‘Tis the season to frantically read dozens of emails with the subject line “gift guide” in search of the PERFECT gift for family, friends, acquaintances, teachers, and the mail carrier. (Tip: mail carriers can’t accept gifts over $20 because #governmentworkers. You’re welcome.) Also, here’s a local Richmond gift guide to avoid shipping delays, and put some money back into local small businesses.

While it’s tempting to show our love in the form of big, emotional gift gestures, it’s also important to be practical with your giving and ask yourself the important questions. “Will this person love this gift, or do I really want it for myself?” “Will this person appreciate the gesture even if they don’t like the gift (in which case why are you trying so hard to find the perfect thing)?” And the most important: “Will this gift actually create additional costs for the receiver over the life of the gift (I’m looking at you, luxury car commercials)?” And that brings us to why we’re here: gifting photography sessions.

Maybe you have a loved one in Richmond who has been pining over their friend’s family photos without scheduling their own. Or maybe your loved one lives in Midlothian and is expecting a baby next year and you really want to give them an “experiences” gift that also has staying power. Kudos to you in both scenarios. The gift of photography really is a lasting one, with so many generational benefits.

It’s also an expensive one though, and with so many choices and styles, you really want to make sure you’re getting something your person will be able to use. (There’s a reason why your person hasn’t scheduled family pictures themselves, after all.) It's a little tricky, when their style needs to mesh with the photographer's style, and ultimately there are additional purchases to be made after the session is over.

So, if you’re leaning in the direction of gifting a family, maternity, or newborn photography session, it’s important to do your homework ahead of time. Here are some tips:

• Check their social media accounts and see if they follow any photographers. Chances are, if they are following a photographer, they like that photographer’s photo style. If they follow several, it will be trickier, but you’ll have a place to start.

• To narrow down your choices, check those photographers’ locations, and make sure they’re geographically accessible for your person. We’re going for “useful gift” here. (Again, this particular photographer serves Richmond, Virginia and the surrounding areas, for context.)

• To further narrow, you might need to drop some subtle hints to find out if they like “unposed” or “posed” photography, or “studio” or “lifestyle” photography, in order to find out what kind of style they like. If that’s all gibberish to you, here are some examples: I shoot what is considered “lifestyle” newborn photography, and my family photography is largely unposed. I don’t use a studio; I go to clients’ homes.

• If you already know a photographer your person loves, congrats, you’re way ahead of the game! Now you need to make sure you can afford to buy the whole gift. You don’t want to give something they have to then pay more money for (again, car gifts are weird). Know the process and range of cost from start to finish.

• An additional note about the above: just like you don’t want to give your person additional money obligations, you don’t want to give them something that’s going to require a lot of logistical planning and decision-making to make it happen. Make sure you’ve really thought this out. Consider that you might have to do additional work to make the session actually happen, like choosing outfits, or what to do with the photos after the session. If your person really enjoys that kind of thing, great. But if they’ve been putting off family photos for years (someone told me last week they’ve been putting it off seven years), there’s an obvious pain point in there for them that you’ll need to help them get around.

Of course, there’s a simpler way to do all of this, but you’ll need to know if your person would appreciate the straightforward nature of this, which kind of ruins the surprise: simply ask them if they want a family or newborn session as a gift, and offer to do all the work and make the investment for them. They can tell you the photographer they want to hire, and you can make all the other decisions. Giving the gift of no logistics or decision making is a gift all in itself. Especially if your person is typically the logistics person in the household.

Once you’ve determined your photographer and what you’re looking for, make sure to contact your choice and get them in on the gift. If you want a physical gift certificate, make sure they have those and can get one to you before the deadline. Make sure they’re booking sessions next year and they aren’t all booked up already. That’s super important.

And if you're the person who wants to receive this as a gift, rather than give it, feel free to drop all the hints. A subtle text with a link and “LOOK AT THESE AMAZING PHOTOS WOULDN’T THIS MAKE A GREAT GIFT!” that you “meant to send to your sister” gets sent to them instead…

Happy gifting!

2024 Edit: if you want to give a gift that is photography-related but isn’t necessarily a location-based session, think about other gifts you could give: print their favorite photo from the past year and frame it, or buy them photo book services to turn all their phone photos from the year into an album for them. No need to be local to Richmond for either of those.