. For example, I worked with Rosa from the Peach Palace, Flora from Flora with love, and Ofa who is a photographer/friend who was nice enough to lend me her peacock chair.
  2. PLAN AHEAD - this time I am referring to the little things that will make a huge impact on your day. If you're hosting minis at a park, are you hosting it during peak hour when parking will literally be impossible to find? If you're hosting it at a beach, are you hosting it somewhere that's not crowded with other swimmers? How easy is it to get there and how easy is it to direct someone there successfully? Is there plenty of parking available and how close is it to where you're setting up your minis? How crowded will it be where you are or will you have exclusive use of the venue? and the most important thing... weather! As we know, Auckland can give you four seasons in one day and can be quite unpredictable. Considering an indoor option might give people a sense of security knowing that they wont need to worry about that. These things will really make a difference on how well your mini photoshoots go, so please put a lot of time and thought into this.
  3. Advertise - this does not mean putting up one post, sharing it to your story and that is it. There are a lot of other photographers in the same area as you offering mothers day minis too, so what is it about yours that will make people want to go with you instead? What does your mood board look like, can you give an image in their head of what their photos are going to look like? can you make it so enticing that clients will be like "wow, I love this! I want to book with you ASAP!" I spent weeks talking about my minis on my stories, I did polls checking what date the majority of people could commit to. I did a countdown to give a sense of urgency to make people follow my stories, I did question boxes to answer any questions and keep up with engagement. I didn't advertise my times until the very last moment so that by the time I did people were ready to book, they knew what to expect and had their questions answered.
  4. Clients - think about this for a second. It would be easy to have clients you are comfortable with to book (and you know they will), but in my opinion minis are an opportunity to meet new clients. Use this opportunity to make strong connections with new families that will want to book you for a full session in future. My minis were a good mix of old clients and new clients so was able to meet new people and create precious memories for them.
  5. Money - I know this can be a tough one! but you have to be assertive with this one. Minis are quite difficult to plan if people keep going back and forth about paying. Some wanted to pay in full on the day, some could only pay the deposit next fortnight etc. This is also where your advertising needs to be effective as well. I had multiple videos on my stories saying that I will not be accepting late payments and that it is first come first served. With planning multiple minis in such a short amount of time, there really isn't any room for leniency. You will need to stand firm with the expectation that they have their retainer ready to pay as soon as you start accepting bookings, or their spot will not be held. I had three enquiries for one spot but it went to whoever paid first.
  6. Delegate - I cannot stress this one enough! you only get a small amount of time with these families so you need to make sure everything runs smoothly. On the day I had two assistants help me (can just be a friend or family member) and it really helped. On the day the only thing you want to worry about is your clients during the session, camera settings and poses. I had one person help me decorate the place, welcome each family in, direct them to the waiting area and gave them a brief rundown of how the minis would go. I also had her on standby to contact anyone if they were late. I had another capture my behind the scenes footage and control the music for the day (we asked in my questionnaires what music would help with children so we ended up listening to a lot of the wiggles on the day haha) she also had the lollies and would stand behind me to help keep children engaged during the photoshoot. She also was my timekeeper to ensure we stuck to the schedule. They were so helpful and it helped me focus on my photoshoots and getting the photos done.


As you can see, there are so many things to take into consideration for mini photoshoots! is it a headache? yes! will it frustrate you and question why you are doing photoshoots for a cheaper price? yes! will you do it anyway? absolutely! because in the end its all worth it :)


So go forth and I hope you have learnt a thing or two from my experience.


With love,

Roberta.