Finding a Photographer That Fits You and Your Family

  • Always check their pricing before confirming the session. There will be a range of prices available across your local photographers reflecting different packages, the quality of the images and the skills and experience of the photographer. You should always be conscious of your budget but, particularly for newborn images, you can’t re-do them and people rarely regret paying for quality service and product.

Check what you will get for your money – does the session fee include the images or is this a separate cost? Will the package include printed portraits or wall art? Do you get copies of the digital image files? 

Many photographers now offer payment plans to enable families to spread the cost of their session and purchasing display products. This can be a great way to purchase the collection and artwork you want while managing your budget appropriately.   

  • Check the kind of display products your photographer offers and if they have these available for you to see in person. My clients come to my studio for their viewing appointment so they can see and touch my products for themselves. At the viewing appointment their images are waiting, beautifully edited, printed and mounted, ready to be taken home and enjoyed.

I have learnt from personal experience that parents don’t have much spare time and are delighted that I oversee the creation of their larger pieces of wall art and albums. They choose their images during their viewing appointment and I manage everything else; delivering the finished products to them at home, ready for display.

I set up Kirsten Naomi Photography to share my love of creating beautiful portraits and family art work. I photograph families in Canterbury at all ages and stages and really enjoy seeing my client’s families grow. It is so important to regularly update your family photographs. Building a visual record of your children as they grow is wonderful, and children love looking at photos of themselves when they were younger, but equally we need to photograph the senior members our families while we still can.

My first interaction with a family is often capturing classic, timeless portraits recording their pregnancy.  In my studio, I have a range of simple and elegant dresses that are designed to flatter your body during pregnancy. These sessions are lots of fun and always full of hope and excitement. 

During a newborn session, I love to capture the connection between parents and their children and some of the most treasured images I have created are portraits of grandparents cradling a newborn. I have a wide range of baby outfits and props that we can use to style the shoot but I equally love the simple images of your baby against a plain background. My most popular images involve using fresh flowers or greenery as a nest for babies to sleep in. I frame these in a large circular aperture frame, and they make a stunning statement piece for your home.

Since babies change quickly in the first year I created my watch me grow collection. Families visit my studio several times during the first twelve months for a short session to capture images of their baby achieving key milestones and celebrating their first birthday. This enables me to make a beautiful album of your baby’s first year and works particularly well when combined with a pregnancy and newborn session.  

I typically hold my family sessions outdoors where we can capture a range of posed and informal shots. However, I have recently started to offer heirloom studio portrait sessions in a more traditional style. These are perfect for smaller families, grandparents or portraits of the kids on their own. In addition to a full portrait session, I also offer smaller sessions that are perfect for those who want to update their family albums annually.

In this digital age, when everyone has a camera on their phone, so many of our photographs are stored online and never seen and enjoyed. I would love to help you create a beautiful collection of portraits of your family to display in your home. If this is something that appeals to you, please get in touch!  


Kirsten is a Mum to two beautiful boys aged two and one. They provide endless portrait opportunities and their home is filled with wonderful photographic memories. After many years living in London, Kirsten recently bought our family home to Christchurch to be closer to her extended family and so that her boys could experience the great kiwi lifestyle. This has enabled her to set up Kirsten Naomi Photography and share the gift of beautiful family photography with her Christchurch clients. 

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