Children’s portrait sessions are so much fun. I photograph a lot of Communions, first birthdays and Sweet 16’s, but rarely get a chance to do something as fun as this recent dance session. My client, with whom I have worked with many times before, wanted to schedule a fun and unique dance portrait session for her daughters. Her daughters both competitively dance and although their dance studio offers photo services, she wanted a session that was outdoors, as opposed to captured on a studio backdrop. I loved this idea and was excited to capture this moment for her girls.

There are so many places at which a dance portrait session can be scheduled. You can choose an urban location, a park, a garden, and the beach. The location possibilities are endless and it is all based on your goals for the session and the dancer’s personality. My client opted for a session at the beach and I loved the idea of this location. Not every beach is equal, so we scheduled the session at a beach that had high dunes, an exposed jetty and some other natural elements that would lend itself to dance photography. The night was perfect with the most gorgeous sunset that we were able to capture at the end of the session.

The girls brought along two dance costumes and the colors were so perfect for the beach. Thankfully, the girls had their recital a few days prior to the session, so we were able to get the costumes sandy and wet. They chassed through the waves, did a few relevés on the jetty, and there was even a pirouette or two in the dunes. They twirled, balanced, pranced, lept, and, most importantly, had fun! This particular type of portrait session really allows the children to be themselves. There was little to no static posing in the session, with the exception of one or two posed sister portraits that I snuck in for mom. There was a ton of laughter and lots of energy, which are all the key ingredients to a successful photo session.

Scheduling a photo session around your child’s passion and interests is a great way to capture their true personality in an authentic way.I your child has an athletic or creative interest, why not schedule a photo session to document this special interest in their life?