Self-Paced Course

101 Ways to Play: Fresh, Fun Family Photography

with Melissa Miller

Level up your family sessions with fresh, playful ideas. Go behind the scenes with Melissa Miller in a series of behind-the-scenes videos, an 84-page guidebook, and a printable list of 101 activities to infuse your sessions with fun.

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$39 · Instant access

Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school

Course Type

Self-Paced

Skill Type

Shooting, Creativity

Skill Level

All Levels

Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school

What's inside

What you'll get

  • 01A complete guide to how (and why!) to play at a session
  • 02Melissa’s favorite ideas for adapting a session to a child’s personality and interests
  • 03A behind-the-scenes look into Melissa’s sessions with her clients, her own children, and brand models
  • 04A culminating assignment to put your knowledge into immediate practice
  • 05A printable list of all 101 Ways to Play plus Melissa’s favorite family questionnaire questions
  • 06Melissa's eBook and videos cover every age: babies, toddlers, big kids, tweens, teens, and full families.
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What you will get

“I've been photographing families for years and I still found this extremely helpful. It made me excited to go out and play with my families. I especially loved that she broke the content down by age group, even tweens and teens.”

Darcy Graf

What's in your classroom

Course materials

Five Videos

01

Five Videos

Watch Melissa in action in this five-video series broken into babies, toddlers, children, and families.

Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school

02

84-Page Guidebook

Photo examples and helpful tips to help you have beautiful, joyful sessions.

Melissa Miller 101 Ways to Play Family Photography self-paced class click photo school

03

Supplemental Materials

A printable list of 101 Ways to Play and Melissa’s favorite family questionnaire questions.

By the end of this course

you'll kick your nerves to the curb and start capturing joy at your sessions!

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$39 · Self-Paced · Instant Access

Melissa Miller

Meet your instructor

Melissa Miller

Melissa Miller is a children and family photographer whose work is often described as “magical.” She loves children and has a lifetime of experience working (and playing!) with them, including more than 8 years as an elementary school teacher. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, two daughters, and golden retriever. When she isn’t behind her camera or computer, you’ll find her playing with her children, reading, writing, or exploring nature.

20 Student Reviews

What students are saying

KINSEY

I loved loved this course! Melissa is so talented at working with children. I loved that her course gave so many specific ideas for how to play with children of every age! I went to a family session after going through her course with confidence that I had a handful of ideas in my head that I could use to help the kids I photographed have fun and enjoy having their pictures taken, and it helped me get some genuine smiles! I'm excited to keep practicing what I've learned from this course and use it to capture magical childhood moments in my children and my client's children!

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Thank you, Kinsey! I really appreciate your review. I'm so happy you're in the class, and I love the joyful expressions you're already capturing!

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KARLEE

I love this course idea

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Thanks, Karlee! I hope it can bring joy to lots of children and photographers!

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Thank you, Karlee! I truly hope it helps bring more joy to children and photographers!

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SHANNON TESSIER

Hi Melissa! Wondering what your fav prompt is for the shy, reserved or sensory avoiding kiddos. The ones who are less extroverted in their play and like to hide behind Mama. Thanks!

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Shannon, what a great question! I like to allow the children to bloom in their own time. If they are reluctant to interact with me directly I let them stay with a parent. When they are ready, I introduce games and prompts that allow them to play with a parent or sibling. As they warm up more, I begin to interact with them more. I talk about this in more detail and provide examples on pages 5-6 of the course PDF!
Best,
Melissa

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SHANNON Response

Great advice, thanks!!

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JENNY

This looks so good. I love playing to get more natural expressions from my kids

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Thanks, Jenny! Play really does help make things magical!
-Melissa

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NATALIE HAKIMIAN

Super excited to learn from Melissa! Looking forward!

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Thank you, Natalie!

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HEATHER

What a great course offering with lots of great information! Including a printable sheet to keep with you for reference on shoots, live videos where you can see the tools and techniques being demonstrated, and beautiful images to showcase the outcome of the tools at work. Highly recommend-it feels like a steal for all you get in this package. Thank you!! Looking forward to seeing more content like this in the future.

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Thank you for the kind words, Heather! I hope you enjoy using the prompts, and I can't wait to see the magic you make as you incorporate play into your sessions with children!
Melissa

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NATALIE JEZZARD

This course is fantastic!!! what great value for money, you get so much and its great to have downloads and prinatbles to remind yourself. I was feeling a little flat and now I am full to the brim with inspiration, thank you.

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Natalie, your comment makes me so happy! I love that feel inspired and truly hope you find joy as you share these ideas with the children you photograph!
Best,
Melissa

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DARCY GRAF

Just WOW WOW WOW! What a tremendous course this is! Melissa truly has a gift for working with families and children and in this course, she has shared her profound knowledge with us all! I personally have been photographing families/children for years and I still found this extremely helpful as well as inspirational! It made me EXCITED to go out and play with my families and make it an unforgettably amazing experience for them! I found myself smiling though the entire course and I know this will translate to my work immediately! She has given tangible tools that I know will impact how I interact with children! I especially loved that she broke the content down by age group-even addressing tweens/teens who absolutely require a different skill set and approach from other ages. Well, done, Melissa! Thank you for sharing your gifts and experience with us all!

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Darcy,
I'm thrilled that this course made you smile! (It made me smile while I was working on it, too! Seeing all those happy, playful children is the best!) Thank you for your thorough review, and I hope you have an amazing time playing with all the families who are lucky enough to have you as their photographer!
Melissa

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CHARLIE

Do you have a self-paced course for Lightroom/Photoshop? I still haven’t learned to “layer.”

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MELISSA MILLER Response

Charlie,
Here are some editing courses that are taught through Click Photo School (I do not personally have any editing courses currently, but these are great options!).
-https://www.clickphotoschool.com/getting-started-in-adobe-lightroom/ This is a two-week workshop about Lightroom and begins Jan. 30.
-https://www.clickphotoschool.com/fundamentals-of-photoshop/ This is a three-week workshop about Photoshop; it begins at the end of February.
-https://www.clickphotoschool.com/meg-loeks-ultimate-guide-to-photo-editing/ This is a self-paced course about editing from Meg Loeks and covers Lightroom and Photoshop. I have taken another course from this instructor and learned a lot, including about editing.

Good luck!
Melissa

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