In order to make you love it too (and you really should, you know) I’m going to offer four complimentary film-only mini-sessions, one per month, through the end of 2010. There are a handful of conditions. I have to have the time available, you have to be a returning client and there is a $500 minimum purchase when you order from the session. Email me to inquire about booking.

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So…

Newborns: Newborns should be naked.

There, wasn’t that easy? Not even any shopping required.

Girl Children: You should allow her to dress herself and then subtract from the outfit anything you really hate and cannot bear to see on your wall. This IS a portrait of her and her clothing should reflect who she is, not who Gap or Tea Collection want her to be and my goal is to get a portrait of the actual child, not a heavily stylized advertisement for childhood. Be aware that she’ll probably be dirty by the time I’m done with her (I do tend to encourage children to play and that messes them up) so avoid anything so precious you couldn’t bear it if it got stained. Does she have a stuffed bear she won’t put down? Bring it. Does she insist on wearing a tutu over everyhing, including her snow suit? Leave it. When she’s grown up you’ll want to remember her as she was, tutu, snowsuit, stuffed bear and all.

OK, you want specific instructions. A solid colored dress made out of woven fabric like linen, not a knit or t-shirt type fabric, with some swing to the cut and some texture. Going a size up often helps with the flow. If you keep it simple the final picture will remain about the child, not the styling.

Boy Children Again, the goal is to make a portrait of the child, not a magazine spread, so don’t make yourself nuts with the styling. Let him wear what he likes and take away anything you hate. Jeans, a plain shirt and some kind of layering are perfect.

Families Unless you tend to wear matching reindeer sweaters in real life, you shouldn’t wear them for your portraits. Instead of trying to match everyone lay out all the things you are thinking of wearing and ask yourself if this would work if it were one outfit. Do the patterns go nicely together? Is there some variety? Then you are good to go!

Things to Avoid
I once, when watching the summer Olympics, observed a man who had just medaled in butterfly, a physically demanding stroke, stand, poolside, in a speedo. This was before swimmers wore full body suits and he was in tight, underwear like spandex. There was a bit of what looked like a spare tire around his waist and I thought if THIS MAN, who is about as physically fit as it is humanly possible to be, looks less than perfect in a speedo there is simply no hope for any other man anywhere.

There are some items of clothing that look bad on you no matter how good you look. Some specific things to avoid:

• Speedos. 1) You’ll freak me out if you show up to your photo session in a speedo and 2) see the anecdote above about the world class swimmer.
• Yoga pants, sweat pants, or any variation thereof. These only look passable on the pretzel chick from your yoga class. If you are a professional dancer, go for it. For the rest of us mere mortals, no.
• Polo shirts. They drape in unflattering ways. I know they are comfortable. I know you wear them every day. Don’t wear them for your photo shoot. Please.
• Khakis. Ubiquitous these days, most of these are designed by the same sadists who make high school band uniforms to look bad on everyone. At least, unlike those marching band uniforms, khakis are rarely 100% polyester but you should still avoid them.
• Athletic shoes and Crocs. Big bulky shoes just look lousy in pictures. If it’s summer, go barefoot or wear sandals. In winter go for flattering boots.

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I am scheduling two days of mini-sessions for the holidays. These are 20-30 minute short sessions geared directly to getting you one or two shots for holiday gifting and cards (and though printed cards are not part of the package I do have a selection of templates you can use to order cards should you so desire. The templates can be viewed HERE.)

Your mini-session includes:

• Electronic pre-consultation. This is, I admit, impersonal but it helps to make sure that those 5-10 shots are the ones you are looking for and I’m not shooting blind, which is awkward in photography.
• 20-30 minute session. This is significantly shorter than a regular session but kids are often pretty fabulous within the first 10 minutes and quite done by 40. Obviously, there won’t be sleeping newborn “Simply Babies” shots in this mix.
• 5-10 proofs from which to choose. Regular sessions start at 20 and are usually 30ish. Mini sessions, being mini, obviously have fewer pictures.
• Online ordering. I have done away with online ordering for all but mini-sessions because it was known to make people want to throw their computers across the room, preferably at my head. However, keeping mini-sessions as streamlined as possible helps me to keep the costs down. If, however, the software makes you want to scream and throw things at me we can do a phone ordering session instead.
• 11×14 (or smaller) portrait.
• 10 desk prints (8X10 or smaller). All prints must be the same size and same image. 8X10 prints are $65 a-la-carte so this *poof* is a $650 value in one line item.
• 50 4X6 prints (same image) OR 1 digital negative (cropped to 4X6 at 300dpi). Whether you have me print them or opt to print them yourself, photos are the piece de resistance of holiday cards and gains you 5 points in the Swistle Thistle holiday card scoring game. Order an extra set of bulk 4X6 prints for 2 more points

*Yes, it’s cheaper in August. No, you don’t get less stuff. I start to get very busy in late September and go flat out through the end of November so if you go early and aren’t tucked into my busiest time, you get a discount.

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We are part of their lives.

Women always say to me “Oh, I don’t want to be in any. I didn’t do my hair. I’m not wearing any makeup. I need to lose 10 pounds. Or 20.” No, you probably don’t need to lose 20 pounds and I’m sure you look gorgeous without makeup and, more to the point, you are in your kids lives looking just the way you look, right now. You need to be in the pictures. You are creating the photographic story of your child’s life, from the snapshots to the portraits, and when you look back you will see a narrative connecting them that you didn’t even realize was there at the time.

I know the odds are good that you are the family photographer and can claim “well, I’m not in them because no one else can take a picture.” I know this because this is my excuse. Or maybe you duck behind a tree when the family photographer comes out waving his or her camera claiming those 20 pounds or lack of lipstick as the excuse. I know that you feel uncomfortable in front of a camera. It’s hard to have your picture taken. But if you don’t get in front of that camera that photographic narrative won’t include you. There will be no photo you can show your adult children of you loving on them at 5 days old. No photo of you laughing with your 2-year-old. No photo of you with all of your children smiling at you because they adore you. Hand your partner the camera and get some snapshots with you in them. Next time you have a portrait session tell the photographer to make sure you are in some of the images. Because you ARE part of the story of your children’s lives. You need to be in the pictures.

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One of my favorite ways to have them all is the image box. What, you ask, is an “image box”? Well, it’s a box. Oh, you’d figured that part? It has one of the prints from your session on the front and more prints inside. Kind of like this:

The prints can be mounted on archival matboard so you can display one at a time on an easel.

If you decide on mounted images you are limited as to how many you can have as, well, it is unlikely that all the images from your session would FIT in a box once they were mounted. If you want regular, unmounted prints you get them all because, quite simply, they’ll all fit.

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My display:

Some other exhibitors. Click on their snapshots to go visit their web sites. All are fabulous women who had some great things out for sale. I must have one of Herrickfield Designs felted bags and if I ever have another baby (hah) I will be getting Bean Tree Baby to set me up with a wardrobe of carriers to get me through.

Sarah Herrick of Herrickfield Designs Needle Felting

Bean Tree Baby at the La Leche League Conference

Erica and Keith Grossman, Bradley Childbirth Educators in Manchester, CT

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Now, April is shaping up to be a busy month too. I have some pre-booked newborns waiting to come out, the La Leche League conference, which I adore, and a day of mini sessions which means that, sure, you can get a 30 minute session for free but means that there are that many fewer days for regular sessions. All of which is to say that if you want to book a regular session in April I recommend doing it quickly. Click HERE to book; currently available dates are listed in the drop-down box on the ordering page.

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What a great gift for the hubby/boyfriend!

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OK, you want a newborn portrait. That’s good. I do those. I like those. But before you reserve a session (and I do recommend pre-booking a newborn session while you are pregnant) you probably should make sure you actually like my newborn pictures. I know that sounds like a ridiculously obvious thing to say but you’d be surprised how many people ask me if I can do it in color. So, before you book me, or any photographer, take a look at my portfolio and make sure that’s what you want.

So, why the pre-booking? Well, when the baby arrives you are going to be tired, tired and, oh, tired. Sure, babies may sleep 18 hours a day but they do it in 20 minute increments, in between which they wake you up and demand to eat. You want to book a newborn shoot for as soon after the birth as possible, as in days old, not weeks old. If you pre-book all you have to do is shoot me an email and I’ll send you a list of dates we can shoot and then all you just pick one and I show up.

So, you wonder, how does the actual session go?

Well, first, if you want any “simply babies” style pictures the baby has to be under 1 month old. I don’t do the posed shots with older babies. Furthermore, the room has to be HOT. You’re asking a very small person, whose body isn’t great at self-regulating its temperature yet, to sleep naked. I don’t know about you but I certainly wouldn’t be able to sleep naked in a 68 degree room; let’s not ask the baby to. 80 degrees minimum. 85 is better. If the adults aren’t sweating it’s not hot enough.

I’ll bring in a bean bag, some black blankets and some giant clips. I’ll set that up, along with some portable heaters and then proceed to ignore it. Why? Because the odds are really good that at this point your baby will be awake. Babies find me fascinating and need to be coaxed to abandon my amazing presence for the gentle oblivion of sleep. (It isn’t just yours. My own children repeatedly demonstrate how much they hate to sleep in my presence.) If your child is actually soundly asleep I’ll have you strip him or her down and we’ll do the simple baby solo shots.

If, as is far more likely, the commotion of a stranger appearing at your doorstep, carrying stuff, rouses your baby from rest to look about and demand to eat we’ll ignore the bean bag set up and I’ll track down the light I like best and put you there. This may not be where you expect. Light trumps location. Then I’ll ask you you to interact with your baby. Kisses. Snuggles. Hold her up in the air. Rub his nose with yours. Place your cheek on the top of her downy head. Lay down next to him on the bed. If you want breastfeeding portraits, let me know as I don’t shoot them unless asked. That’s it. The most beautiful, tender shots are always the ones where you are just loving your child. Those sweet moments happen best when I step back and just observe (you know, once I’ve got you shoved where I like the light). I may call your name. I may tuck your hair out of your eyes. I may suggest you move in closer or hold hands. I may even clear clutter out from behind you. I won’t tell you to say cheese or try to get everyone – you, your partner, your 5-year-old and your 2-year-old – to all look at the camera at once.

When your baby falls asleep (and a very warm room, a full belly and snuggles do work wonders) we’ll slip him or her into the beanbag setup and get those shots. And that’s it, we’re done!

Then I get one up on the blog quickly as a sneak peek and the whole set done within 5-10 business days. I’ll let you know when they are ready and we’ll schedule an ordering session. I tried doing it online for over a year but, really, even with pretty good software it’s just complicated. What finish do you want? What size do you want? Oh, looking at what you want it might be more economical to do a collection. What do the announcements actually FEEL like. People got frustrated because they didn’t find the online set up intuitive enough. It was a mess. Now, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but after a year or more of something not working I do get the hint that it needs changing. So in person ordering it is. Finally, you get your prints and your albums and your canvas and you send the prints to family, put one in a frame for work, put the album on the coffee table and hang the canvas on the wall.

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