Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is your family photography style, and how is it different from traditional offerings?

I specialize in documentary family photography. Rather than staging perfectly posed portraits where everyone is dressed in matching outfits facing the camera, I work to capture authentic, unscripted life. My style is rooted in documentary journalism, meaning I capture the beautiful and delightfully messy reality of your everyday family routine and milestones.

Q: Where are you located, and what areas do you serve?

Shuttersmack is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I provide lifestyle and documentary photography services throughout the entire Twin Cities metro area, including Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding suburbs like Edina, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and Roseville. Sessions can take place in the comfort of your own home, your backyard, or at your favorite local park. And if your family is tempting enough, I might make a trip to the North Shore or to Stillwater!

Q: My kids are high-energy (or shy) and my dog doesn't sit still. Can you handle that?

A: Absolutely. In fact, that is exactly what Shuttersmack is built for! Because my approach is documentary-style, your children and pets don't need to sit still, behave perfectly, or look at the camera. I have years of experience working with energetic toddlers, camera-shy kids, and stubborn dogs. I meet them at their level, follow their lead, and capture their true personalities without any stress or forced expectations.

Q. What should I (or my family) wear to my shoot with you?

Everyone should wear something authentic to themselves. If your child wants to dress as Spiderman, wow will we have fun! If jeans and a t-shirt matches your vibe, lean into it. I will say that wearing a color that compliments your eyes is always a great place to start. And neutrals always look fantastic — whites, greys, navys and blacks. But really, I want this session to be about YOU. If you’re stuck, I do offer a mood board of great outfits over here.

Q. What is the best thing I can do to prepare my home or business for your shoot?

If I’m shooting in your house or at your place of business, you should tidy up the areas in front of the windows. Natural light creates the best images, and I’ll likely want to shoot in these spaces. If we’re doing a family shoot, I will always want to photograph you all snuggling in mom and dad’s bed, so keep that in mind.

Q. Can you tell me about your process? When you say a package includes 25 photos, does that mean you only shoot 25 photos?

I shoot TONS and tons and tons and tons of photos. The more photos I take, the better shot I have of coming away with stellar images! But! If I mention I have taken 400 images of you, usually that’s only 70 or so different shots because I take each photo 3-4 times to ensure you are not blinking, yawning or something else in the moment. After the shoot, I spend hours going through all of the images and choosing the best ones to send to you. After selecting these images, I then start the retouching process.

Q. How do I know you are really choosing the best images?

Before starting Shuttersmack, I worked for more than 15 years as an art director and designer for a variety of newspapers and magazines. In this role, it was my job to look at a photographer’s images from a shoot and choose which photos would make it into publication. I have years of training and experience doing just this, and you’re hiring me for this exact knowledge.

Q. How much retouching will you do to my photos?

I always try to make people look their best. This means l do minimal retouching to reduce lines, stray hairs, blemishes, etc. I will also remove food from your teeth or pet hair from your clothes (within reason). What I won’t do is change your physical features. Please don’t ask me to “elongate your neck” or “make you 40 lbs thinner.” The beauty industry has done enough to mess with our self-esteem, and I don’t want to further the damage. Every single one of you is LOVELY. Let’s celebrate that. I also will not make large alterations to backgrounds etc.

Q. Do I get all the images to keep after the session?

I will email your gallery with your final, color corrected images. Depending on the package you purchase, you may download them in a high resolution (for printing) or low resolution format (for web use). You will have the ability to order prints for all the images in a variety of sizes from my vendor, regardless of downloads.

Q. What if we have bad weather?

As we all know, the weather in Minnesota changes constantly. I shoot outdoors if it’s above 10 degrees and under 97 degrees. If the temperatures fall outside of that range, I will reach out the day before or the day of with options for shooting inside or rescheduling. That said, I will not reschedule a session for any weather that falls within that zone unless it is pouring rain or anything dangerous. If we are booked for a Christmas card session in the middle of November, it could be 40 degrees or it could be 15 — we will roll with it! I’ll shoot fast and I will ask that everyone dresses in weather-appropriate clothing. My outfit mood board is filled with winter clothing as well as summer and fall.

Q: How do we book a family or pet photo session with Shuttersmack?

Booking a session is simple. Head over to the Contact Page on the website to send a message. Let me know a bit about your family, your pets, and what kind of moments you want to capture, and we will find a date that works perfectly for your schedule.

Q. What kind of camera do you use?

I primarily shoot with a Nikon Z9.

Q. Who has been your favorite band to shoot?

There are certain artists that are so charismatic on stage that they are always a blast to photograph. Some of my favorites have included Macklemore, Metric, Slayer and Santigold. Taylor Swift was also pretty amazing.

Q. Why so many dog photos?

Because dogs are the best creatures on the planet, of course.