I spent the morning playing with this little guy and his fun mom and day yesterday. He is such a charmer, and his favorite little football was never far from sight in the photos. Here are a few previews from our session.
I got to work with two beautiful expectant moms this morning on maternity portraits. How fun are these? Amanda and Kim, I hope you will enjoy these memories of the last few days of your pregnancies, and I can’t wait to meet your little ones!
This little guy had the honor of being my first model in the new studio. And what an adorable little guy he is! And it looks like he’s a big fan of his mommy 🙂
When we brought home our older daughter, my husband and I made a commitment to get portraits taken of her every month to document her growth. We went to the mall and got our free session and free 8×10 and made sure we had each month documented, and on good months, we bought some extra photos to share with relatives.
From my own experiences–first as a parent, and later as a photographer–I came to learn that there were better ages to get portraits done, and that they don’t always coincide with the times that you’re most likely to want portraits (like their first birthday). And when you’re investing in custom portraiture, it’s not like my first year of monthly photos from the mall–you want to be able to have a nice collection of photos from your session, and so you don’t do them as frequently and you want to try to do them when your child is in a better stage for portraits.
So I have put together some recommendations for good stages to capture in custom portraiture.
Maternity/Newborn
The best time to start your child’s portrait collection is before he or she is born. Artful maternity portraits are not only a wonderful memory of this special time in your life, but also are a great addition to the baby’s scrapbook or baby book.
Newborn portraits are best in the child’s first two weeks. During this period the baby is still very sleepy, and is easy to pose, and most likely to be very cooperative during the session. The images that you get in this newborn session are likely to be of a sleepy baby. Sometimes you can get little angelic sleepy smiles, or wide eyes, but these type of portraits are meant to serve as a reminder of just how tiny your newborn was. Bare skin is best for these type of portraits, so no need to plan the wardrobe.
Infants
In the first year, the best times to come for baby portraits are at 4 months, 7 months, and 11 months. At 4 months, babies are very responsive to their parents, and will offer genuine smiles and fun expressions. They can be propped up in a basket, or lay on their stomach in a “tummy time” position. Fun hats work well at this age, and be sure that whatever you dress the baby in doesn’t bunch up too much around the neck.
7-month-olds are generally sitting on their own and very happy subjects. Before they start crawling, they are very easy to work with, and you can get some of the best baby portraits at this age. It’s still young enough to do bare skin portraits, especially if you would like to capture the baby rolls.
I usually recommend doing a baby’s first birthday portraits a little early, like around 11 months, so you can catch them when they’re standing but not yet walking. This is a great age to put an adorable dress on a baby girls, since she will be standing for the first time in her portraits.
Toddlers
Walkers up to around age 2 1/2 are a tough group to photograph. They can be the cutest subjects in portraits, but they always have their own agenda. For this age, I recommend trying outdoor sessions, where the child can feel more comfortable and I can capture some of the child’s real personality.
Preschoolers/Younger Elementary Students
Preschoolers and children in the early elementary ages are among the easiest to work with in terms of photo sessions. The most important thing I find in this age group is for the parent to be confident and positive about the session, and then it rubs off on the child. They also do well in outdoor sessions, and outdoor portraits are a nice alternative to the school pictures that they get every year.
Teens
Since most school-age children get school photos taken each year, custom portraiture isn’t as popular in this age group. However, it’s nice to do sessions with teenagers where you can get siblings together and family portraits before the children go off to college.
For seniors, although most schools have an official photographer for yearbook shots, many choose to get more natural or unique senior portraits with a custom photographer. These sessions can be lots of fun, and really bring out the true personality of the teenager much more than a quick studio session.
I think the most important thing is just to make sure that when you look back at your child’s childhood, that you feel like you’re been able to capture the memories that you want to remember. I hope my guide will be a little helpful in helping you make that happen 🙂
I can’t believe October is right around the corner! We noticed the unique warty pumpkins over at our neighborhood hardware store, Stalcup’s, a couple week ago, and the girls have been talking about them ever since. Today when we told them they could pick out a warty pumpkin to help decorate our front stoop, they were thrilled. Nothing like a silly pumpkin to brighten up an on-and-off rainy day.
Yesterday was my last day taking portraits at the mall–what a whirlwind! Since I normally do custom portraiture, my sessions are more relaxed and I take about 1-2 hours outside, in homes or in my studio to get to know the family and the children. These sessions were condensed into 15 minutes, and only on a plain white background, so a little more of a challenge to get the little guys to show their true spirit. But as you can see, even with those constraints, I think we managed to capture some great smiles, fun expressions, and sibling love. I am really excited about all the great families I got to meet, and I wanted to give a big thank you to the staff at the store who were so accommodating and welcoming to me!
Another day, and another sweet family at the Pottery Barn Kids store today. I think it’s dangerous to spend too much time doing sessions at that store, since I’m tempted to go shopping there between sessions. Their stuff is just too cute, especially the Halloween costumes they have in stock right now.
I spent the day doing portrait mini-sessions for the local Pottery Barn Kids store, and will be going back for 2 more days this week. It was so much fun playing with these little guys and having the whole PBK store to borrow props for our portraits. Here are some sneak peaks for my clients today.
What could be more fun to model than this totally funky witch costume? This fabulous costume is by SugarbelleChic, and it comes with everything from the hair extensions to the tie-dyed tights. As she walked down the street a neighbor asked if it was a Halloween costume. She answered “I’m not really a witch, just a little girl dressed like a witch”. And then processed to tell me that the neighbor thought she was a real witch 🙂
I’m very excited to announce the opening of my new studio! The studio is located in downtown Vienna, and will be open by appointment only. I will be offering sessions at the studio starting next week, and I hope to hold a grand opening event in the winter to show off the facility.
And in honor of my new studio, I have a new, fresh look. My new logo is now featured on the website.
And just a quick update about the upcoming holiday season. My weekend sessions are almost completely booked up for October and November. Weekday sessions are still available, but are also filling up.
On November 15 I am offering a series of mini-sessions for “just cards” packages. These will be short sessions for families who don’t need a full session and just are looking for a good family portrait for the holiday cards. The mini-sessions cost $250 and include the session fee, 50 custom holiday cards, one 11×14 print and 2 5×7 prints. I have 5 spots open on that day.
If you are interested in a full portrait session, or one of the mini-sessions, let me know so I can be sure to get you on the calendar!
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