Every Christmas photo you have ever seen from overseas looks the same. Snow, wool coats, a mug of something hot, everyone pretending to be cold.
That is not my usual Christmas, and I suspect it has never been yours either.
My Christmas is a hot evening and the sound of cicadas. It is mangoes, swimming, and a sky that stays light until nearly nine. And it is gum trees, everywhere, standing around the edges of everything.
Which is why I am so happy about where this year's Christmas minis are happening.
Tomalong Christmas Tree Farm, at 96 Pitt Town Road in Kenthurst. Rows of real Christmas trees, in the ground, with Australian bush and gum trees on every side. It looks like Christmas and it feels like home at the same time.
The details, all in one place
When. Saturday 7th November (Date change due to weather). One day, and that is the whole run.
Where. Tomalong Christmas Tree Farm, 96 Pitt Town Rd, Kenthurst.
How long. 15 minutes.
Dog friendly for dogs who stay on the leash.
What you get. Every edited photo from your session. No choosing, nothing to upgrade.
When you get them. Back with you by beginning of December, in time for cards and gifts.
Why the farm looks like an Australian Christmas
This is the part I am most excited about.
A Christmas tree farm gives you the thing you cannot fake. Rows and rows of real conifers, planted in the ground, taller than you, filling the frame. That is the Christmas half.
Then you look past the rows and it is gum trees. That grey green, that particular shape, the sound of the bush behind you. The light is a warm summer evening, not a cold grey afternoon.
So you get both in the same photo. The tree farm says Christmas. The gums say Australia. Your photos will look like they were taken here, in summer, by someone who lives here. Not borrowed from a catalogue, and not pretending it snows.
Every edited photo, and why that is different
Most Christmas minis give you a handful of photos and then ask you to choose your favourites, or pay more for the rest.
I do not do that. Every edited photo from your session is yours. There is no choosing, because there is nothing to choose from. There is no upgrade and no bill at the end. It is $350 and that is the whole thing.
I am not going to give you a number. Some sessions produce more than others, because children are children and every family is different. "Every edited photo" is the promise, and it is the one I keep.
Family photos and Christmas photos, in one
The other thing I do differently.
A lot of Christmas minis are Christmas photos only. Everyone standing by a tree, and nothing about your actual family in them. You get the photo for the card, and that is it.
I shoot both. Family photos, the way you would want them any time of year, and Christmas photos among the trees. In the same 15 minutes.
That means you get the frame for the card and the frame for the wall. The one that is just your family being your family, in beautiful light, with no tinsel required.
The photo you are never in
You will take about four hundred photos on Christmas morning.
You will be in none of them.
That is not a criticism. It is just how it goes. Someone has to hold the camera, and it is always the same person, and every year the camera roll gets fuller of your children and emptier of you.
So this is the small thing I want to fix. Fifteen minutes, you in the photos, your children in the photos, in the trees, at the best light of the day.
Fifteen minutes is enough
Fifteen minutes sounds short. It is not, when it is planned.
I will have the light worked out before you arrive. I know where we start and where we finish, and you do not need to know any of that. You just show up.
Small children do not have a long attention span, and honestly most adults do not either. Fifteen minutes is usually exactly right. Long enough for the good ones, short enough that nobody melts down.
Saturday is Halloween
Worth saying out loud. Saturday 31 October is Halloween, and plenty of families with little ones will have plans that evening. If that is you, take the Sunday. Both days are the same and the light is the same.
What to wear, and what to bring
It is a summer evening, so dress for one. Light cotton, warm colours, something that moves.
Deeper colours hold up beautifully against green trees. Mustard, rust, dusty blue, olive, terracotta. Anything that looks like it belongs in an Australian summer. A full what to wear guide will be sent to you after booking.
Bring a change of shirt for the little ones, feed them before you come, and bring water. That is the whole list.
What actually happens
You arrive, and I meet you at the meeting spot I send you when you book. We walk a short way into the trees. I show you where the light is best, we play, we chat, and I photograph what happens.
You do not need to know how to pose. I will guide you through it, gently, and most of the time you will not notice I am doing it.
Then it is done. You go home, and I go and edit so I can send you the most beautiful gallery.
When you get your photos
Edited and back with you by the beginning of December. In time for Christmas cards, in time for gifts, and in time for the photo wall before the family arrives.
How to book
There are a limited number of spots across the two days, and it is one day only. When they are gone, the next chance is next Christmas, and your children will be a whole year bigger.
Message me, or book through the link, and I will send you your time, the meeting spot and where to park.
Tell me how many of you there are, and whether you have a child who will need a minute to warm up. I plan the session around that.