20 cities · 22 session types
Your photographer in America
Vetted professional photographers in 20 US cities and destinations. A fixed price agreed in writing before you book, and a delivery date stated for every session.
- Cities covered
- 20
- Session types
- 22
- Gallery delivery
- 24h–6 wk
- Reply time
- 2h
Why book through Northlight
A reply in two hours
A coordinator answers, not an autoresponder.
The price is fixed first
Agreed in writing before you commit, and nothing is billed per extra photograph.
A delivery date for every session
Stated before you book, from 24 hours for real estate photography to 6 weeks for wedding photography.
Photographers who live there
Vetted local professionals who know the hour and the paperwork.
The sessions
What we photograph
Twenty-two session types, each with a price fixed before you book and a photographer who works in the city you picked.
Studio portrait
A controlled-light portrait for a profile, a press kit, a book jacket or a wall.
Family session
Everybody in one frame, and then everybody photographed the way they actually are.
Couple session
Not engaged, not a wedding — an anniversary, a new city, or ten years with no photograph of the two of you.
Wedding photography
Eight hours, from getting ready to the first dances, photographed by someone who has worked the venue before.
Vacation photoshoot
An hour with a local photographer who knows which corner is empty at eight in the morning.
Professional headshots
One hour, two backgrounds, and a photograph that works at 400 pixels and at full size.
The plates
Where we shoot
Twenty markets: fourteen metros, and six places people travel to specifically in order to be photographed.
How it works
From enquiry to gallery in three steps
Choose the city and the session
Pick where you will be standing and what kind of session it is. The price is on the page.
Shoot with a local professional
A vetted photographer who works that city meets you at the spot, at the hour that actually works.
Receive the gallery
Edited photographs land in a private gallery on the date stated for your session type.
Before you book
Frequently asked questions
How much does a photoshoot cost?
Prices are fixed and quoted in writing before you book, starting at $250 for a studio portrait session. Every package covers the session itself, professional editing and a private online gallery, and nothing is billed per extra photograph.
How soon do I get my photos?
The delivery date depends on the session type and is stated on each service page before booking, from 24 hours for real estate photography to 6 weeks for wedding photography. Most family and portrait sessions arrive in a private online gallery within five business days.
Do I need a permit to be photographed in a public park?
It depends on the city and on the park, and each city page says which authority issues it. A session with a paid photographer in a New York City park is permitted by NYC Parks rather than by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and a commercial session on National Park Service land needs a Commercial Use Authorization. Confirm the current fee with the issuing authority before booking.
What happens if the weather is bad?
If the weather makes the location genuinely unusable, the session moves to another date at no extra cost, or the photographer proposes a covered location nearby. That decision is made together on the day rather than by a policy.
Why book this way
Photography booked in the sensible order
- 20
- 22
- 24h–6 wk
- $0
Hiring a photographer usually means a week of email, a quote that arrives last, and a portfolio you have no way to verify. This inverts that order. You choose the place and the kind of session, you see the price before you commit to anything, and the photographer who answers already works where you will be standing.
Twenty markets are covered. Fourteen are metros — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Seattle, Denver, San Diego and Nashville. Six are places people travel to in order to be photographed: Las Vegas, Charleston, Savannah, Sedona, Napa Valley and Maui. The second group is not an afterthought; it is where the elopements and the destination weddings actually happen.
What a local photographer knows that a visiting one does not is the hour, and in this country also the paperwork. Washington Street in Brooklyn is empty until half past seven and a queue of tripods by nine. Sunset Cliffs in San Diego barely exists at high tide. Almost everyone eloping in Sedona assumes they need a National Park Service permit and needs a Forest Service one instead. None of that is findable in advance and all of it decides whether a session works.
Sessions run from a one-hour headshot to a full wedding day, and take in engagements, families, seniors, maternity, graduation, corporate work, property and food. The fee is agreed in writing beforehand, covers the editing, and includes a private gallery delivered on a stated date, from 24 hours for real estate photography to 6 weeks for wedding photography. Nothing is billed per extra photograph. If the weather makes a location genuinely unusable, the session moves at no cost.
Next step
Ready to photograph your time in the United States?
A coordinator replies within two hours. No deposit is required to enquire.