Couples portraits are not an engagement-only product. They suit any two people who want a considered, well-made portrait of their relationship, whether that's six months in, at a tenth anniversary, or well into the decades after the children have moved out. The occasion matters less than the fact that the relationship is worth documenting properly, at whatever stage it's at.
Who books a couples session
Engaged couples are only one part of it. In practice, the people who book a couples session at Five Castles Portraits include:
- Couples marking a wedding anniversary, from the first to the fortieth
- Empty nesters who haven't had a portrait taken of just the two of them in years, once the family portraits have always been the priority
- Long-married couples who want something that reflects decades together, not the version of them from their wedding day
- Partners who simply want a considered portrait of where they are now, without a milestone attached to it
What ties these together is a simple observation: the way two people look at each other after years together is different to the way they look at each other early on, and it's worth having that recorded properly rather than left to phone photos.
What actually happens in the session
A couples session runs the same way as any other portrait session here. It starts with a one-hour consultation at the Belgrave gallery, where you see finished artwork on the walls, see pricing openly, and plan the session around you both. From there, the session itself is timed around sunrise or sunset, either at the studio or on location, and built around whatever suits the two of you rather than a fixed formula.
Within a week of the session, you come back for a viewing and design appointment, where you choose your favourite images together and design the finished pieces. It's a slower process than a quick portrait session, but that's deliberate. It gives the images time to be chosen carefully rather than rushed.
He directs, he doesn't pose you
The most common worry couples raise before a session is some version of "we don't know how to stand" or "we're not photogenic together." That's fair, and it's also not how the session works. Arek directs the session rather than posing it, which in practice means giving you something to do, somewhere to walk, a moment to react to each other, rather than arranging you into a stance and asking you to hold it.
The portrait isn't of two people standing still. It's of what happens between you when you're not thinking about the camera.
That distinction matters more for couples than almost any other portrait type. A posed couple looks like two people who were told where to stand. A directed couple looks like two people who like each other, which, if you're at your tenth or thirtieth anniversary, is usually the entire point of getting the portrait done.
Studio or somewhere in the ranges
Couples sessions can run at the studio in Belgrave or on location, and the choice usually comes down to what feels most like the two of you. Some couples prefer the quiet and control of the studio, where the light is managed and there's nowhere else to be. Others want somewhere with meaning attached to it, and being based in the Dandenong Ranges means options like Sherbrooke Forest or the general feel of the Puffing Billy countryside are close at hand for couples who want their portrait to carry a sense of place as well as a sense of each other. Either way, the session is timed around sunrise or sunset, which does more for a couples portrait than almost any other single decision, since the low light tends to soften everything and slow the pace down.
Choosing how it's displayed
Once you've chosen your favourites, the finished pieces are artisan printed and hand-finished, ready for collection within three weeks of your design appointment. Couples portraits work well as a single striking piece rather than a full wall art collection, since it's usually one moment or one feeling you're after rather than a narrative arc. If you're deciding where a piece like this might live in the house, our guide on displaying portraits in the bedroom covers the room most couples end up choosing, since it's the one space in the house that's genuinely just for the two of you.
If the session is being planned as a gift, whether from one partner to the other or from adult children marking their parents' anniversary, our guide to portraits as gifts walks through how that works in practice, including how to plan a session as a surprise without giving too much away. And if the couple in question are grandparents rather than a younger pair, it's worth reading our guide to grandparent legacy portraits as well, since the two sit close together but aren't quite the same brief.
What it costs
All prices include GST and are shown openly at your consultation, so there's nothing to work out in advance. Most families invest between $1,500 and $3,000 on their finished artwork, and payment plans are available if that helps spread the cost. A single premium canvas piece starts from $450, framed or wrapped, in sizes from 11x14" up to 36x55", which is often enough for a couples portrait destined for one wall rather than a full collection.
Digital files accompany the larger packages, though the studio doesn't sell full-resolution files on their own. The point of the process isn't a folder of images, it's a finished piece that actually gets displayed, which is a large part of why the design appointment happens in person rather than over email.
Every portrait begins with a conversation at the Belgrave gallery.