Fall Mini Sessions · One Day Only
Exactly As You Are This Year
Your family exactly as it is this year. It won't look quite the same next fall. 20 minutes outdoors, and I'll guide you through every single shot.
Saturday 17 October 2026 · Outdoors at Black Hill Regional Park, Boyds MD
Book Fall Mini Session★★★★★ 160+ Five-Star Reviews · 1,000+ Sessions · 10 Years at This Park
The Day
Sat, Oct 17Raincheck: Sun, Oct 25
The Place
Black HillRegional Park · Boyds, MD
The Session
20 MinutesOutdoors, fully guided
Your Group
Up to 45+ welcome, $30 each
What You Get
Twenty Minutes, Properly Used
Short is the point. Nobody melts down, nobody gets bored, and you're back in the car before anyone asks how much longer.
Included
- 20-minute guided session outdoors at Black Hill — you don't have to know how to pose, I'll direct every shot
- 5 retouched high-resolution digitals with our signature retouching
- Private online gallery, open 14 days, to preview and choose your favourites
- 50% off wall prints — canvas, acrylic and metal — while your gallery is open
- Extra digitals and prints available à la carte
- Up to 4 people in the frame; $30 per extra person beyond that
$499
$450
+ tax · Early bird price
Save $49 for planning ahead. Enter this at checkout:
FALL2026
Code expires Sun, Sep 27
After that it's $499
Not Only For Families
Whoever You'd Like In The Frame
Twenty minutes is twenty minutes. What you do with it is up to you.
Your family
Including the husband who claims he hates photos and the teenager who'd rather be anywhere else.
Mini maternity
A short, outdoor way to mark the bump — lovely on its own or alongside a full studio session.
Just the two of you
Couples and engagements. No kids required, and no one will ask where they are.
Only you
Solo portraits. If the last good photo of you is from someone's wedding, this fixes that.
How Booking Works
Three Steps, No Waiting
Pick your time
Choose the slot that suits you. Nothing is held until you pay, so the one you want is the one you should take.
Accept & pay
Read and accept the terms & conditions — this is your official contract — then pay in full. $450 with the early bird code, $499 after it expires, plus tax.
You're booked
The moment the payment clears your session is confirmed and the slot closes to everyone else. You will receive a confirmation in your email right away.
Your Next Step
Pick Your Time, It's Yours
A full day of sessions, morning through late afternoon. Pick the slot that suits you.
The Fine Print
In Plain English
The short version of what you're agreeing to. The full terms & conditions are linked at the bottom, and you'll accept them before you pay.
From booking to photos in your hands
Today
Accept & pay
Full payment confirms your slot. Nothing is held before that.
Sat 17 Oct
Your 20 minutes
Outdoors at Black Hill, fully directed by me.
Within 7 days
Proofs arrive
Your private gallery of previews, to look through and order from.
Your turn
You choose 5
Pick your favourites and place your order.
7 days later
Finals delivered
Fully retouched, downloadable, high resolution.
Your gallery is active for 14 days. Need more time? The first reopening is free for another 14 days.
It's outdoors — two things that follow from that
If we get rained out
This is an outdoor session on a fixed date — sessions aren't reschedulable. What they do have is a backup.
If the weather makes Saturday 17 October impossible, everybody moves to the raincheck date — Sunday 25 October — at the same time slot, at no extra cost.
If the raincheck date doesn't work either, you choose: a full refund with nothing held back, or put the money toward any other session our studio offers. That credit is good for 12 months from the original session date.
It's a park, not a studio
Black Hill is beautiful and it's also real ground — uneven in places, tree roots, slopes, and water not far away. Sensible shoes for the walk in, and change into the nice ones when we get to the spot.
While we're photographing, your little ones are still yours to watch. I'll be directing everyone and looking through a camera, so I'm not the one keeping an eye on a wandering toddler. Obvious, maybe — worth saying anyway.
There's no changing room, so come dressed if you can. If you do need to change, you're welcome to do it in your car — just arrive early enough that it doesn't eat into your 20 minutes. And tell me beforehand about anything I should know — a pregnancy, a sore knee, an allergy — so I can direct around it.
If you need to cancel
7+ days before
Full refund, less a 5% processing and administration fee.
48 hours – 7 days
50% refund, less the 5% processing and administration fee.
Under 48 hours
Non-refundable — same if nobody turns up on the day. You're welcome to book the next minis date at the usual price.
That 5% only applies when you cancel. If the weather calls it off, or we ever have to, you're refunded in full with nothing deducted.
Everything else worth knowing
✦Accepting the terms confirms the spot
Read and accept the terms & conditions — this is your official contract — then pay in full. The slot is yours the moment the payment clears. Until then it stays open to everyone else; nothing is held while you think about it.
✦Group size
Up to 4 people included. Bringing 5 or more is welcome — it's $30 per extra person, so tell us before you book and we'll add it.
✦What retouching means
Skin, stray hairs, gentle slimming, colour toning, light and shadow enhancement, and more. We show you the best photos from your session in the gallery, you select your favourites, and those go through the final retouching process. More retouched images can be bought from the gallery any time it's open.
✦Your photos are yours to enjoy
Print them anywhere you like, as often as you like, and post them wherever you want — a photo credit is always appreciated. They're for personal use, so please don't resell them.
Download them and back them up. We keep a copy for 12 months, and after that we can't be responsible for storing or recovering your files — so please don't let the gallery be your only copy.
✦We may share your images
When you book you automatically grant us permission to use images from your session in our portfolio, on social media, in advertising and in photography competitions. Prefer we didn't? Just email us and we'll keep them out of our marketing.
✦If something goes wrong on our end
In the unlikely event your images are lost or damaged, you get a full refund or a reshoot, your choice. If your photographer can't make it, everyone is refunded in full.
Optional extras — none of it required
Wall printsCanvas, acrylic, metal — while your gallery is open
50% off
Extra retouched digitalBeyond your 5, ordered from the gallery
$49 + tax
5th person and beyondTell us before you book
$30 each
Rush deliveryProofs in 48 hours, finals in 72
$150
Reopening your galleryFirst time free (14 days), then per 30 days
$49
This is the plain-English summary. The full terms & conditions are what you accept at checkout, and they govern if the two ever disagree. Questions before you book? [email protected] · 301-381-3838
Ten Years at This Park
Autumns I've Already Kept
Every one of these is a 20-minute mini at Black Hill, from a previous October. Different families, same place, same light.
✦ Morning and afternoon sessions both — see if you can tell which is which
Before You Book
Great Questions
What's the best time of day to book?
Genuinely — whichever one suits you. I've been photographing minis at this same park for ten years, and the light there is beautiful all day long. The location is versatile enough that I simply move us around it as the sun moves. We don't need to wait for the magic hour; finding good light at any hour is the job, and it's the part I'm best at. Morning sessions and afternoon sessions come back equally gorgeous.
What can you really get in 20 minutes?
More than you'd think, because none of it is wasted. There's no setup, no warm-up and no wandering — I know the spot, the light and the shots before you arrive. 20 directed minutes reliably gives us a family photo, a couple of grouping variations, and a few frames of the kids being themselves. That's the whole point of a mini.
I have no idea how to pose.
Nobody does, and you don't need to. I direct every moment — where to stand, what to do with your hands, where to look, when to laugh. There's nothing to practise beforehand and nothing to remember on the day.
What if my kids won't cooperate?
They usually don't, and that's fine. I have a bag of tricks and I'm not afraid to use all of it. We aim for a mix of candid and posed, and with little ones we go with the flow rather than chasing a perfectly posed smile — those are rarely the photos you end up loving anyway. 20 minutes is short enough that we're finished before anyone properly loses it. Come as you are.
Where exactly do we meet?
Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds — it's a big park, so we'll send you the exact meeting point and parking spot before your session, along with everything else you need for the day.
What should we wear?
Warm neutrals — cream, camel, rust, deep green, black — against autumn colour. Coordinate rather than match, and avoid big logos or bright patterns.
Can I book more than one slot?
Yes — book them back to back if you want more time, or separately for different groups. Each slot is its own 20 minutes and its own set of 5 images.
When do I get my photos?
Your proof gallery arrives within 7 days of the session. You pick your 5 favourites, and the fully retouched, downloadable high-resolution files come back within 7 days of your selections. The gallery stays open 14 days, so that's your window to choose and order.
One Day · Morning to Afternoon
It Won't Look Quite the Same Next Fall
Saturday 17 October, outdoors at Black Hill Regional Park, in the best colour of the year.
Book Fall Mini Session$450Early bird · ends Sep 27
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