planning your wedding...
Click on links below to download information regarding your wedding day.
PREPARING FOR YOUR SESSION...
SENIOR SESSION:LOCATIONS: Senior photos are meant to celebrate you and document this phase of your life, so keep that this in mind when choosing locations. Choose places you love or that describe who you are and what you love to do! If you need help thinking of ideas or narrowing ideas down, I can help.
WARDROBE: When choosing what you are going to wear, try to stay away from white and black. Variety is the key here; choose several outfits to bring with you, don't be afraid to use bright fun colors, patterns or textures. Trendy clothing is good as well. You want to remember this time in your life and how you dressed is a part of it. Layers and accessories are great as well (coats, scarves, hats, funky shoes, etc) Be creative. Again, I can help you narrow down when we get to the location of the session. Prom dresses are also an option that is fun! SPORTS: If sports are important to you, bring your jerseys or equipment. We can head out to the baseball field, track or ice rink to take some pics during your session. We can also do these in the studio or non-traditional location like an urban alley or country road. Make sure you let me know you are interested in sports pictures ahead of time as this will involve me brainstorming ideas and making sure we plan out time for this in session. Portrait session:LOCATIONS: Depending on the age and number of people involved in session, I usually do 1-2 locations. I try to choose locations that are diverse and have a lot to offer for backgrounds. I like choosing a place you may not expect but one that has texture, color, or architectural detail. It may also be a place that has sentimental meaning to your family or a playground that the family can interact with during the session. If you need ideas, I can help!
WARDROBE: When choosing what your are going to wear, try to stay away from white and black. Textures, patterns, layers and accessories are good. When choosing clothing for family session, resist urge to make everyone match too much. It's often fun to choose 2-3 colors for entire group and choosing outfits based on these but not completely identical. Some family members may have pattern with the color in it or a shade darker or lighter version of the color. This unifies the photos but allows for personality and playfulness. PREPARATION: Try to schedule your session when children are happiest - when they are rested and fed. Bring snacks to help during the session if need be or as rewards for great smiles. You may also want to invite a friend/family to help get young ones to smile. I do my best but it's always easier to have another person who knows them to be silly or get their attention when needed. NO PRESSURE: As far as sessions for families and children, you never know what you are going to get. Some sessions will be easy to get smiles and children will cooperate. Other sessions are like pulling teeth and you work for each shot. I don't mind really; that's just part of the fun of it! Try not to put pressure on yourself or your family to have it be "perfect" session. My job is to simply document our time together and get the personalities to come across in the photos. My goal is not to just give you photos with perfect smiles and poses, but for you to remember the silly things your kids did at this age and all the fun we had during the session. |
maternity session...WARDROBE: Try to choose clothing that shows off the shape of your belly. Try to choose solid colors and stay away from patterns and complicated designs. Black and white are good to but other colors are ok too as I can change photos to black and white easily. Choose a shirt or sweater that can open easily to expose belly or a tank top that can be rolled up. See through material is great, allowing us to see belly underneath. A pretty bra or swim suit top works too or a form-fitted dress. Don't get overwhelmed with choosing, just bring what you have and we can go through it when you get to the studio. I will help you choose. I also have lots of fabric here to choose from that can be wrapped around you exposing your cute belly!
WHAT ELSE TO BRING: If you know the sex of baby, you can bring objects that show this such as flowers, baseball glove, blue or pink baby toys or blankets. If you have named the baby, we can incorporate this into the photos as well. Bring a sentimental item with you such as your baby shoes or a blanket knitted by grandma. newborn session:WARDROBE: I mostly try to do newborn sessions with baby in the nude as this allows us to see all the great details of a newborn (wrinkles, hairy skin, tiny toes, etc) If you want to do an outfit, that is fine as well.
Most likely this session will focus on baby, not you so don't feel too much pressure to look amazing! I will spend most of shoot with baby and then get some pics of baby with mom and dad at the end. It would be good to bring a black shirt and a white shirt. WHAT ELSE TO BRING: Feel free to bring any blankets you have that may work to swaddle baby in or as backdrops. Textures and colors are great for this to bring interest to the photos. Bring any sentimental toys or gifts given to baby from family/friends. You may bring other items that represent mom or dad. (baseball glove, drum sticks, camouflage) We can try to incorporate these in the the shoot. Bring along any interesting props you may have to put baby in or on. Use creativity here (basket, bowl, crate, rocking chair, flower pot, suitcase, etc) I can help you with ideas of course! PREPARATION: Try to schedule your session when baby is ready to sleep. Feed baby right before session begins. Turn up the heat at your home. Take off baby's clothes and have them in a diaper and swaddled in a blanket. NO PRESSURE: Newborn sessions usually take 1-2 hours depending on how baby cooperates with us. We will go with the flow. If baby needs to nursed or soothed back to sleep, there is plenty of time to do this. Try not to put pressure on yourself or baby to have session go "perfectly". The pictures will be great and we will have fun with baby! |