Perspectives

It’s always fun to photograph a family over the years and watch the kids grow up.  I’ve been photographing Roger and Debbie and their kids for many years now.  We had arranged to meet at one of my favorite areas to shoot, however, a community parade route changed our plans and blocked access to our shooting location.  

I quickly called them and told them to stay put until I found our new location.  Our new location had lots of scenic places and while the family were en route, I quickly walked the area and choose three to shoot at.  There were several other photographers already there, so I wanted to choose some unique locations.  

The last area I choose was by a lake, which by itself seems like it should have been scenic, but really most would have dismissed as too crowded and ugly.  There were at least 50 people fishing at the edge of the lake, lots of trash cans, signs and lunch tables.  It wasn’t pretty.  But I saw something.  

I’m not great at behind the scenes images, I’m focused on creating great in front of the camera images. This time, however, I did take a quick photo of just a little bit of the view to show how a change in perspective can change everything.  

And that’s a thought that can be applied to just about anything.

Pro Photographer's Quick Tips: How to Prepare for your Upcoming Family Portrait

I am often asked about the best ways to prep for photo sessions, so I thought I'd share a little advice to help you get ready for your time in front of my lens.  Lots of people can take great pictures, but if you are investing the time and money to hire a professional photographer to create artwork for and of your family, take the time beforehand to prepare for your portrait.  

Prepare yourself for your portrait ahead of time:


Prepping ahead of time allows you to be relaxed the day of your appointment.  Gather your clothing, press it, make sure you have everything you need ready to go.  Ahead of time.  If you are planning on a haircut, schedule it a week ahead so that your hair has time to relax (are you seeing a trend?)  Avoid drinking alcohol or smoking a few days before, instead, drink plenty of water to hydrate your skin which will minimize lines and wrinkles.  Make sure everyone gets adequate sleep the night before to appear rested and you guessed it...relaxed!


Decide what everyone will wear, ahead of time:


I think the rules about what to wear are flexible.  Everyone doesn't need to match; would you all go out to dinner all matchy-matchy?  Didn't think so. Do think about making sure that everyone GOES together--I like to tell people to pretend you are preparing one BIG outfit.  But if you are a bright and bold family, then be bright and bold.  More importantly, choose clothing that fits well, is clean and pressed.  Lay out your clothing and accessories ahead of time.  Choose the colors that look best on you--everyone has something in their closet that is always complimented.  Compliment your body--if you'd like to appear slimmer, keep in mind that darker colors tend to be slimming.

What about hair and makeup? 

Makeup is subjective; if you don't normally wear makeup, don't apply it like Lady Gaga!  However, a concealer matched to your skin tone can provide an even skin tone. Stick with matte foundations, powders and eyeshadows: shiny makeup reflects too much light and can be distracting in camera.  For hair, put a little a smoothing product on your hands and lightly smooth down any frizzy strays.  This is a good time to use a professional makeup artist or hair stylist.  Important things to check for in the mirror before we shoot: stray eyebrows and nose hairs, dry lips and inner eye gunk!


The day of your portrait:


Try to plan a relatively calm day.  (That's where all this advance planning will help out!)  Many times, our portraits will be scheduled at times that may be meal times.  Try to keep sweets and sugar to a minimum, as it can wind kids up quickly, then they can crash just as quickly! It helps to fed the kids prior to our meeting time.  Feel free to bring along some snacks and drinks, both for you and the kids.  Think of this as playtime for your family--be ready to have a great time!  Most times, I've scheduled your appointment time based on the light, so it's really important to be on time.  Plan your arrival accordingly. 

When you schedule your appointment, we'll also start planning your session--location, clothing, props, everything that will make your session great!  Great sessions require a little planning-don't worry!  I'll help guide you through it all. 

Have more questions or ready to schedule?  Send me an email or give me a call!  Talk to you soon!

How Will You Celebrate Your Mom?

Did you know Mother's Day is observed by over 40 countries in the world?  Mother's Day is May 8th--how are you going to celebrate Mom?

Pro Photographer Quick Tips: 6 Simple Tips for Prepping for your Portrait with Kids or Animals

It's no simple task to gather the family, make them look presentable and keep them happy so that you can record the moments forever.  I only have one kid and one dog, but I totally get it.

Here are my favorite 5 tips for making the most of your portrait time:

1.  Prep AHEAD of time.  Let's talk about anything you'd like to include in your portrait or the clothing ahead of time.  Get everything cleaned, pressed and ready ahead of time.  Now, put it somewhere safe where it can wait for your appointment time.  Get hair cut a week before, drink lots of water, eat healthy and get some sleep in the days before. For your animals, groom them ahead as much as possible.

2.  Plan a mellow day the day of your appointment if possible, or at least a couple hours before your appointment, so there is time to relax.  Rushing around just before a session often leads to arguments and tension (I've seen that happen!)  so keep the hours before the session as relaxed as possible.

3.  Sometimes optimal light time for photography falls during meal times.  If it's not conducive to have a meal, at least have snacks.  Some healthy ones--not sugar filled ones!  So kids (and adults) aren't grumpy or hangry!

4.  Know that it's totally okay to love the images where the subjects aren't looking at the camera--the ones where they're interacting and having a good time and forgetting that I'm there recording the moment.

5. Be patient.  Sometimes it takes a little time for everyone to relax into the session.  Animals don't always cooperate and kids, well, they can be kids!  I have lots of patience and I'm there for you.  It'll happen, it often just takes a bit of extra patience and a little extra time.

6. Treats.  I'd like to believe that I make sessions with kids so fun that we don't need treats for kids, but particularly with animals, bring their favorite treats as incentive.  As in the very best, their very favorite.  Perhaps the treat isn't even edible, but a favorite squeaky toy, ball or whatever it is, make sure it's available for the session.  I'll also bring treats.  (Sometimes I feel like I'm the pied piper because my treats are different than usual--it makes me very popular!)

Have more questions about your session?  Contact me!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Featuring Merry and Bright: The Carlson Family

When your client works in retail fashion, it's a given that the clothing selection will be taken care of.  I was super excited to come up with something different for the Carlson Family when they told me they wanted bright, fun, silly and in the studio!

I liked the idea of a white background to set off their bright, silly outfits and the kind of hard light and shadows you see in fashion editorials.  Right before this shot, Lulu the dog was running around like crazy--but hey, just call me the dog whisper.
Merry and Bright!

Portraits not only make great holiday cards, but they make great gifts and there's still a little time left! Give me a call to schedule your appointment time!

Featuring: Family portraits with the Lyssy family, Forth Worth, Texas

It's always great when you can combine business with pleasure and in this case, I was able to hang out with one of my besties after I finished my corporate shoot in Dallas.  Even better, we were able to carve out a little (tiny!) time to shoot a few family portraits.  Ten years ago, just before she moved to Texas, I took a few portraits of her (so little!!) kids, and we even recreated that portrait of them today.  All in all, our session was fast and furious, but the crazy weather cooperated, the kids cooperated and even the dog cooperated!  Great to see you Lyssy family!!

Am I Still Shooting Family Portraits?

ABSOLUTELY!!  It's that time of year and I wouldn't miss it for the world!!  As much as I love shooting corporate head shots because of the one on one time I get with my subject, I love hanging out with families and capturing their dynamic and the lifestyle vibe of family portraits.
Why?  My five fav reasons:

1. The sunsets are at their most magnificent at this time of year.  Really.

2.  Families tend to get together at this time of year and are happy to see each other!

3.  It's great to see how much the kids have grown from year to year.

4.  Love planning out a shoot: simple or elaborate.

5. I could never dream of the amazing and fun things that happen!!!

Give me a call--Let's see what we can dream up!

Making dreams come true.

Sometimes, clients come to me with a definite idea about their session and sometimes they want to let go and let me do most of the planning.  Either way, I'm good.

This past weekend, I thought I'd be shooting in a field with this family and then suddenly, the day before our scheduled time, she confessed what her dream portrait would be.  So we quickly switched gears and I found the location to make it happen.  I felt a little like one of Santa's elves as I did my location scouting the morning of our shoot--thinking about how happy this was going to make this family.  And I had a feeling the weather was going to cooperate with my vision--in a seriously big way!  Sometimes it just all comes together perfectly.

What's your dream portrait look like?

Have you seen me and my tree?

This weekend I was at it again...sessions with my Christmas tree.  I have a feeling there are going to be quite a few Christmas cards and Facebook posts with my tree on them--My assistant said there wasn't anyone who didn't stop and take a photo!  Yesterday afternoon, as I was setting up, I was asked by a passerby "How on earth did you think of that??"

So here's what sparked the idea: Last year, as I walked onto the beach for one of the last sessions of the year, I saw a group of ladies carrying a Christmas tree onto the beach.  I would have loved to borrow the tree for my family, but the ladies were having a gift exchange and were busily decorating and preparing for their party.  I thought to myself--I need to have a tree next year for family portraits!  So I did!  And I did those ladies one better--I even light it up on the beach! (How on earth do I do that?  Radio Shack sells these little inverters.  Plug it into your car's cigarette lighter, plug in the lights and voila--Electricity!  Boy, will that come in handy on road trips when we need to charge iPads and Kindles and the like.)

It's loads of fun--decorating the tree on the beach, seeing it sparkle in the sunset. How many times have you or your kids done that?  The kids love it and you create family memories while having your portraits taken.  Win, win!

Want to decorate my tree with your family?  Got another idea?  Let's think of something fun for your family portrait this year--Drop me an email and let's brainstorm!  Sometimes all it takes is a little spark of an idea to make a great portrait.

Talk to you soon!

Lights, Camera, Action! How to prepare for your photo session!

I am often asked about the best ways to prep for photo sessions, so I thought I'd share a little advice to help you get ready for your time in front of my lens.

Prepare yourself for your portrait ahead of time:
Prepping ahead of time allows you to be relaxed the day of your appointment.  Gather your clothing, press it, make sure you have everything you need ready to go.  Ahead of time.  If you are planning on a haircut, schedule it a week ahead so that your hair has time to relax (are you seeing a trend?)  Avoid drinking alcohol or smoking a few days before, instead, drink plenty of water to hydrate your skin which will minimize lines and wrinkles.  Make sure everyone gets adequate sleep the night before to appear rested and you guessed it...relaxed!

Decide what everyone will wear, ahead of time:
I think the rules about what to wear are flexible.  Everyone doesn't need to match; would you all go out to dinner all matchy-matchy?  Didn't think so. Do think about making sure that everyone GOES together--I like to tell people to pretend you are preparing one BIG outfit.  But if you are a bright and bold family, then be bright and bold.  More importantly, choose clothing that fits well, is clean and pressed.  Lay out your clothing and accessories ahead of time.  Choose the colors that look best on you--everyone has something in their closet that is always complimented.  Compliment your body--if you'd like to appear slimmer, keep in mind that darker colors tend to be slimming.

What about hair and makeup?
Makeup is subjective; if you don't normally wear makeup, don't apply it like Lady Gaga!  However, a concealer matched to your skin tone can provide an even skin tone. Stick with matte foundations, powders and eyeshadows: shiny makeup reflects too much light and can be distracting in camera.  For hair, put a little a smoothing product on your hands and lightly smooth down any frizzy strays.  This is a good time to use a professional makeup artist or hair stylist.  Important things to check for in the mirror before we start: stray eyebrows and nose hairs, dry lips and inner eye gunk!

The day of your portrait:
Try to plan a relatively calm day.  (That's where all this advance planning will help out!)  Many times, our portraits will be scheduled at times that may be meal times.  It helps to fed the kids prior to our meeting time.  Feel free to bring along some snacks and drinks, both for you and the kids.  Think of this as playtime for your family--be ready to have a great time!  Most times,  I've scheduled your appointment time based on the light, so it's really important to be on time.  Plan your arrival accordingly.

When you schedule your appointment, we'll also start planning your session--location, clothing, props, everything that will make your session great!  Great sessions require a little planning-don't worry!  I'll help guide you through it all.  

Have more questions or ready to schedule?  Send me an email or give me a call!

Talk to you soon!

Don't forget this member of your family!

Do you have a four legged member of the family?  Or maybe no legs at all?  Someone with fur, scales or gills?  Think about including them in your family portrait!  We'll come up with an animal friendly location so the whole family can be included!