Sweet Escape Family Photoshoot at Baguio (Philippines)

I’ve always wanted to have forest-themed family photos to display around the house. So when we booked a trip to Baguio, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to have another Sweet Escape photoshoot!

And i you’re planning to have your own shoot, make sure you check out my Sweet Escape promo codes at the end of this article!

What is Sweet Escape?

Sweet Escape is a photography service that allows you to book a professional photographer during your trip. Each session lasts an hour or two (depends on your package) and you get to shoot on location at your chosen destination.

In other words, you get to have your own personal photoshoot during your trip!

We’ve already tried Sweet Escape before when we visited Singapore and I absolutely LOVED our photos. So I knew I just had to get them again this time around.

Where to Shoot in Baguio:

There’s something about the pairing of tall trees and cool weather that I really love. So for our forest-themed shoot, we decided to shoot at Camp John Hay, where tall trees abound.

There are so many picture-perfect areas in Camp John Hay. We chose a spot near “The Filling Station,” as recommended by our photographer Kat.

I particularly love that this section had a giant log. Hehe.

The forecast was rainy but praise God it didn’t rain the morning we were scheduled to shoot! The ground was little muddy though. But muddy footprints are part of the fun! 😉

Our Sweet Escape Experience in Baguio

We booked a 2-hour shoot with Sweet Escape. Days before our trip, I was exchanging messages with our photographer, Kat and asked for her suggestions for us. I love that Sweet Escape allows us to do that before the actual shoot!

Shooting with Kat was easy and fun. She gave posing suggestions, which I appreciated. But mostly, she allowed us to just run around and have fun!

And as it is with kids, their photos always turn out so much better when they are having REAL fun!

Side story: During our Singapore shoot, we had a ton of family group photos. But we later realized that we only had like two photos of just the kids together, absolutely no couple photos and no photos of me and my Lukey (HUHU)

So I made sure to get those shots this time!

Photos with My Husband! 😉

I insisted on having photos of just us! 😀 It’s been a while since we’ve had nice photos together…

I wanted to make sure I have something to post during our anniversary next year (hahaha #priorities)

Photos of the Kids

It was a bit of a struggle to have shots with just the two of them, but at least we got a few!

Dylan couldn’t sit on the log alone without support yet. So to achieve this shot, Yaya was holding Dylan at the back! Her hands were under the jacket. Haha! Impressive ninja hiding skills, huh? 😉

Photos with My Brothers

As we were on this trip with my brothers, we took the opportunity to take photos together as well.

… and of course, photos of them with their nephews!

Next time, Dylan will be joining this shot! 😀

Learnings and Tips: Shooting with Kids

Overall, we had an enjoyable shoot. After 1 hour, Luke was getting a little cranky so we let him take a break while I did the shots with my brothers. We wrapped up a bit earlier to accommodate the kids.

I’ve already shared some tips before about having a shoot with kids but I learned some new ones this time around.

Here are some learnings we got from our Baguio photoshoot experience:

• When staying at just one photo location, a 1-hour shoot would suffice. When we were at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, we shot at different locations within the venue, so the 2-hour shoot was just right. But here in Baguio, we only stayed in one spot at Camp John Hay. A 1 hour shoot would have been enough time to get all the shots we wanted and we could leave before the kids got cranky.
• Make it fun for the kids. Kids wouldn’t naturally want to have a photoshoot (they don’t really care haha) So we encouraged Luke to run around, pose like his favorite Avengers characters (his request) and gave him sticks for him to play with.
• Bring some props, if desired. If I could do the shoot again, I would bring a picnic blanket and probably some wooden toys for the kids to play with as we shoot. We actually planned to bring Luke’s bow and arrow set but forgot to pack it. The bent stick worked out fine though, don’t you think? 😉

Sweet Escape Promo Codes!!

If you wanna book your own Sweet Escape photoshoot, you can use either of the two codes:

• Use my promo code “SHEENALOVESSUNSETS” to get $50 off + 30 extra photos on your session.
• Use my promo code “SHEENA25” to get an extra 25% off on top of the discounted rates for the following cities: Boracay, Cebu, Makati, Manila City, Quezon City and Tagaytay. Valid until December 31, 2019.

UPDATE: Use my code “SHEENA10” to get 10% off and 20 extra photos, for sessions anywhere in the world!

(NOTE: THIS POST IS ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE LAST NOVEMBER 2019.)