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Back in the day, way before I decided to study and improve my photography, I would take a ton of fun photos with my friends.  And, if I had a photo I particularly loved, I would blow it up, BIG, so I could hang it on the wall.  How big?  Well, 8×10 of course! 

Fast forward a few years, I start to become obsessed with photography, I start to read every and any photography blog I can find and soak it all in.  And then I read a blog post from a photographer (whose name I can NOT recall for the life of me) who stated:

“8×10′s are NOT wall prints!”

Huh? 

She went on to explain that an 8×10 is almost always too small to hang on a wall.  Unless you have a very small space, or are using it within a large collection of photos, an 8×10 will typically be lost in the expanse of a wall.  She showed examples of how much better a LARGE print looks.  And when she said large, she was talking BIG – much bigger than your typical sizes.

After reading that article, I completely agreed.  And I realized that the vast majority of the photos hanging in my house were way too small.   The photos were hard to see across the room and they had no impact whatsoever.

So I decided I would start re-doing my wall photos.  (Sadly, I also have a serious problem deciding what photos are good enough for my walls so I have been “working” on this project for a couple years with very little progress).

The one room I did start doing this was my bedroom.  I took a photo a couple years ago of two of my girls at the beach.  It has always been one of my favorite photos, it is the kind of photo that I can just stop and stare at over and over again.  So I took this (unknown) photographer’s advice and printed the photo as a 16×20.  I mounted it on styrene and bought a frame.  I LOVE it.

You can see my “desk photos” below that are sized at 8×10. And you can definitely see that if I hung the 8×10′s instead, they would be lost and look out of place. And, to be honest, I probably would like this photo even larger. But I took it with my older camera and I was a bit nervous to blow it up too big. Although it probably would have been fine.

One of the parent’s of a senior client from this past summer told me that she wanted BIG photos of her son. And when said big, she meant BIG! She ordered 3 photos sized 24×36! I was very interested to see these photos after they were hung on her walls and she was nice enough to let me stop by and even take some photos!

Aren’t they beautiful!!!!

If you would like to learn more about large wall prints – give me a ring!

We have had some pretty amazing April weather!  It has been warm and sunny quite a bit, and everything is greening up much earlier than normal.  But since we “usually” spend most of our year living with cold temps and brown backdrops, I will not complain about this early burst of spring!

Yesterday my girls were playing out back while Daddy was working on firewood.  The light was beautiful, the grass was so green and I just had to get out and annoy my kiddos with just a few pictures. 

First I shot up high (I love these types of shots!)

And then I got down low:

And then I got a goof ball:

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And then I got one girl trying to strike the “perfect” pose while the other was, well, “less than perfect”:

And then I got one very sweet, very pretty, quite perfect (IMO) photo:

On a side note, I have noticed my backyard has the PERFECT light in the late evening.  The sun sets behind the house and reflects back off my white house to brighten my girls’ faces.  I get a rim light, sun flare, and perfectly exposed faces!!!  So pretty!!!

 

Kim was a last minute [not to mention beautiful!] senior from the Class of 2010!  

It has been a while since I have photographed a senior since most get their portraits done in the summer or fall, so I was thrilled when she contacted me! I missed photographing seniors!! She and her mom picked out an absolutely gorgeous location.  It was a beautiful private property of one of their acquaintances who was nice enough to allow us to traipse around her grounds. 

We also really lucked out with the weather.  It was predicted to be about 40 and raining (blech), but instead we had 40 (still chilly) and bright overcast skies (which are actually great for photos!).  And we even got a few, very quick,  peaks of sun!

Kim and her mom were so nice and so much fun to work with!   And the photos?  Just gorgeous!!!!!

 

Thank you all so much!!!   I just love senior photography and I can’t wait to work with all the upcoming Class of 2011 seniors!!!!

It is April and month #3 in my once a month family photo session.  This first weekend of April was also Easter Sunday, so I thought I would get a photo of the whole crew in their Easter Sunday best!

We are Russian Orthodox and if you know the Russian culture and religion, Easter is definitely the biggest holiday of the year.     

Before embarking on our trip up to spend the day at my parent’s home, I rounded up the troups for our monthly family photos (inspired by Tara!).    I loved quite a few of the photos so I decided to post more than one take.

I love the interaction in this photo – Caroline smiling at me, Christina smiling at Kallie and Kallie admiring Christina’s “bling”!

I absolutely LOVE the perfect smiles on Christina and Kallie and Caroline looks so sweet smiling at her sister Kallie.

And in this one I love the beaming smile on sweet Caroline!!!!

Unfortunately, what I don’t really love are the trees coming up out of my and my husband’s heads!  But when you are balancing your camera on an Adirondack chair and are in a hurry, sometimes you forget some basic compositional guidelines!

So what has been new since our last family photos?

Christina has been doing well in school, as usual. Since she is done with swimming for now, she spends most of her afternoons and weekend running around outside with Kallie and any and all neighborhood friends that wants to join her.  She is always the social butterfly and party girl.  She is obsessed with the Nintendo game Nintendogs and everything Harry Potter. We read the first Harry Potter book together and she is very eager to get started with book #2.

Kallie also loves Nintendogs when she isn’t crawling around the house pretending she is a dog. She likes preschool, but would much rather stay home and play with Christina.

Caroline got her casts off! She was so happy to finally be able to soak her feet and legs in a warm bath. She has been doing so well in school and hasn’t been sick in MONTHS! For a girl who was predicted to be frail and sickly, she is definitely doing her best to prove each and every one of them WRONG.  I don’t think that cutie pie with the big smile looks frail at all!

Eric is done with coaching swimming for another year.   He had a really good state meet in mid March.  He was worried that he may just have one guy to quality for states.  They ended up with 4 and one earned a medal!  But now he is home most evenings and weekends – just in time for the all the spring and early summer yardwork!

And me? Well, as I had mentioned in a previous post, I had a serious scare when I started feeling very weak and shaky and dizzy. I ended up in the hospital due to a very low blood count. I found out I had severe anemia so I am popping iron pills and trying to eat an iron rich diet. Luckily my problem seems to be easy to fix, but I definitely did not like leaving and scaring my kids. Kallie and Caroline were OK, but Christina had a bit of a hard time.

Our weather lately has been amazingly warm. And our forecast is looking pretty good as well! Everything is starting to bloom and green up quite early. However, I am doubtful we are done with snow completely, but I definitely am enjoying this summer-like weather while we can!

Well, that is it for this April 5th, 2010! Until next month!!!

 

Oh…newborns…..I just love every single thing about them -  their smell, their tiny fingers and toes, their sweet vulnerability and their absolute perfection.    I know some moms claim they love newborns, but don’t necessarily want to relive those days again.  Not me.  I would definitely give up some sleep and time to myself to be able to enjoy those newborn moments again.  

A few weeks ago a dear neighbor friend had her first child – a darling baby girl!   And, of course, if anyone in my vicinity has a baby, they can be sure I will be at their door, with my camera ready for newborn photos. 

I photographed J at one week.  She was such a good little girl (although what newborn isn’t?).  She slept most of the time, only cried a tiny bit and was quickly quieted with a feeding.  We had one spit up (caught on camera!) and a couple accidents!  But nothing one mom, one dad and one photographer can’t handle!

And I do have to say it again, I am SO sorry that I never thought to get newborn photos of my own 3 little girls.  Our little ones are only this tiny for such a short time!  I know how tired and overwhelmed a new mom is, but if you miss those moments, they will be gone before you know it!  I do all shoots on location, so I will travel to your home and work around you and your baby’s schedule.  No rush, no need to go the trouble of traveling to a studio – just stay home,  relax and enjoy the experience!!

Onto the photos!  Meet beautiful Miss J!

And with her sweet mom:

Thank you all so much!!!!