Your Guide to Lavender Farm Family Photos
Lavender Farm Family Session Guide
Mini sessions are a great way to explore creative locations for family photos and add a little variety to the photos in your home. They’re also great because if you had fall family photos taken with me, then a mini session in the summer can capture a lot of growth that happened the following 6 months and you’ll be up to date until your next fall family session.
Oftentimes mini sessions come with their own set of tips and tricks because they are in a location that is less typical like a nearby park or home studio. Lavender Farm Minis are no exception!
My Lavender Farm Mini Sessions are just around the corner during the middle of summer, so I wanted to share the six things you can do to prepare for your family mini session and make sure that you have a great time. I’m also sharing some beautiful lavender farm photos from the B family’s lavender farm mini session at Carriage House Lavender farm. It’s truly a gift I’m thankful for everyday to meet such wonderful families and photograph them as my job!
6 tips for your best lavender farm photoshoot
Talk to your kiddos ahead of time about the bees so they feel prepared and to calm their nerves. You will definitely see bumblebees at the lavender farm but they don’t usually sting and aren’t a problem. I’ve found that if kids know about the bees ahead of time they feel a lot less worried about them.
The lavender farms are outside of the city, so be prepared for a slightly longer driving time. For the drive, I recommend bringing mess-free snacks and not dressing your kids in their photo clothes beforehand. You can arrive at the lavender farm a little early so there’s time to change outfits. This way we can avoid any food messes and everyone’s outfits are fresh.
Be flexible with afternoon naps for young children on photo day. Flower field photos are usually scheduled around sunset which is late in the summer because of the time change. If your kids are used to an earlier bedtime, rearrange naps in a way that helps them be the most alert and happy. This can mean a later or a longer nap time, you know your kids best!
Choose outfits and colors that complement the lavender fields. My favorite place to shop for gorgeous photoshoot dresses is Fhrnvi online boutique, but I also have a collection of my favorite Amazon dresses here. My go-to is neutrals because I love the way that they photograph and think they’re perfect for the summer. But if you’re looking to branch out check out Claire Murthy’s style guide for lavender farm photography sessions. I really liked her suggestions of a soft muted palette but also throwing in some big pops of color if that’s more your style.
The lavender farms are private property and we need to be respectful of the owner. This means making sure we aren’t leaving trash and we’re being considerate of the areas that we’ve been asked to avoid.
Just relax and have fun! Like I mentioned, mini sessions are a great way to add variety to your photos and to try something new! I hope if you join me for my Lavender Mini Sessions, you and your kiddos will love experiencing the beauty of the lavender farms and it’ll be a great memory for you all.
A big THANK YOU to Carriage House Lavender for making lavender farm family photos possible for Elizabeth Hite Photography! Carriage house lavender offers fragrant small batch lavender products with hand-harvested flowers from their local farm in Sherwood, Oregon. You can shop their products online or at the Portland Home and Garden Show.
If you’re interested in securing a summer lavender farm mini session, I’m offering them in July! Mini session events are offered seasonally by email invite-only.