WHY IN-HOME SESSIONS

By Cori Kleckner | Article From Belle Lumière Volume XVIII

Your home tells a beautiful story, your own story, one that’s unique to you and your family. The days of upbringing can often be exhausting yet rewarding and all so fleeting at the same time… Those four walls once filled with the cries of your brand-new newborn baby you brought home for the first time, to the giggle of your growing toddler, to the pitter-patter of those new little walking feet – will one day feel like a brief moment in time. We need to preserve these passing days. What better place than where meals are made together, nourishing little bodies and kissing squishy cheeks & boo-boos, in a space where the fibers of our beings become one, striving to forever hold onto those middle-of-the-night snuggles and childhood moments for as long as we possibly can. Creating meaningful imagery of these chapters of our lives, in a vulnerable space where all that love grows, allows us to pause time in a sense. It is to later look back at imagery of days that we may have otherwise forgotten with feelings of nostalgia as we reminisce on what once was.

“We need to preserve these passing days. What better place than where meals are made together, nourishing little bodies and kissing squishy cheeks & boo-boos.”

Lighting & Space

When entering a client’s home, whether a one-bedroom apartment or a million-dollar home, it’s ultimately our job to be able to offer authentic, light-filled, journalistic-style candid shots. No matter what shape, size, or lighting a space offers, it’s up to us to craft imagery that offers emotive & artistic heirlooms for generations to look back on. But how do we do this?

How do we achieve this in minimal light situations, or with shyer/reserved families? How do we find the light?

With my eyes usually gravitating toward where the sun beams into a room, I also look for things like how the tones will bounce off the walls/floors reflecting on my clients’ skin tones. If my client has blue walls, likely these tones are going to be reflected onto their face, which means I would want to accommodate for this in-camera, to save time in post. If my client’s floors are dark, likely it’s going to reflect on their skin tone with darker shadows. So I may choose a room with lighter surrounding tones or more neutral light.

This doesn’t mean we are stuck to that one space with perfect tones – we need to be flexible and use our artistic eye for carefully selecting areas of the home that will give us the results we are hoping for as visionaries. The definition of visionary is someone who thinks about the future or advancements in a creative and imaginative way. Unsurprisingly, a photographer’s art form develops closely from their innovative artistic visualizations.

“It’s up to us to be able to craft imagery that offers emotive & artistic heirlooms for generations to look back on.”

Making Every Space Work

Sometimes I get questions like, “What if we can’t make any part of a home work for the aesthetic we are hoping for?” My response is twofold. Part of being a skillful artist is being able to make any space work – knowing/understanding the light, improvising, and getting resourceful when needed.

Not feeling inspired by the space? There are many tricks for this! A great trick is to use a blank wall in someone’s home. Don’t see one? Ask your clients to take that frame or painting off the wall temporarily to get the shot! Blank white/grey walls offer classic timeless portraits if you ever feel yourself getting stuck. Do they have dark furniture, but you hoped for something more neutral? Throw a white quilt over that headboard or shoot from a different angle that doesn’t show the dark furniture in the background.

Some clients may want to remember their home exactly as is – and these are their memories. So it’s important to respect that what’s surrounding them may not be aesthetically pleasing to you as the photographer, but may be memorabilia for the client to one day look back on in their photos. This is the home they make memories in every day, and it’s our job to help them not forget it.

Getting Clients Comfortable to Create Authentic Imagery

In-home sessions are as intimate, raw, and tender as they come. Finding ways to tie in the things each family enjoys doing together, the things that make their hearts full, even in the simple moments of their daily routines, can be a meaningful way to capture the essence of who they are and an easier way to get them more natural in front of the lens.

Do they wake up and make a cup of coffee together? Capture them doing that. Do they gather around the living room playing music together? Capture that. Does dad play/teach the kids guitar? Capture that. Does mamma often bathe the baby in the sink while preparing meals in the kitchen? Capture that. Get to know them on a deeper level for the most authentic imagery.

And when, mid-session, little Suzie decides she’s camera shy or not feeling like being anywhere but in mamma’s arms, embrace that. Don’t stop shooting while mother soothes her baby – these are the moments that make up motherhood, the hard ones along with the sweet ones.

Encourage Play

Whether it be tickle fights on the bed, cuddling up in each other’s arms reading a story, or dance parties that make for lots of fun movement bringing giggles & getting those wiggles out, movement is medicine for creating magical imagery.

Bed-jumping, piggyback riding, baking, coloring, fort building… embody an energetic, fun spirit the entire session to help bring out the personalities of your subjects and create a session full of laughter and joy.

“Don’t stop shooting while mother soothes her baby, these are the moments that make up motherhood, the hard ones along with the sweet ones.”

Encourage Touch

I often feel inspired by hands. It may sound silly, but how many of us remember our grandmother’s hands? They always tell a beautiful story. The creases and imperfections telling the story of a long history of love that only a mother knows. A mother’s hands are the first to touch their baby and sometimes even to grasp their first child during their momentous entry into the world. Photograph the hands of the mother and child, the hands that would rub their little backs and hold their heads while singing them to sleep. Hands that sometimes have blisters from raking in the yard, scrubbing floors, or pulling weeds in the garden.

Hands that move through life touching fevered heads, sweeping aside strands of hair, and wiping away tears. Capture the touch. Encourage tender faces, tracing hairlines, and bodies close together.

Prompts

Offer lots of direction but without stiff posing. My favorite tip: always give clients something to do with their hands. A few of my favorite prompts are to ask mom to get little ones dressed (while she pulls those little arms into the sleeves or buttons that tiny jacket, I photograph it), or ask her to give her toddler a bath in the sink, engaging in the sometimes mundane ordinary things—the little moments we will one day miss.

If the mamma is nursing, ask if she would like it captured and where she’s most comfortable doing this. You can also place her in front of a window with seeping light that inspires you for a few shots. Ask her to embrace the sun hitting her face as she nurtures her little one.

Sometimes I let the family lead me. Let them show you their favorite rooms, favorite toys, favorite parts of their home that make up the story of their family. Those small ordinary things may one day be the big things, so don’t miss capturing the in-betweens. Oh, and another great tip: let your clients know you are going to step aside to reload a new sim card or battery into your camera for a quick minute and watch what naturally unfolds and shoot it without them seeing you. These are always great shots.

Why In-Home Sessions Are Dynamic and Versatile, Offering Many Perspectives

When you are in someone’s home, think about how to capture unobtrusively for the most authentic imagery. Meaning, how do you get that feeling of an outsider looking in? A good example is to find a window to shoot through, from outside in. This gives so much dynamic, pushing you creatively as an artist, to new perspectives of capturing details that make up the story of everyday home life.

I’ll ask the kiddos to look outside for birds, give prompts for those little hands on the window, and ask that clients do anything but look at me. Shoot behind walls and doors for new perspectives. Don’t be afraid to switch it up from traditional portraits.

Sometimes, motherhood can feel like one big sleep-deprived blur. I think capturing it in its rawest form can really evoke sentiment. For this, sometimes I will shift my focal off the subjects to create a sense of motion blur, an intentionally out-of-focus shot, as a way of storytelling from a different viewpoint.

I may also have kids run fast around mom & dad showing affection, while slowing down my shutter intentionally. Because let’s be real, sometimes parenthood also feels like we are all just running in circles. These tiny increments of our lives may one day feel like a distant past of faded memories we wish we could relive again. Life happens in a flash. Memories are a part of us. We’re incomplete without them. They are what we’ve been through. Memories make us, us.

The closest we will ever get to reliving them is to preserve them in a tangible way. If we nurture imagery for clients that they will cherish for a lifetime, heirlooms that can be passed down from generations to generations – this is the greatest gift we can give using the gift we were given as artists.

“Sometimes motherhood can feel like one big sleep-deprived blur, and I think capturing it in its rawest form can really evoke sentiment.”

Article from Belle Lumière Volume XVIII

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California-based photographer, Cori Kleckner, has been honing her skills as a lifestyle, maternity, newborn & family photographer for nearly a decade, mastering the art of capturing candid moments. Originally a preschool teacher, Cori blended her photography skills with her years of experience working with little ones and being a mamma of two herself, bringing a perfect harmony/unison of her two passions.

Cori’s hunger to create art that evokes feelings of meaningful storytelling of childhood & family connection evolves daily, drawing inspiration from the essence of her subjects through movement and play.

Despite hectic, sometimes stressful daily schedules with raising little ones, she hopes those who choose her for their intimate memories will get lost within the memories she captures, allowing them to pause, take a deep breath from it all, and be reminded of the many joys of this chapter in their day-to-day lives.

Visit her website at corikleckner.com
Follow her on Instagram: @coriklecknerphotography