Whether you enter through one of our contests, an online application, a charity auction, or call in to the studio, our team will find the perfect time for your portraits to happen. Please know, we know how important family portraits are, so we will reach out a few times once you let us know that you’d like to be contacted.

After your session is on the calendar, we’ll send you a link to a clothing guide and you should get started on outfits. Our guide is comprehensive and will give you step-by-step instructions on how to put things together. If you have any questions please reach out to us! We love to talk about outfits and options, and are happy to help.

In the days leading up to your portrait session you’ll be getting reminder emails and text messages, and we’ll give you a call to go through details one last time. You should be looking around your home for where you’d like your portraits to go, and measuring wall space.

Our portrait artists will review your notes before your session and take into consideration any special requests and work to put together the perfect portraits for you.

Then, the day of your session arrives! You’ll be photographed in our camera room with one of our highly skilled photographers. They will create a variety of options for you, including traditional, candid, artistic, full length, and close up portraits.

When you’re done, you’ll sit down with our designers who will go through all of your portraits and help you find exactly what you want and need for your home. Please note, you’ll have to make your decision at the time you sit down with our designers.

Then, once you’ve chosen everything, we get right to work! Once you approve your order we send your files to our artists straight away. Our artists smooth out the background, even out lighting and skin tone, remove any stray hairs and blemishes, and address any concerns or requests that you made for your portraits. If it doesn’t meet our quality benchmark when it comes back from our artists, it goes back for additional work.

Once your artwork is approved, we add the finishing touches to it, including proper crop, our signature, and the extra bit of magic that makes your portrait a true Clark Marten.

Your portrait files are sent to a world class print-house in Iowa where they come to life! Your portraits are printed, inspected, and shipped. They arrive at our studio and we inspect them one last time before preparing them to be picked up.

You’ll be notified and asked to schedule a time to pick your order up from the studio (note: we can make arrangements for it to be shipped for an additional cost). When you come to pick up everything you’ll be shown your portraits for approval and then take them home for display! Framed and canvas-wrapped portraits are ready for the wall and include all the hardware that you’ll need.

While you may be dreaming of your family portraits for weeks, months, or even years, once you place your order we work to get it done as soon as possible. For orders that are paid in full, we rush through to have them done in 4-6 weeks.