Washington
Family session · Seattle
In short
Family session in Seattle starts at $375: 75 min on location with a photographer who works in Seattle, and 40 edited photos delivered to a private gallery within 5 business days.
Why choose Family session in Seattle?
Seattle is the best city in this catalogue for photographing small children, for one reason: the light does not force the schedule. Under the overcast that covers this city for most of the year there is no bad hour, which means a family session can be booked around a nap and a meal rather than around golden hour. Everywhere else that trade costs you the light. Here it costs nothing.
Worth knowing about Seattle
Discovery Park is 560 acres, and the West Point lighthouse — the location families usually have in mind — has no public parking beside it until the visitor center reopens in 2027, except for ADA placard holders, so reaching it with a toddler is not a walk, it is the session. Sessions there are booked either for the meadow and bluff near the entrance, or with the walk built into the time and everyone told in advance.
What does the session in Seattle look like?
- Discovery Park
- Bluff, meadow and beach with the Olympics across the water. The lighthouse lot is closed to the public until 2027.
- Washington Park Arboretum
- Trees, paths and shelter, and the best place in the city to be caught by rain.
- Golden Gardens or Alki
- Sand and water, for a summer session with somewhere for children to run.
What does family session in Seattle include?
- 40 retouched photographs
- Posed group frames and candid coverage
- Individual portraits of each child
- Private online gallery within 5 business days
- Print release for personal use
Permits at these locations: Discovery Park: Seattle Parks photography permit required for a hired photographer, applied for 3 to 14 days ahead.
FAQ — Family session in Seattle
What time of day is best for young children here?
Whatever time suits them, which is unusual. Because the overcast gives even light all day for most of the year, a Seattle family session can be scheduled around naps and meals rather than around the sun — and mood shows in a photograph far more than light does. In the few clear summer months, the last two hours of light are better.
What if it rains?
Light rain is a working condition here and often produces the better photographs — saturated color, no squinting, and nobody else in the park. Sessions move only when conditions make a location genuinely unusable, and that reschedule carries no fee. The Arboretum has enough tree cover to keep working through a shower.