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!

Featuring: In Home Portraits with the Peterson Family

The Peterson's have been photographed many times over the last year by other photographers because their son was recently married.  Yet as intimidating as that was, I also knew that as art lovers, the Petersons would leave me a wide range of freedom to create much, much more than a traditional portrait.  We talked about the many possibilities of locations and because they are moving, they decided they wanted to record their life at the house they are leaving. I thought a lot about the direction to go in and decided that we should create portraits with a little bit of irreverence and a whole lot of fun.  I started looking at photographers like Slim Aarons and Larry Sultan for inspiration.  I liked the idea of creating a more documentary style portrait but without the grit.  Linda briefed her family with the "goal that we would "artsilly" record the life we imagined we lived here."  And then asked them to pack as if they were invited to a lounging party with no color off limits.  

Fun is a bit of an understatement.  And just in case I had doubts about how much fun everyone had, Linda posted this from her husband:  He says, "She's really fun. It was a great day! I would do it again and recommend Laura to everyone." Followed by, "put THAT on Instagram. I don't Instagram."

Indeed.  

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?

There's no place like home. Portraits at Home!

I'll go just about anywhere to shoot a good portrait, but admittedly, I love photographing clients in their own home!  When you're at home, you're relaxed, a bathroom is nearby, and food and drink make merry.  My clients this weekend wanted to combine a "We've moved into our new house" and "Merry Christmas" theme all in one--a great idea!

Before any session, making a plan for the shoot so that it flows smoothly is critical--particularly when kids are involved.  Or dads.  Sometimes dads too.  Or anyone really.  With home portraits, I like to take a look ahead of time to see the areas I have to work with and the lighting conditions.  It allows me to plan out my lighting and the equipment I'll need to bring.  We'll talk about each area that we plan to photograph in and what needs to be done to ready it for the shoot. If we need furniture or props, we'll talk about that and make sure they are there the day of the shoot.  Clothing is always covered in the conversation.  On the day of the shoot, I want you to feel completely ready and relaxed--not feeling like you've got to run out to find one more outfit.

With this home session, we planned to start at 2:30--typically not an optimal start time during an outdoor session, but we planned to start at the front of the house in a beautifully shaded area and work our way to the open area in the back with direct light as the sun started on it's downward trajectory.  When kids are involved, I usually have about an hour before they start to tire of me.  I'm fascinating and fun, but I like to leave those littles wanting more rather than spent, so I plan my sessions to make the most of my kid time.  But at home, I usually get a little longer, because kids can take a break and head to their room or grab a snack.  And I try to plan the most fun part of the shoot for the end, so that the anticipation of the end shot keeps the energy level up.  With this home session, we planned on a few that involved the pool, so EVERYONE was excited to get to that part!  Just another cold winter day in Southern California!

Got a crazy fun idea for a shoot with me?  Let's chat about it!
Talk to you soon!

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!