Do you ever find yourself completely stumped when trying to decide on a photo session location? If you answered yes, you aren't alone.
Besides figuring out what to wear and what date will work best, the location is one of the most important details that goes into planning your photo session. And with so many great options to choose from in the tri-state, it can be overwhelming. So I thought I would try and help everyone out a bit by putting together a list with some of the most popular public shooting locations to hopefully help to inspire you as you pics a spot for your shoot!
When booking your session with me, you don't need to stick with the locations within this list. If you have somewhere in particular that you would be interested in going to shoot at instead, please let me know and I will look into it for you. But, if any of these locations jumps out to you as a great spot for a session that your scheduling with me, please let me know!
These are in no particular order, but I'll start off with the places that I have shot at before....
Smale Riverfont Park: This riverfront park is a fantastic spot for just about any session that I offer, but it is most popular with my rising high school seniors who schedule their senior sessions with me. It offers beautiful gardens, fantastic views of the Roebling bridge, various brick wall textures, awesome fountains, waterscape splashpad area, a great playground (some of my seniors have enjoyed being young again by zipping down the slides a time or two), and there are even swings at the river's edge. I typically meet all of my clients by the steps and fountain right next to the Central Riverfront Garage, but I will tell you exactly where to meet me right before your scheduled session. If you want to learn more about Smale Park, more info can be found here.
Please note that there is a parking fee of roughly $5 when shooting at this location. If an event is going on, the parking fee could be more. I do try and avoid the area when major events are going on to avoid the extra foot and car traffic, road closures, and raised parking fees.
Downtown Cincinnati: This location is very similar to the Smale Park description above. If you book a session that involves going to places around Downtown and Smale, some of these other various locations can be chosen from.
Sharon Woods: Must have an annual Hamilton County Parks pass to enter (Day Pass= about $3/car). Sharon woods offers green space, benches, small waterfall, stone bridge, wooden bridge, wooden barn, open meadow, etc., Sharon Woods is a park that is usually recommended in the Fall time. This lush forest has beautiful Fall colors, which is why it is so popular for Fall family and Senior photo sessions. More info on Sharon Woods is available here.
P&G Green Space/ Pergola: This location is only available on Saturdays & Sundays when foot traffic is low. The P&G property offers greenspace, foliage covered pergola/walkways, limestone columns, etc.,
Twin Lakes Park: This park is a subset of Eden Park and offers beautiful fall foliage, river overlook, stone bridge, and pond (with ducks and geese!).
Eden Park/Mirror Lake: This park offers stone stairs, beautiful open grass, Mirror Lake, a rock wall walkway with beautiful black rod iron from and old retenstion wall, and a nice gazebo with black wooden pillars and a stone base. More information on Eden Park is available here.
Exterior of the Cincinnati Art Museum: This location offers fun statues, staircases, grand pillars and benches. There is also a beautiful White Art Climb Steps that creates a beautiful and unique look to photos. Perfect for Seniors who love the Arts, and even families as well!
Spring Grove Arboretum & Cemetery: Spring Grove Cemetery offers beautiful landscaping/gardens, stone structures/walls, ponds, etc. More information on Spring Grove Cemetery is available here.
**Please make sure you don't park in any part of the grass on the property. Security does monitor this and will give warnings/tickets.
Ault Park: This is a favorite park of just about every photographer and client. The big staircase with ivy embelished steps and handrails that leads to the Pavilion with beautiful columns. The Pavilion is typically setup up with a tent covering during outdoor wedding season, so we will have to avoid the top area of the Pavillion durong this time. However, the exquisite gardens with trees, flowers, and bushes are so pretty in the Spring, Summer, and Fall, and the wonderful pergolas at the ends of the gardens offer great photo backdrops as well. You honestly cannot go wrong with Ault Park. More information on Ault Park is available here.
Carter Park: This park is a bit of a hidden gem, and located in the Kings Mills area. Its perfect for any variety of photos from senior, family, child milestone, or maternity it offers a small pond with a rope fence line, a black barn, a wooden storefront building, beautiful tree covered trails, wooden benches, creek accessibility, a bridge overlooking the Little Miami River, graffiti walls, moss covered walls, old concrete fixtures, river access and grassy, flat areas.
Terrain Note: More difficult if enjoying all of the features of Carter Park. For family photos with non-hikers there are plenty of spots to utilize without going too far off the paved path making it an easy walk for any family even with small children. But for those up to more adventure, pack your hiking boots, water bottles and be prepared to spend 1-2 hours deep in the park climbing multiple elevations to see everything it has to offer.
Flat Rock: This location is really a hidden gem and really only known about by the locals of Morrow. There is no actual address for Flat Rock, as it is nestled under an overpass in town. Flat Rock is a scenic spot directly on the Little Miami River. It offers a water fall, rock wall, graffiti wall, and miles of creek to explore.
A Note About The Terrain: Slightly above average, this is one of those places where you really need to have good shoes that can get wet and be okay with stepping on loose rocks or pieces of slate to make your way around the area. 4-legged family members love Flat Rock and children who like to explore do too. Those with bad ankles may not feel as comfortable maneuvering here!
Cincinnati Music Hall and Washington Park: This park can become very busy with events, so this might not always be a possibility. However, if there are no shows going on at Music Hall or Washington Park it is a great spot for photo sessions. The front stairs of Music Hall help to create beutiful pictures and the park across the street from Music Hall, Washington Park is a great sized park that offers a lot in terms of photography. A big gazebo, benches, trees, stone wall walkways, and even an amphitheater. There is also Memorial Hall directly to the right of Music Hall that offers another great timeless look along with some alleyways nearby. Oh and I can't forget to mention the crosswalk between Music Hall and Washington Park. It's perfect for beautiful cobble stone road images.
George Rogers Clark Park: This park is a small but mighty park. It is a short drive across the Roebling Suspension Bridge. It sits on the banks of the Ohio River, right on the Northern tip of Covington, Kentucky below the Roebling Suspension bridge looking at the Cincinnati skyline. Some of the streets are lined with cobble stone and a lot of the homes maintain their historical charm, which makes for some interesting portraits. Like I mentioned, this is a pretty small park, but it does offer a lot of photogenic scenery. It sits on a piece of green space with some mature trees and some benches. The allure of this park for family sessions, couples, seniors, etc is that it provides a classic look to portraits. Even though it is small, there is plenty of space to get a variety of shots, by using the river and the bridge as backdrops or simply by walking up one the alleys and using the brick walls and buildings as a backdrops.
Fernbank Park: This park is a great park that offers great green space, wooded areas, river views, a great tree lined path, bridge, as well as some stone and building structures.
Rentchesler Park: Let me start off by mentioning that this is a subset of Rentchesler Forrest. This park offers a variety of natural backgrounds, beautiful rustic white barn, and a goergeous pine tree grove nestled into a walking trail.
**Getting to the tree grove area does require little bit of a walk on a grass lined trail. The terrain is fairly easy to navigate, but ladies and kiddos might want to bring some comfy shoes to walk in, then slip into your picture shoes when we get there!
Pioneer Park: This park packs a punch with a variety of natural backgrounds. It has a creek, pond with deck and porch swings, gazebo, wide open field, wood bridge, tall wispy grasses, stone benches, and a wonderful tree lined path through the woods. It's a favorite location for Spring and Fall photos of any type.
Mt. Airy Arboretum: This park is packed with so many different areas within a short walk. From flowers bushes and trees, to gazebos, pergolas, stone steps, and spring time blooming azaleas and lilacs, and forest lined paths. This park will definitely not disappoint.
Okay, let's switch gears a bit and talk about some photo locations that I haven't gotten to shoot at yet, because they haven't fit with what clients have been looking for style-wise for their photo sessions. If one of these sounds or looks like a place you would want to have your pictures done at, let me know and we can plan it for your future photo session.
Glenwood Gardens: This location boasts wonderful architecture, tree-lined walkways, ivy filled pergola, golden fields, stone gazebo, open meadows, greenery, and beautiful golden light during the sunset hours.
Alms Park: Alms Park is located in the Mt. Lookout area and offers open grass, a nice pergola with a river overlook, and a beautifully landscaped stone pavilion. This would be a great option for any photo session from family, senior, and maternity. More information on Alms Park is available here.
Dudley Woods Metro Park: This park is a simple park located in Liberty Township and offers woodsy backdrops, and a cute little cottage surrounded by a split rail fence.
French Park is located in Amberley Village and is honestly pretty simple. This park doesn't offer a ton of frills or extras, however it is pretty popular among photographers because it has a large wild flower field that sprouts during the spring though early fall. There are also large evergreen trees that are a great outdoor backdrop for some simple holiday pictures, and also weather permitting, a creek area on the property.
Weddings are usually hosted here almost every weekend at the only house located on the property during prime wedding season. When weddings are taking place it is almost impossible to get a parking spot in front of the house and there will also typically be an outdoor tent that is constructed for the reception thay we would need to stay away from. There is also a small garden nearby that is usually reserved for the wedding ceremony. If this sounds like a location that you would like to have your session, it would be best to be done during the weekdays. Or we will be limited to wildflower field or further up past the house. There are other parking areas at the front entrance, near the exit, and towards the back of the park if parking is extremely limited at the time of your session.
Rooftop Pictures: Many of you are probably thinking I have lost my mind right now. I have seen other local photographers do these and they turn out absolutely beautiful. It is essentially a spin on urban style photos. Okay, let me tell you how these would work...First, don't worry, no one is going to be walking on top of skyscraper rooftops or climbing the sides of them. But, there will be skyscrapers in the background of your pictures as we take your pictures on the top floor of a parking garage in Downtown Cincinnati. If you would like, we could take some ground level city pictures beforehand and then make our way up to the top of the parking garage to finish things up. This type of session would likely need to be done during the weekend when not much is going on downtown.
Symmes Township Park: This park is often pretty popular with families and trail walkers. For family photos this park offers a pond, a red metal bridge, an easily accessible creek, green grassy areas (perfect for blanket photos), a wooden staircase, paved trails with great tree cover, as well as an amphitheater area. In the fall there are some great flat areas that collect fallen leaves that families can gather up and toss for a fun photo.
*Terrain Note: The terrain here is average in difficulty. The trail loop starts at an easy decline, but it will start to incline at about the half way point. If you would rather save your leg muscles and maybe do your leg day workout a different day, the staircase is an option to take over climbing up the steep trail.
Nisbet Park: This park is located in the Loveland area and offers a little bit of everything. It is situated in downtown Loveland right behind all of the hustle and bustle of the downtown area. It has an amphitheater, bridge, bike trail, graffiti wall, stone walls and half walls around the stage, and there is a beautifully back-lit, accessible railroad track at sunset. There is also an area with two access points to the river. One is more rocky but flat terrain and another area that is a bit steeper and dirt path in nature. There is also a lot of tree coverage in this park which would be beautiful when the leaves start changing color for fall. As I mentioned before this is located in the downtown Loeveland area, so with a quick walk into town we could stop and take some pictures at various spots around town like maybe a train car (its actually a restaurant), black rod iron staircase, light poles, or even in front of a storefront or brick wall/side of a building for more of a city look. Overall, this park is a great and veratile option for your next family, senior, or even maternity photo session.
Cincinnati Nature Center: The Cincinnati Nature Center (Rowe Woods) is located in the Milford area. There is also a fee for admission to this park (the cost if roughly $9/adult and $4/child 4-12yrs, free for children under 4.) It offers tall grasses, a rustic cabin, small lake and waterfall, wooden walkways, big trees, etc. This is a great place to play, so maybe plan a day of it by having your family, senior, child milestone, or even maternity session then go exploring a bit. More information on the Cincinnati Nature Center is available here.
Sharon Woods Harbor: At this park, you must purchase at least a Cincinnati Parks day pass to enter (roughly $3/car). Sharon Woods Harbor offers a lake, rowboats, wooden deck/walkway, stone walls/steps, park benches, lake/harbor feel in general. More info on Sharon Woods Harbor is available here.
Woodland Mound Park: This is another park where you must have a County Parks pass to enter (roughly $3/car). Woodland Mound Park offers open greenspace and tall grasses, a river overlook, a water feature with lily pads and a pergola with gravel walkway. **Please note this park is just outside of the travel area of the photographer and would require an additional travel fee. More information on Woodland Mound Park is available here.
Sawyer Point Park: Sawyer point offers green space/trees, walkways, brick arches under the bridge, river/bridge view in background, serpentine wall, tree lined pathway at top of the wall, etc. Please note that there will likely be a fee to park in the parking lots near this park. More info on Sawyer Point is available here.
Private Property: Would you like to shoot around your home or another fabulous private property that you have access to? These unique locations make for gorgeous photographs that have special meaning to you and your family! If doesn't have to be limited to your own home though. If you are a member somewhere, or your children take lessons of some sort on a beautiful property that might give you access. Or perhaps you have family that lives on a lovely piece of land that might let you pop in for a family photo session? If a private property is something you’d like to consider, please let me know and we’ll talk it through!
Alright everyone I think I should stop this list of ideas here, so I don't make you even more overwhelmed than you possibly were before. I hope you found this list helpful when you are planning your photo session with me. If any of them jump out at you for your future session let me know and we can plan out the details, or if you would like refrence pictures for the locations that I haven't been yet contact me!
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