Maybe it's because it was the pre-digital age, or because we moved so much. Whatever the reason, I have very few pictures from my childhood. There are a handful, but not so very many that I can look back and reflect on all the different ways I looked growing up, and all the fun times my family had.
So when my son was born, I was determined to capture images of his childhood, and of our lives as he grows up. To that end, every holiday season, our family of three sits for a photo session. Up until recently, it might have been at the local JCPenney, or could have been shot by a friend with an interest in photography. We typically select one photo to share on our holiday card, still others are enlarged and given as holiday gifts, a few are displayed in our home, and still others make it into family photo albums.
One recent year, as I was scrambling to get everything done for the holidays and I raced to the mall after work to meet my husband and son (who had raced there, too), to take our annual family photo, I realized that creating an image that was intended to celebrate our family had turned into one more chore to check off the holiday list.
When we were on vacation at Walt Disney World a short time after, I was walking outside our hotel, and saw a family—two parents and three kids—enjoying themselves while a photographer shot photo after photo of them. The family looked happy, they looked like they were having fun, and the photographer really seemed to be capturing their vacation glow. I hung around for a minute or two, and as the photographer was moving the family to another location, I could see he wore a WDW cast member badge.
I poked around online and learned that WDW has an entire photography operation right on the premises. Disney Fine Art Photography features a full team of experienced photography professionals that shoot all around Walt Disney World. Yes, they shoot all the wonderful weddings and celebrations that WDW hosts, and all the conventions, too. But they also shoot portrait sessions with vacationing families. You can have our annual family photos taken and capture a bit of the Disney magic, too? Sign me up!
Jumping for joy during our first Disney Fine Art Photography photo session. Photo owned by Donna Fesel, taken by Disney Fine Art Photography.
For portraits, Disney Fine Art Photography offers several packages, each varying in expense and time commitment per session. Presently, a $350 Enhanced Session is offered (this includes a one-hour session, anywhere at WDW, a website with your photos, a photo book, retouching, and rights to all images), currently a 20 percent discount, and two free 5 x 7 images are offered to Disney Vacation Club members (Disney's timeshare program).
Is the package is a little too steep, or you can't imagine losing that much time on your vacation for a photo shoot? The lure of being able to have photos taken anywhere on WDW is great for me, and if we ever did a big family trip, we might go for the cost and time of the Enhanced Session, but instead, we choose a more casual and affordable option.
The Mini Portrait Session costs $150. A Disney Fine Art Photographer meets you in the lobby of your Disney Resort hotel (if you are staying at Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, Disney's Beach Club Resort, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge or Disney's Art of Animation Resort). If you are not staying at one of the included resorts, you can still meet a Disney Fine Art Photographer at a participating location and have your photos taken on-site. For the price, you get a 20-minute casual session, rights to all photos, and a thumb drive with all images to take with you.
Celebrating the magic on Crescent Lake Beach. Photo owned by Donna Fesel, taken by Disney Fine Art Photography.
For the last three years, the Mini Portrait Session has been proven to be perfect for us. The process begins a few months before our WDW visit. I contact Disney Fine Art Photography to schedule our session. As members of Disney Vacation Club, we are often staying at a resort the Fine Arts Photographers shoot at. We've had photos taken twice at Beach Club and once at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
My hubby and me in silhouette in the majestic Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby. Photo owned by Donna Fesel, taken by Disney Fine Art Photography.
I schedule our photo shoot first thing in the morning, while we are still looking put together, and while the mercurial Central Florida weather is most likely to be holding steady. When I schedule our photo session, a specific lobby meeting point is arranged so we can easily find our photographer. After introductions, the photographer asks what type of photos we most want. Usually we do a few family shots, a few shots of just our son, a few shots of my husband and me, and then shots of each of us with our son. You can choose any combinations you like.
Next, we discuss location. At Beach Club, the first time we took photos, we posed out the Crescent Lake Beach, and in some pretty green areas, all at the photographer's suggestion. But if you have a favorite spot at your Resort, indoors or out, feel free to suggest it. We started out feeling a little self-conscious, but soon our photographer had us jumping around and having so much fun, we forgot about the peeks from passersby. The 20 minutes of our session flew by as we chatted with our photographer and had fun as a family.
My son, Nate, smiling for the Disney photographer near Beach Club. Photo owned by Donna Fesel, taken by Disney Fine Arts Photography.
After the session, we went back into the Beach Club lobby, and waited a few minutes while the photographer uploaded all of our images to his tablet for our review. In the photos, we looked like our best selves, happy, fun-loving, and enjoying each other's company and our wonderful vacation. Once we saw that there were at least a dozen terrific images, the photographer uploaded our session to a thumb drive and we were on our way. That's it/ No rushing to the mall, no one being cranky because it is dinner time and the wait is long at the photo place. Just a half hour total and good Disney customer service.
Commemorating another great Disney World vacation. Photo owned by Donna Fesel, taken by Disney Fine Arts Photography.
We got such great shots our first year at Beach Club that we followed up with a session at Animal Kingdom Lodge the following year, when we got some wonderful silhouette photos on the catwalks that overlook the magnificent lobby. The year after that, we used the Beach Club again, and we took some terrific photos out by the lighthouse. This summer's trip takes us to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, where we'll have another set sure to be beautiful photos shot in one of the most lovely Disney resorts.
A cozy spot near a savannah at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Photo owned by Donna Fesel, taken by Disney Fine Arts Photography.
Each year as I select a few photos from our Disney Fine Art Photography photo shoots to hang in our hallway, I am struck by how much the photos reflect us and our wonderful family time. The photos have been a big hit on our holiday cards, too. The one of us jumping in the air at Beach Club made its way into our homemade holiday card beneath a caption that said “Jump for Joy!” and was a particular favorite. One of my friends said it was the best holiday card she'd gotten that year!
Whether you want to splurge to commemorate a special trip to WDW (an engagement, a birthday, an un-birthday), or to celebrate every trip to WDW with a photo session, give it a try. I'd say that for our family, having photos taken in one of our favorite places in the world continues to be one of the best things we do.
To make your own reservation for a Disney Fine Art Photography photo shoot, call them at (407) 934-4004, or email directly from the “Contact Us” link at DisneyFineArtPhotography.com.
