Frequently asked questions

What do you do?

We take stylish, beautiful photographs of you and your family at our studio, your home, hotel, beach or park.

Can I book a shoot without paying anything?

No. We require a deposit payment (500Dhs), payment completion on shoot day… or, to save messing about with money on the shoot day, most people that book with us prefer to pay 100% in advance. Both methods are available on our website. See the payment page.

How can I prepare for the shoot?

1. Tell the kids they’re doing something different: Tell them you are all going on a photo play date. No fake smiles allowed. You must have fun and be yourself. 2. Incentives: Tell your children that if they are they have fun and are TRULY themselves, that a surprise treat might be in store. 3. Bring drinks and snacks: A MUST! Low blood sugar equals crabby kids and parents! 4. Bring toys / props from home that define your child: It allows the photographer time to connect to your child through the toy. It also helps you remember this stage of his / her life. 5. Do not dress in all matching clothes: If you want to remember who you were, this is not working for you! NO personality. 6. Don’t dress like someone you are not: Regardless of whether you saw it in a magazine or on some staged “What to Wear” ad, the best place to start is in YOUR OWN CLOSET. Then only purchase new clothes or accessories to fill in the gaps. Remember, this session is to remember who YOU were… not trying to be someone you were NOT! 7. Let go: Really, this tip is more for mom and dad. Once the kids can see you are acting naturally yourself they will follow suit. Don’t you want to look back at your photos and see love and joy? 8. Schedule the session during your child’s happy time: Think about naps / energy levels. 9. Have some ideas ahead of time: Think through some activities your family enjoys together. This is one way to engage the family while having fun mixing things up. (ie. bubbles, balls, kite flying). 10. Pick a location that will make you all happy: For example, if your family is not so keen on the beach or if the little ones are too young lets do a studio shoot.

What time of day do you shoot?

For an outdoor shoot, sunsets and early mornings get the very best results. Weekdays are preferable as there will be less people at outdoor locations. We will work around naps and school timings, we want everyone to feel their best!

Where do you shoot?

Your home, our studio, your hotel, at the beach, or in the park.

How long does it take?

Newborn shoots depend very much on the baby, typically they take 3-4 hours. All other shoots are 1 hour.

How do I get the images?

We email to you, a password protected download link so that you can simply download your images to a computer.

When do I get the images?

We require ten working days to prepare your images. Press here to read more.

What resolution are the images, are they watermarked?

We deliver images in high resolution (for print) and low resolution (for online), the images are not watermarked.

Do you have any hidden charges?

No! This is a high priority for us. We are aware that a lot of the photographers in Dubai confuse you with their pricing and hidden charges, we very much wanted to distance ourselves from this common complaint as much as possible. Our packages and pricing is based on feedback from you. All our prices are listed clearly on our website, and you don’t have to send emails back and forth to uncover other hidden charges.

Are you licensed and qualified?

We certainly are. We are also a British company, Alex is BIPP qualified and we are the very first company in Dubai to be NAPCP members – The National Association of Professional Child Photographers, whose mission is to promote and support the artistry and integrity of professional child photographers around the world. We are also members of the British Royal Photographic Society.

Do you charge for each image?

No! We are aware there are other photography companies doing this and it is another common complaint we hear often and wanted to distance ourselves from. Charging per image makes a photography company lots of money, but it’s not what customers and families want, so we designed our packages differently after gaining feedback from you. Our packages are ‘all in’ costs – one cost per package.

Do you edit the images?

Yes! Alex is one of the only Adobe Photoshop trainers in Dubai, teaching regularly for the local photography education provider GPP, consequently the team have great retouching and colouring skills. We don’t deliver images straight from camera, they are carefully checked, cleaned, cropped and colour corrected and retouched if necessary.

Is it possible that a man does not see, or edit my images

Of course, this is a common request and we are very happy to oblige. We have female editors and photographers and we can ensure that they are viewed only by ladies.

Is it possible to see examples of your images for maternity and newborn before I make a booking?

Absolutely. We have many images for you to view in our portfolio, press here.

How long in advance should I book my shoot?

We suggest you book at least 4 weeks in advance, although we will attempt to accommodate last minute requests. The ideal time frame to ensure you get YOUR preferred time/date is at least 4-8 weeks in advance.

Will you visit my apartment, villa / palace to shoot?

Yes!! Press here to read about our different packages.

What if I am running late for the shoot?

Please text / whatsapp / call your Barefoot photographer if you are delayed. If you arrive late, keep in mind we may have another shoot booked right after yours (some months / weeks are particularly busy), and your shoot may not be able to be extended. Remember: traffic in Dubai can be unpredictable!

Can I buy all of the images that the photographer took?

Unfortunately not. Not even if you ask really, really nicely… Seriously though – it sometimes can take 2-3 shots to get exactly that perfect version of a shot and it would mean giving you bad images, also since our photographers shoot in raw format this would mean editing hundreds of extra not-perfect shots rather than focusing on delivering you the best of the lot! This leads into our other, even more important, reason: we only want to send you shots that we know you will love! You can always read more about what we deliver here.

Numbers

If you’d like more than five people to attend your session, no problem, but we do have a 75 Dhs per person surcharge for this. We regularly work with larger groups and experience tells us that these shoots take longer than the normal hour that we normally shoot together for. Experience tells us it takes more time to organise everyone, get people into position and get the shots we all want from the shoot. Our reputation is built on creating great images, meaning that we need to invest a little extra time at the shoot to get these with larger families, hence the charge.

Photography shoot Gift Vouchers

Vouchers once purchased must be used within 12 months, after this time, they are invalid.

Cost changes

For travel outside of Dubai, we have a 400 Dhs charge. For weekend shoots add a 250 Dhs charge. And for twins shoots, because of the increased time it takes, we simply add just 500 Dhs.