Winter sessions can be SO beautiful and I’m always so thrilled when I have one on my calendar! Living in Minnesota we are all pretty familiar with the unpredictability of our weather – my thought is it’s better to be over-prepared in case the unexpected happens. Most of my winter sessions fall into the 15 minute mini session category, and in those cases taking off your jacket can be a feasible option. For longer sessions I would recommend finding a jacket or warm enough clothing that you could be photographed in for at least half of the session. If you need inspiration for this please reach out, I have lots of ideas!

Regardless of what type of session you have, these tips will help! Please make sure to pay special attention to the shoes section – in my experience this is one of the most important parts.

• Dress in layers – fleece lined leggings under pants, a long sleeve shirt under a sweater, thick socks or 2 pairs of socks, etc.
• Having pockets in your sweater/dress/pants can come in handy for hands, ha, OR get some cloth gloves that are a more neutral color that won’t stand out (and will match what you’re wearing).
• Tuck feet warmers into shoes and hand warmers into pockets.
• Cute ear muffs, scarves or ski hats can look nice – since it’s winter it won’t look out of place to wear a hat!
• Shoes – VERY IMPORTANT! – I’d skip any sort of dress shoe and go for some sort of boot that’ll help keep feet more warm and dry and be easy to move around in. Dress shoes, especially men’s dress shoes, can be SUPER slippery. I’ve seen way too many grown men wipe out in the snow and they don’t think it’s very funny, lol!
• Have a thermos of hot chocolate waiting in the car! Or Fireball, whatever floats your boat!

When you sign up for a winter session it’s with the knowledge that you are going to be taking photos in a winter climate which will be cold, wet, and limited daylight. However, I do have some boundaries in place to keep us all happy and healthy and will implement these if needed! We will reschedule if:

• Temps fall below 30 degrees
• It’s too slippery out
• The driving conditions are unsafe – I’m not a Minnesotan who enjoys driving in blizzard conditions and if I don’t feel safe making the trek I will reach out to reschedule! Please feel free to do the same, our safety and comfort are priority #1.

Aside from these things you are knowingly agreeing to the other conditions of winter! So if you have little humans who wouldn’t handle 30 degree temps well, please consider an in-home or studio option.