For our children and family portraits, we require that all children be at least seven months in age. We want them to be able to sit up, smile and be truly visible in the portrait. If they are younger than seven months, they will be swaddled and NOT be seen in their portrait. Plan your session during a time that corresponds with your smallest child’s ‘best time.’ Children and families with children under 5 years in age must be photographed in the morning to assure that everyone is pleasant and at their very best. We KNOW that you want a beautiful portrait and our experience shows that children under five years don’t do well in the afternoons and evenings, even if they are rested.

All of our sessions are done indoors in our 4200 sq. ft studio space in Winston-Salem, NC. Our classic style lends itself to indoor portraits without the distractions of outdoor scenery and structures.

We have two clothing guides (one formal and one casual) that give great suggestions for the type of clothing you might consider for your session. Our goal is to create a timeless portrait that looks beautiful and stylish for years. We suggest avoiding trendy clothes that might date your portrait and instead selecting a darker-toned color palate that coordinates (no need to match exactly). When you get your confirmation email, there will be a link to our portrait guides there. For children, we do stock black suits in boys sizes 2T-14 that may be borrowed for your session. You will need to supply black dress shoes. For girls, we have a beautiful array of long gowns in many colors and sizes between 2T-14. Again, we are happy to let your daughter wear one for your family or children’s session.

Make sure clothing is fresh (no holes or wear), clean and pressed. Details like this will take your portrait to the next level. Remember, that shoes often show in our portraits. Don’t ignore them when you are preparing!

We understand that! However, we can speak from experience when we say that the number one thing our clients regret is NOT dressing up enough for their portraits. Once clients enter our studio and understand the level of our portraiture, they often wish they had taken more time to select something really special for their portraits. That doesn’t mean a tux and ball gown! But it does mean dressing up to the level you are comfortable. Use this as an opportunity to have your family looking their very best. Your portrait will be on display in your home for years.

We will be reaching out to you about a week before your session to confirm your appointment and provide a lot of helpful information. But here are some helpful tips.

• Prepare everyone’s outfits, jewelry, hair, make-up, and fine details a few days before your session. Make sure to gather shoes, jewelry and undergarments, ties, cufflinks, socks. Hang and pack it all up and have it ready to go. Be sure to hang any clothing so that it’s not wrinkled.

• If you must cut your child’s hair, do so a week or two before the session.

• We know it can be exciting for the little ones, so ensure you all get a good night’s rest the day before!

• Plan your travel to our studio well before your session day to avoid any problems on the way. Plan plenty of time to get dressed and ready. If you need to do a quick change of clothes, please arrive 15 minutes early. Come ready with hair and make-up so that you only need to do little touch-ups before your session.

• When you arrive, take a deep calming breath and trust us. Once you’re here, we’ve got this. We’ve been doing this a long time and love to make our portrait sessions flow easily for our clients. Our goal is to not only give you amazing artwork but a great experience.

We are conveniently located right off of Salem Parkway in Winston-Salem, NC. If you are familiar with Winston-Salem, we are right across from the popular shopping area called The Thruway on Stratford Road. Our address is 110 Oakwood Drive, Suite 220, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. We are in a beautiful 5 story office building on the second floor. It is handicap accessible and offers plenty of parking. The building is locked after 6pm at night and also on the weekends. You will need to call or text us at 336-829-5642 for entry after 6 or on the weekends.

You must be on time for your session or risk forfeiting it. If you are more than 15 minutes late, we likely will NOT be able to accommodate you. Although we do our best, our sessions are booked back to back all day long and we operate at full capacity. We cannot cause another family to wait, unfortunately. Please plan to arrive a little early so that you can arrive relaxed and ready to begin on time.

Like many hotels, restaurants and salons, we require a deposit when scheduling an appointment on our calendar. This ensures that you are committed to your appointment day and time. We staff fully to serve every family and this commitment from our clients allows us to confidently staff. All sessions deposits are refundable, with the exception of our Santa Sessions. See below.

As long as you cancel your appointment at least 14 days prior to the appointment, your deposit is refundable following your viewing appointment. If you are inside 14 days, the session fee is non-refundable. However, if sickness arises, you may reschedule once inside of 14 days without forfeiting the deposit. After one reschedule, the deposit is retained and can be used towards a product purchase in the studio. All reschedules must be done by phone, not email or text. The only session that does not have a REFUNDABLE deposit is our Santa Sessions. Because of the high desirability of Santa sessions, the deposit covers the time of our team and Santa to present the experience.

The photography portion of your appointment typically takes around 30-40 minutes, depending on what you desire, the number of individuals in your session and whether it takes a while to get children or dogs to settle in a little. Following your portrait session, we offer two scenarios. We find it best to do a viewing of your portraits immediately after the session and allow you to make any ordering decisions at that time. That typically takes an additional hour to 1.5 hours…so a total of 2 hours can be expected. Occasionally, your art director is not on site at your session. In those rare instances, you will stay for 20 minutes following the photography where we will show you some sizes and finishes that are available and a brief slideshow of portraits that we took that day. Then you will receive a calendar link to schedule your viewing and ordering appointment with your art director via zoom. Again, plan for 1-1.5 hours for that portion of your appointment. It will be done from your home on a separate day.

Remember the 8-track? The cassette? The floppy disk? The CD-ROM? All were technology from the past, that was oh-so-cutting-edge in its time. Better than most companies, we know that technology will continue to change and evolve. And we don’t want your grandchildren trying to find your family portraits on a computer years from now in a format they can’t even open. Digitals are what your phone is for. We are different and have built our reputation on providing the most beautiful museum-quality canvas portraits. Our work is is designed to last for over 100 years and is designed to elevate the look of your home with its presence. We truly believe in the power of the printed piece and know the joy and emotion a portrait can evoke. We do have the ability to discuss the option of purchasing a matching digital file of any purchased printed art piece.