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I do all my shoots on-location.   So, when I am setting up a senior shoot, one of the first questions is, obviously – where do you want to do the shoot?  I always ask first because I think a shoot location should be personal and reflect the client’s interests and personality.   Many times, the client isn’t sure where they want to do the shoot and I am happy to brainstorm some options.  I start my “brainstorming” by asking what type of look they want – flowers and trees and a manicured-type park setting, a rustic rural setting, or maybe an urban setting?  More often than naught, the client wants greenery and a pretty scene.

Urban type shoots are rarely chosen and get a bit of a bad rap.  But I personally think they can be one of the nicest locations!  There are often very brightly colored walls which make beautiful backdrops.  There often many places to sit, lean, stand which gives so many more posing options.  The locations are interesting and unique and the possibilities are almost endless!

There is also the amazing light.  You see, the open shade of a building on a bright, sunny day is some of the most perfect light EVER.  The light is bright yet perfectly even so skin tones are just perfect.  And then there are catchlights.  Catchlights are those bright sparkles you see in the subject eyes.  I have definitely learned, over the last few years, how finding the right light is probably the most important element in a beautiful photo.  Of course,  you need to know how to properly expose the photo, pose the subjects, compose the photo, but if you don’t have good light, you pretty much have nothing.

So, this week I did a “practice” session with my beautiful niece and her two best friends.    I had been wanting to do such a shoot where I can work on posing and where I can pick exactly where and when I want to shoot and was really happy that my niece and her friends were willing models!  I scouted some locations a month of so ago, and found some great places in downtown Erie, PA!  The only one problem with my scouting trip was it was pouring rain and I really had a hard time determining where the sun would be at different times of day.  So, some of my scouted locations didn’t work exactly as I had hoped.  But we improvised and it was A-OK!

I was so excited when we finally were able to schedule the shoot.  And it was such a good time!  My models were stunning, the light was perfect and the photos?  Well, just see a sampling for yourself!!!!

We started out down by the docks along the bay.  There are some old buildings and I loved the different colors and textures.  Unfortunately, most of the area was in bright sunlight on the day of the shoot.  But we found one small corner that was in the shade.  I am sure the passing cars and people thought we were be a bit odd to pick such a old and run down spot for a photo shoot, but, as you can see, the photos turned out pretty amazing!

We then got a few photos along the water.  It was, as I said, very bright and hot in the sun, but I loved the colored posts.  So I posed my models in the sliver of shade of one of the posts and got just a few shots. I also got just a bit of one of my favorite things – sunflare!!

We then made out way up to the Erie Museum.  There are beautiful steps, sculptures and columns at the museum, but, unfortunately, at that time of day, the sun is just pounding directly on the steps.  I didn’t get the photos on the steps as I had hoped, but we were able to improvise and used the shade from the massive columns to get some pretty gorgeous shots!

Next stop? The sidewalk down State Street! We crossed from the museum to the shady side of the street. With a wide open aperture, I was able to blur out the distractions while keeping the colors and lines of the building and trees. I love these shots! We had a lot of attention during this portion of the shoot from random passerbys, but my models were like pros and didn’t let the attention bother them one bit!

I do have to add, this guy told me as we started that he can’t take a good picture.  Well, I was definitely up to the challenge.  And I think I proved him QUITE wrong!

After a quick break for a cold drink at Starbucks, we ended the shoot with some shots by the “blue wall”. I love the color!!!!

One final shot of my great models!!!

There are great little nooks and crannies like this in pretty much every town.  So, if you want to try incorporating an “urban” location in your shoot, just give me a shout.  I would love to do a bit  of scouting and find the perfect spot for your shoot!  Of course, my shoots often run from 1 – 3 hours.  So if you even want to mix it up and combine urban and rural, that would definitely be a possibility as well!

And I wanted to thank my great models!!!  I couldn’t ask for a better group!!!!  If you want to see even more photos from this shoot, please stop by Facebook business page!!!

Until next time!

Well, here we are in the month of July – the sixth month of my once-a-month family photo project!

July was a good month.  We finally have had lots of sun and warm weather so our kids have been in the pool almost every day.  Their hair is stiff and full of chlorine, but they are happy and swimming like fish!

So, what is new?  Well, I took this photo with my new D700 camera!  Yesiree!  I upgraded to a full-frame and I am absolutely thrilled.  I love it and am so excited for my upcoming weddings and many senior shoots to really see this sucker in action.  My old camera did a very good job, but this guy will ROCK in the low light!   I also love having a wider angle, I took this photo with my 50mm which is usually too long for a group shot like this.

This month we had a short trip up to my hometown to stay with my parents and enjoy the summer activities.  The kids absolutely LOVE going there and spending lots of time with their cousins.  They are truly the best of friends.  We did everything and anything on this visit – amusement park, beach, party, picnics and my husband and I even got an evening out alone!  You see, July is also the month of our wedding anniversary!  We have been married 11 years this month.  And, the interesting this is, we got married at my parents home and our wedding was on a Sunday afternoon.  This year, we were staying at my parents on our anniversary which was also on a Sunday this year!  So, the hubby and I went out to a little restaurant on the bay and enjoyed some cocktails and some alone time.

Yesterday was my 25th high school reunion – which I, sadly, did not attend.  I had thought about it, but we just didn’t have the motivation to either pack up the kids to stay again at my parents or to find a babysitter for the kiddos and make an one hour trip each way.  So we stayed put.  And now I see all the photos on Facebook and I am really bummed we didn’t go.  Oh well, I guess we have next time!

Our little Caroline is doing really well.  She is going to horseback riding every week and recently has had some remarkable improvement.  She has been going for 4 years, but in the last couple weeks, it is like it all clicked and she started holding on better and sitting on that horse like she knows exactly what she is doing.  It is so sweet!!!!

Kallie has finally ‘taken off the floaties” and is swimming all on her own.  She took swim lessons all winter, but it took some time before she felt comfortable swimming in our pool without floaties.  She is doing so well.

Christina continues with summer swim team a few days a week.  And when she gets home, she gets in the pool and continues practicing her strokes.   She is enjoying her summer, but can see there are moments when I know she would benefit from more structure in the day.  She really thrives in school.  She loves waking early and being busy all day.  So long summer days with no schedule can be tough sometimes.

Our summer has been really wonderful so far.  The kids have finally all reached the ages where they can stay up later and just sleep in longer in the morning.  When they were younger, late nights still resulted in early rising, but also meant very cranky kiddos.  This year we have had so much more freedom to go places and do things without worrying about early bedtimes.   It really has been so nice.

As we approach August, I am nervous that it is all going to go too fast.  Only a few weeks and school will start.  We have so much more we want to do yet and are not sure we will fit it all in.  August is getting busy with weddings and now senior photos and time is quickly running out!

Until next time!!!

 

A few weeks ago I [finally] took photos for my sister in law! She has two little munchkins. The last time I took their pictures was [only] about 1 1/2 years ago – yikes! So we were well overdue.

I was really eager to try out some new locations and be more creative.  I really love shooting in new locations, it is just so much fun.  So, my SIL and I went back and forth discussing ideas when she then had the BEST idea – find a train for Carson. Her son has been fanatically about trains for pretty much his entire life.  Although he comes from a family of train loving grandpas and uncles, so it isn’t a surprise.

Well, luckily, we live in a small town that is near a old train station that only runs sightseeing tours on the occasional weekend. So, on most days, there are a bunch of idle train cars, some cool overgrown tracks, and no people to speak of.   It was absolutely PERFECT.

And we all had the best time posing by the trains and along the tracks. It was the absolutely most perfect setting for Carson.  Now Carson also has a little sister, Brea.  She isn’t crazy about trains like her brother, but she came along and enjoyed the “train portion” of the shoot just as much as Carson did.

After the train session, we travelled to a small local college that I recently discovered has the prettiest little garden.  I had taken a few pictures there of my own little one, but never tried a shoot before.   There are old stone benches, lots of ivy and flowers and I thought it would make really makes a beautiful backdrop. I was so excited that my SIL agreed on this location – it definitely was as pretty as I had hoped! 

And it was the perfect setting for a cute little girl in bright blue dress!  Of course, her brother didn’t look too bad himself!

Seriously – what a cutie!

I would highly recommend trying to choose a photo shoot location that fits your child’s personality and reflects who they are and what they love at this particular time in their young lives.  The photos will have so much more meaning in years to come and your child will have so much more fun during their session!!!  It is definitely a win-win situation!!!!

We had a bit of a crisis over in this part of the world yesterday. Our cat disappeared.

Our cat, Ms. Nugget, is an indoor/outdoor cat. She has been in our family since Christina was 2, Caroline was 1 and Kallie was just a thought in our heads.

In the summer she is outside 90% of the time. She sleeps in the sun, deposits dead critters at our doorstep and visits neighbors as they take their evening walks. In the winter, she plops her oversized belly in front of our woodstove and snoozes from sun up to sun down and refuses to set one paw out in that cold, snowy world. She has a very good life.

And, honestly, she is an extremely good cat. She loves kids – all kids. She loves all people actually. She stays off the furniture [usually], she only scratches on her scratching post or outdoors, and she is very quiet. For a home with 3 little kids and one husband who [proclaims] to hate cats, she is just perfect.

Nugget also has a very strict routine in the summer. She eats about 7 at night, and then goes outside. She comes back about 10 to top off for the night, and then goes outside again for the night. In the morning, when we wake, she is usually at the door. She comes in, eats her leftovers and then takes a nice long snooze until midday.

Except yesterday. She wasn’t at the door in the morning. We left in the morning for swim practice and she didn’t greet us when we got home at lunchtime. The kids swam in their pool in the afternoon and she didn’t come around. We took a walk in our woods around dinnertime, looking for signs of a cat, nothing. We left after dinner to take Caroline to horseback riding and then stopped to visit friends and got home very late. And, again, no cat.

At this point, I was pretty sure our Nugget was gone. Christina has the job of feeding her every night and it just broke my heart when she asked “should I feed her tonight?” And I had to answer “no sweetie, not tonight.”

After I tucked in the girls, I noticed my poor Christina lying there in a ball with tears in her eyes. She was absolutely heart broken that her kitty seemed to be gone. I went downstairs and just prayed that I would hear that [usually annoying] sound of her scratching on the screen door for her evening meal. And I kept thinking about how awful it is when your child’s pet dies.

I finally decided to head to bed when [I thought] I heard a scratch. I assumed it was my mind playing tricks. I started to close up the house, when – there she was. Sitting at the door, looking at me like “what’s the problem lady?”

I was never so happy to see that damn cat. I fed her and sent her downstairs for the night. And I can’t wait for the girls to wake to see who’s waiting for them!!!

Rawr.

 

I recently added a few new senior sessions to my senior portrait offerings. 

First - the BFF senior session!

If you are interested in sharing your senior session with your best friend, sibling, cousin, or whomever you want, you can now schedule your session together (and save!).  Two seniors can schedule their sessions on the same day and time and share the session cost.  I will provide each of you about 30 – 40 artistically edited proofs in your own individual online gallery.  I will include lots of individual shots – as well as, of course, some with your BFF!  You can choose the prints and other products you want to order from these images.  All products can be ordered directly through me via the gallery.   

The BFF session, like my individual senior sessions, can last 1 – 3 hrs and can be conducted at the location or locations of your choice.  You can also incorporate a few different outfit changes if you would like.  I do all sessions on location, so you can choose where you want to shoot – whether that is at a pretty park, a rural field, an urban setting – or a little bit of all!  And if you don’t have any locations in mind, just let me know what look you and your BFF are interested in and I will give you a whole host of location ideas to choose from!

I also am offering “Simple Senior Sessions” this year.  For those seniors who aren’t interested in a full senior session, a simple session is a lower cost alternative.  The simple sessions last 30 minutes and are conducted only within zip code 16301.  If you live outside of this area, you are welcome to travel here, there are many different location options available.    For simple sessions, I will provide about 8 artistically edited proofs in an online gallery where you can choose which prints or other products you would like to order.  Simple sessions are only conducted on weekdays.  

For more information on any of my senior sessions, or to schedule your session, please visit my website or contact me!

Until next time!!!!!

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