Posts Tagged ‘fine art portraits’
Girl with Parasol
July 14, 2010
Girl on Swing
July 6, 2010If you ever think to yourself, “You know, self, I’d really like all the other mothers at the playground to stare at me like I am a total lunatic” I have some tips.
1. Leave the DSLR at home. Everyone has one now, they all know what they are and they are sizing up your lens. Is that a 70-200 in your bag or are you just happy to see me?
2. Instead, bring out a toy camera. Make sure to load the film – what is this film thing you speak of? – at the picnic table. The medium format film will get an extra odd look as it doesn’t look like the film people remember. Then, pull out your roll of gaff tape and tape the sucker up.
3. Lie on the ground slightly in front of the swing set so you can shoot up. Try not to get kicked in the face – it’s best to be back a little bit.
Holiday Mini Sessions
July 2, 2010I 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
| August 28th | September 25th | |
| West Hartford Center | Westmoor Park | |
| $350* | $495 | |
| Click HERE to reserve a time in August | Click HERE to reserve a time in September |
*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.
Gorgeous Children | Avon Children’s Photographer
June 28, 2010This was one of those childrens’ portrait sessions I was really grateful at the end it wasn’t my kids because there is simply no way I couldn’t have every single one of these. It was s fun mix of film – love that film look – and digital for these. I adore working with film and am always thrilled to have a client who appreciates the special feel of a film portrait!
Of course, my kids never actually cooperate like this. Mine aim more for the “running away from the camera as fast as my legs with shoes on the wrong feet will go” look. Since if they consistently gave me portraits like THESE my house would be wall-papered with photos perhaps I should be grateful.
Moments to Remember at Photography Sessions
June 21, 2010Now and again things happen at photography sessions that make one laugh, though usually not until a bit later after a glass of wine or two. A small sampling…
- I was doing a very casual portfolio building shoot of a friend’s 3-month old son at my house on my back deck. She took her glasses off to get some pictures holding her child without the specs and my own child grabbed her glasses, broke them, and dropped them under the deck. We had to fish them out (or rather, I did, as she really is basically blind without her glasses) using a hook AFTER we located where they were by peering through the wooden boards at the assorted dead leaves below. Finding patterned brown glasses in dead leaves with almost no light is, well, interesting. I told her to let me pay for new ones. Did she? No. They are STILL taped together and that boy is 18 months old now. Every time I see them I feel glasses-guilt. Lesson learned: don’t ever try to do even the most casual shoot with your kids around. This just doesn’t end well.
- I did a maternity session for one woman and was doing a set of rapid fire pictures, one after another, of the same pose. When I went back to proof the pictures, as I flipped from one to the next, I realized I could see the baby shifting around inside her womb and causing her abdomen to change shape. I’ve also had a woman have contractions during the shoot; she was a trooper and hiked all over West Hartford Center – in high heeled boots – pausing only briefly during contractions. She admitted she hoped the walking would bring on full labor. No such luck. I did, however, once have a mother go into full labor about 5 hours after our session.
- Babies pee on my ALL THE TIME. It’s just part of the job and one reason I wear very casual clothes to shoots. Only once, however, did I manage to actually catch an arc of pee in the air when I pushed the shutter RIGHT as the baby peed. If this happens to you I will add a complimentary 4X6 of that shot for you to tuck away until your child’s wedding rehearsal dinner when you can add it to the slideshow of cute childhood pictures. This will be payback for the sleep deprivation.
- At a wedding I once, camera gear hanging from my neck, jumped down a river bank to grab a blow-away ketubah that the wind had snatched and was attempting to introduce to the water, not 15 minutes after every single person in the family had signed it. This was not in the fine print of “How to be a wedding photographer.” I’ve also helped a bride into her dress, which eliminated any sweet “the bride getting dressed” shots but ensured that she actually DID get zipped into her dress.
9 Months and Still Growing
June 7, 2010This sweetie is one of my Year in the Life babies. She started out small and now, well, see for yourself.
Ridiculously Adorable Little Boy
June 4, 2010People ALWAYS want to know how to dress their kids. Little boys in tank-tops and jeans are about as cute as it gets. It gives them the freedom to show me the bugs they find (and, err… your kids will probably end up dirty after a photo shoot with me – best not to plan a fancy dinner directly afterward) and to sit in the mud or climb a tree. Of course, I’m perfectly happy to send a girl in a linen dress into the mud too but there is just something about a little boy in a simple shirt and jeans that evokes timeless childhood innocence in a way that ties and button down shirts just don’t.
Lovely Young Woman
May 31, 2010SUCH a beautiful girl. This young woman was one of the models at a workshop I went to recently and she was just amazing. I love getting to work with girls this age. They are so self-possessed and just hovering on that paper thin line between childhood and adulthood and over the course of a session you can see them go back and forth between the two.
My OTHER Gorgeous Senior Rep
May 29, 2010I have two beautiful young women who volunteered to be my senior reps this year (or, rather, next year). This woman is SO much fun. She hardly stopped laughing the entire session and has SUCH a gorgeous smile. And, really, how can you not love someone who brings a Buddha to her session? Thank you for being just such a delight to photograph; I should have your goodies out to you soon!
Gorgeous Girl Child and Workshop Ramblings
May 27, 2010I went to my first photography workshop this weekend and I’m still recovering. The other photographers were awesome and I ate brains.
No. Really. Jen Snyder, who is my long lost dork twin, ordered “lobster with sweet breads” at dinner the first night. Sweet breads are brains. Who knew? She didn’t, and neither did I. They taste like garlic.
Back to the photographers. Summer was so much fun. She does some of the most beautiful color newborn work I’ve ever see and she can get joy out of the most recalcitrant child. Leiba was the coolest, most inspiring wench imaginable and Zoe, who organized the workshop, shoots the most beautiful scenes and intimidates the hell out of me because she is just that good. As for the teacher, well, I am Cheryl Jacobs‘ crazy stalker and some day she’s going to find me living under her porch so I can pluck every last bit of knowledge from her brain.
Brains. Mmmmmm….
So, we took a lot of pictures – go figure at a photography workshop – and this particular child was one of my favorite models because she was such a bit of mischief. And those freckles!
I call this one “Her Ladyship Sits for Her Portrait.”
Expect more of more kids as the days go by…