How to prepare for Cold Weather Family Photos
Snowy, cold-weather photos can be breathtaking! They capture a different feel and even a playfulness. Family snowball fight anyone? However, our kids might not feel the same joy that we as adults might feel about cold weather family photos. They don’t quite have the “grin and bear it” mentality that we might have. Believe me, cold kids make for a grumpy time at photos and I want you to have the best experience possible, so here goes!
You may have one of the rare kids that runs around in a T-shirt and shorts in the cold and is fine, but the moment you ask them to look pretty in their dress and thin shirt for photos, they will suddenly be "so cold!!!" So, let's plan on keeping your kid as warm as possible so that we have great photos! If they have to strip off layers because they are hot, that is great! But I would rather that than them not want to move and start turning blue (I have literally had to edit out blue lips before).
The parts of your kiddo that will get cold first are these:
Feet & Toes
Hands
Nose
In addition to getting cold, they tend to turn bright red! Everyone loves a rosey warm cheeks, but bright, painful look red fingers aren’t so fun.
Solutions:
Feet: Double up on socks; Wear snow boots or fuzzy warm boots for girls (Spraying them with water repellent is great too! Vans Shoes water repellent is my favorite. If you give it three coats it will literally keep the suede shoes from absorbing any water.)
Hands: Bring warm gloves! They can put them on at the beginning of the session, get warmed up and playful, and then take them off at the end of the session.
Nose: Find a cute scarf for them! They can wrap it around their nose between photos if need be. This can also be a lot of fun to play with once they are all warmed up.
Hand-warmers! Pick up some hand warmers from the store. Let the kiddos each have one (make sure they don't get too hot) and keep it in their pocket so they can grab it as they need. If you have extras, we can stuck them in shoes too to help keep toes warm.
The flow of this cold-weather session will be a little different too.
At a warmer weather session, I typically will grab the more posed photos at the beginning, but if your kiddo is cold, their posture will be all wrong (hunched shoulders and a grimace versus relaxed shoulders and legit smile). However, we will change that up for cold weather family photos. I want you to slightly over dress your kiddo and then let’s get them moving! We will grab the fun playful photos and warm them up. Get ready to run, toss kiddos, explore and provide a lot more energy than you typically would. Our goal will be to get them so warm that they want to take off their extra layers.
How do we get them to do this? We will have them run! Chase them through the landscape, have them run into Dad’s arms, have them twirl like a ballerina, anything that you can to get them moving on their own. Snuggles work too, but only for a brief time to help them re-center if they are getting a bit wild.
If you can transfer your excited-to-be-there energy to them, they will warm up both physically and emotionally. Then, once you are all warm, we can slip off the coats, gloves, scarfs, etc for a couple of posed-style of family photos. We will really just want to do all that we can to physically move and warm the kids up first.
Bring a thermos of Hot Coco! I love to bring some red metal mugs if you bring the cocoa (and maybe marshmallows?) End the session sipping that delicious drink If we spills, we won’t worry about the mess because it is the end of the session. You can even make it a competition to see who gets the best cocoa-stache on their lip!
One warning, if your thermos it too good at keeping things warm, make sure the cocoa is drinkable temp when you fill it. The kids won't be happy if they burn themselves.
I am not a photographer that believes in bribes, but if we tell the kids that we will end with hot cocoa, (or cider!) it gives them something to look forward to. Just don’t tell the kids they have to be good to get the cocoa/cider- it can increase their anxiety and sometimes has the reverse effect. Anxious kids accidentally act out sometimes.
We can absolutely have a great time during family photos in the cold! Just plan on overdressing the kids with the intent of overheating them. We’ll want them to want to take their coats off! That is not something we can accomplish if we get them out of the warm, comfy car and ask them to stand out in the cold in a cute sweater.
I would love to capture your family’s cold-weather photos! If you want to see what magic we can create together at a park near you in the winter months, send me a message! Have a great day!
With smiles,