PhotoNara · Nara Prefecture

Family photoshoot in Nara

In short

A family photoshoot in Nara costs $220 for 30 minutes on the park’s quieter lawns, starting about 07:30 before the tour coaches arrive. You receive 15 edited photos within 3 days. We handle the deer crackers — about ¥200 a bundle — one at a time and keep small children at a safe distance from stags.

Starting from: $220
Duration: 30 min
Edited photos: 15

Why here

Why choose Family photoshoot in Nara?

Children remember Nara for the deer, and the photos people want are the ones with a deer close and nobody upset. That depends almost entirely on the hour. At 07:30 the deer on the Tobihino lawns are grazing and calm; by 10:00 the ones near the cracker stalls have learned to mob anyone small holding food. We book families early and handle the crackers ourselves.

How the shoot is planned

How a session in Nara is planned

The route

We meet at Kintetsu Nara Station, exit 2, and walk east along the park’s edge for about ten minutes; a pushchair is fine on this paved stretch. The base half-hour is spent on the Tobihino lawns between the main road and Kasuga Taisha, where the deer graze in the open and the low sun comes through the trees. An adult holds the crackers out of sight until the frame is set, then hands one to a child kept low, so the deer bows instead of pushing. With an extra hour, after a snack break we walk to the first stone lanterns of the Kasuga approach for a calmer family portrait in the cedar shade, and finish back on the lawn where the children can run once the crackers are gone.

The timing

Book a morning: the deer are calmest and the lawns emptiest before about 09:30. From May to July fawns are born, and mothers in June will charge anyone who comes between them and a fawn, so we work at a wider distance with a long lens. September to November is the rut, when stags are short-tempered until their antlers are cut in October; we keep children well away from any stag in those weeks. Late March to early April and mid-November bring blossom and maples to the same lawns, and the most crowded mornings of the year.

What’s included

What Family photoshoot in Nara includes

In the package

15 edited photos
A route with no long stairs if you bring a pushchair
Time for a snack break inside the 30 minutes
Private online gallery within 3 days

Fees and permits on the route

Todai-ji Nandaimon and Great Buddha Hall: Nandaimon gate free; Great Buddha Hall about ¥800; no tripods
Kasuga Taisha lantern approach: Approach free; inner precinct about ¥700
Isuien and Yoshikien gardens: Isuien about ¥1,200 (closed most Tuesdays); Yoshikien has offered free entry to overseas visitors

Book online

Inspiration

Family photoshoot: ideas for your shoot

Frames by photographers on Unsplash, credited below — the mood to plan your own shoot against, not our portfolio.

Photos: Philip White, Stefan Vibes, Anshul Gurjar, Jennifer Kalenberg, XS Xue on Unsplash

Before you book

FAQ — Family photoshoot in Nara

How old should children be for a Nara deer shoot?

Any age works if the adults hold the crackers. Babies photograph well in a parent’s arms with a deer nearby; children from about four can feed one cracker under supervision. Toddlers who are frightened are carried and never pushed closer.

Can we bring a pushchair into Nara Park?

Yes on the paved paths and the lawns; the Kasuga approach is gravel and uneven further up. Deer sniff bags hung on pushchairs, so keep food and paper zipped away and nothing dangling.

How much is the Nara family photoshoot and can we add kimono?

$220 for 30 minutes and 15 edited photos within 3 days. Kimono is possible, but deer chew sleeves and obi that smell of crackers; if the family wants kimono, the family kimono photoshoot ($300) arranges the dressing and a calmer garden.

Can we feed the deer anything other than crackers?

No. Human food makes them ill, and plastic bags and paper maps can kill them. Only shika senbei, sold from stalls across the park, and never held out and pulled back — that teasing is how most bites happen.

Same shoot elsewhere