What is the Heirloom Experience?
A Step-by-Step Guide to Our Signature Portrait Journey
Far too often, portraits are rushed, impersonal, and destined to live in digital folders; forgotten as quickly as they were posted.
We believe your story deserves more.
The Heirloom Experience by Ruwan & Diana Photography was created to transform how portraits are made, and more importantly, how they’re remembered.
It’s not just a session. It’s a collaborative, luxury journey that guides you from concept to creation to something you can truly hold, a timeless piece of your legacy.
Step 1: The Legacy Planning Session
We start with the end in mind.
Before we ever pick up a camera, we meet with you to understand what this session is really for.
Is it a framed portrait for the walls of your first home?
A handcrafted album that becomes part of your family’s story?
A visual celebration of this milestone moment in your life?
In this session, we’ll talk through your goals, your story, and what matters most to you. From here, we start designing your experience around what you want to feel when you look back on these images.
This is the get to know you stage and we really do want to know who you are so that we can tailor the images to bring out what makes you UNIQUE and tell YOUR story.
Step 2: Style & Story Mapping
Your session should feel like you.
From wardrobe styling to location scouting, color palettes to mood, we’ll co-create a vision that reflects your personality: not just trends.
Whether it’s golden-hour magic at the beach, an editorial vibe in the city, or something quiet and intimate at home, this is where your vision takes shape.
We'll guide you with personalized tools (mood boards, outfit consultations, etc.) so you feel confident and cared for before the session even begins.
We love it when our clients share their Pinterest boards with us. Not only does it help visualize their vision for the project but it also give us a good starting point to develop something truly amazing. We also make sure that we guide you to look your best with wardrobe selection.
Step 3: The Day-Of Experience
This isn’t a photo shoot. It’s a moment!
By the time we arrive at the shoot, you won’t feel nervous or unsure; you’ll feel ready.
We create a calm, collaborative environment where you can be fully present. Every part of the session is directed with care so that nothing feels stiff, forced, or rushed. A number of our packages also include hair and makeup in-house so you don’t have to worry about making sure the schedule of multiple people alight and fight traffic to get everything checked off before you dazzle before the camera. Nobody is dazzling when they are stressed.
We work with very talented hair and makeup artists who we have vetted and checked out so that its one less worry for you.
We also don’t like to over-pose people. Our goal is to show off who you truly are. We may occasionally give you some prompts based on our initial consultation and what we have learned about you. The goal is to make this session a capturing of the real you and not creating a persona of yourself that you don’t recognize when you look at the pictures later.
We often hear from clients afterward:
“That didn’t feel like a photo session… it felt like a memory.”
Step 4: The Grand Reveal
And speaking of looking at the pictures later, this is the moment it all comes to life.
We invite you back to the studio for something truly special: the Grand Reveal.
This is where you see your images for the first time, not on a phone, but in a cinematic presentation that captures the emotion of your story.
Clients often laugh, cry, and leave with more than just photos, they leave with certainty. Certainty that they’ve captured something real, beautiful, and lasting. We have learned through experience that this moment can be an emotional and euphoric experience and it is one of our favorite moments of the entire process. It gives us such a high when we see how happy our clients are.
From here, we help you design the artwork that best fits your life, whether that’s a museum-grade wall piece or a handcrafted album to pass down one day.
Step 5: The Legacy Artwork
Tangible. Timeless. Truly yours.
Every piece of artwork we create is carefully designed, professionally produced, and meant to last for generations.
We partner with premium labs and artisans to deliver heirloom-quality albums and wall pieces that won’t fade, warp, or fall out of style. Every piece is handcrafted in the United States because we believe in supporting the artisans who are experts in their own fields and along for the ride supporting us.
Because your story isn’t just for now. It’s for those who come after you.
This has been a primary pillar of our studio. We want these moments to be preserved for generations to come.
Ready to Begin?
If this feels different than what you’ve seen before—that’s because it is.
We’ve designed The Heirloom Experience to be intentional, personal, and unforgettable from start to finish.
📞 Book your Legacy Planning Call today and let’s begin telling the story only you can tell.
