When I arrived, I was greeted at the gate by my client’s daughter, mother and nephew.  They welcomed me in and showed me around so I could get ideas as to where to photograph.  Their home was so beautiful and there were so many options as to where to shoot.  I love that.

First we started out on the balcony.  It was a beautiful balcony with lots of trees and grass behind them.  There was even a pond off to the left of the house.  Because the lighting wasn’t what I wanted, I brought my strobe onto the balcony to help.  After I got it set up and was testing the light, a gust of wind came and knocked my light over!  Oh no!  My poor bulb burst into a million pieces and put a hole in my umbrella.  Yikes!  I cleaned up the mess and proceeded to set up my external flash with portable light box because I didn’t bring an extra bulb with me.

Throughout it all, they were very patient (which I truly appreciated) and were quite ready once I was all set up.  After taking images on the balcony, we moved into the living room. Mr. Watson decided it would be rather interesting to take more portraits in front of the fireplace, so he started a fire.

Once we finished shooting in front of the fireplace, we took pictures on the staircase.  The staircase was beautiful!  There was a window that had lots of sunshine flooding in, which was glorious to view, but not much  fun to shoot.  At any rate, we did it and I was glad.  Next, portraits in the foyer and then out on the front steps of the house.  I’m not sure what it is, but I love photographing people on stairs, especially graceful looking stairs.

Considering the session was around 1pm or 2pm, the sun was rather high in the sky.  It was a beautiful sunny day, without a cloud in the sky.  I had to position them so that they weren’t squinting into the sun, but trying to keep their faces from being put in shadow.  I’m so glad it was a gorgeous day!  We finished up the session with portraits in front of the water fountain.

After that session, my family got together at my dad’s house to bring the new year in.  What fun!  Believe it or not, I didn’t even have my camera.  Glad to have survived another year and am looking forward to what 2012 will bring.

Yesterday I decided to take the day off, which is always hard for me to do, but I did it.  I spent more time with my family and doing things that I needed to do.  Today I am working and I realized that this would be my last blog of the year, so of course I had to say something.

I just want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with much success, joy and love.  Learn from your mistakes and try to be the best person you can possibly be.  That doesn’t mean try to be perfect, it just means do the best you can.  Help those who need help and make sure to take care of yourself and your family to the best of your ability.  Thank you all so much for allowing me to share my experiences and thoughts with you.  Below are some of my favorite images from this year and I look forward to creating more great images!

After a while, Elizabeth finally woke up.  Yaaay!  Her mom fed her and then it was on! She had two outfits.  One was a Christmas outfit and the other  was just plain cute.  While Elizabeth had on the Christmas outfit, she wouldn’t smile much.  She seemed to be in a good mood, but we don’t think she was feeling the frilliness of the dress or the red, sparkly stockings.  At any rate, I was able to get some really sweet shots.

Next came the soft pink outfit.  No frills, just nice and comfortable.  She smiled much more and was rather mobile.  She would roll over or try to crawl somewhere.  I don’t know how many times her mother had to catch her from falling over.  I even have an image where she has a smile on her face as she is falling to the side.

We had such fun that day.  It took a while to get started, but it was well worth it.  I love photographing the babies!  I have another session with a newborn today and I am so excited about it!  Can’t wait to share those images either! Anyway, below are some images of Elizabeth and her mommy.  Enjoy!

Basically you will host a party and invite your friends.  The party can be a children’s birthday or themed party, a girls-night-out/boudoir/bachelorette party, a holiday party, whatever kind of party you wish.  I will provide you with invitations to send out to at least 10 of your friends.  You will need to schedule your friends in 15 minute intervals for each of their sessions.  Instead of the regular $85 sitting fee, all your guests will pay is $20 to hold their slot, which will be used toward their purchase of prints.

I will provide a link on my website for them to review their images and order.  I will also provide them with a code that will apply their $20 deposit to their order.  Those that place their order within 7 days after the images are posted will help you, the hostess receive 15% commission on those orders to be used toward your portrait purchase.

One last thing, if you book any portrait parties with your guests the day of the party, you will get an additional 10% commission on the timely orders to be used toward your portrait purchase.  Any bookings subsequent to the party, you will get 5% commission. Just make sure when they book that they mention your name.

Now, doesn’t all that sound really cool?  It’s a great way to have friends over, have fun and get some great images as well.  As a suggestion, since this is a party, it would be great to have refreshments for your guests to enjoy as they eagerly await their session!  Please call or email me if you want to schedule a party.  If you are not a part of my monthly newsletter, please feel free to click the link to the right that says “Subscribe to our newsletter”.  In it you will find all types of interesting information like sales, discounts, new products and offerings.  Again, it is monthly, so I won’t be inundating you with emails.

Thanks for reading as usual and have a great day!

Most of my clients are people who call or email me that I’ve never met a day in my life, but every once in a while one of my friends will ask me to photograph them and or their family.  This is always an exceptional joy because they are not just asking me to do it because I am their friend, but because they like and admire my work.  That is a really big compliment and I hope they know it is greatly appreciated.

My latest session was with my friend Dawn and her family.  I’ve know Dawn for some years now, but this was the first formal portrait session I’ve had with her.  I was so excited to photograph the Mullings, besides it’s always great to see them anyway.

When I arrived, Dawn’s daughter Sydnei answered the door.  She was sweet as usual, even though she wasn’t feeling very well.  Darn allergies!  She welcomed me in and informed Dawn and Damian that I was there.  At that point they were still getting ready, so I went ahead and set up in the living room.  As I was setting up, Dawn came out to greet me, as did Damian and we discussed the best place for the images.  It was good to know that we were all on the same page.

Dawn and Damian have been married about the same amount of time my husband and I have been married, and I’ve known Dawn longer than that.  I mention this because Damian knew he knew me from somewhere, but couldn’t quite place me.  After Dawn explained to him where he knew me from, he realized it was ok to welcome me with a hug.  You’d think after that many years you’d remember, but I digress.

When I photograph families, I like to get the dynamics of the families…basically natural interactions.  With some people it’s easier than others.  Some families you can just have them sit next to each other and they just start interacting.  Others, I have to work with and tell them things like “act like you like her.”  The Mullings were more like the former.  At times I would rearrange the order, but they would take over and act like I wasn’t even there.  I love when that happens because then I can get some really candid and yes, even silly moments.

They are a very fun-loving and loving family and my goal was to capture all of that in their images.  I believe I was able to do that, but I think I might be biased.  At any rate, we had a fun session and even though Sydnei was under the weather, she was a real trooper.  Below are a few from the session.  Enjoy!

Before we left my husband was given two sets of directions. One set from his friend and the other from his mother.  All I know is that I was given a set to navigate with.  So we all hope in the minivan and head on our way.  After about the second turn my husband deviated from the directions I was reading,  which in turn threw me off.  We got on the freeway and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking for at that point.  When I saw a sign that said “To Cape Cod” I told him to go that way.  Unbeknownst to me, that was not the way his friend wanted us to go.  Ooops.

Fortunately we got to where we were going, even though we ran into some horrible traffic.  It seemed that everybody and their brother were going in our direction.  The only thing that would have made it worse was if we here going to Hyannis instead.  Once I got to the point where the driving directions matched written directions, we were able to follow the directions to their home.  When we pulled into the quiet retirement community, people stopped and waved.  I wasn’t used to that in Massachusetts, but we waved back.

The home was beautiful!  They came out to greet us and that’s when it started to rain. The rain was definitely a good thing because it had been so hot. Things cooled off and we got to relax on their gorgeous deck with a view of a beautifully peaceful pond.  We called it a lake because it was huge.  Anyway, the women went grocery shopping, my husband and his friend went to buy fresh lobsters and mussels and the boys stayed at the house playing video games.

When every one returned, the women were in the kitchen seasoning hamburgers and making fruit salad and regular salad and of course chatting up a storm.  The men were on the deck grilling, boiling lobsters, drinking beer and talking about stuff that men talk about.  After my six year old held a live lobster (which he would only do after my husband’s little brother held it) it was dropped in the pot with his friends.  We all ate and then parted ways.  The men and boys went kayaking and swimming while the women stayed home and talked.  I think that was the first time I really got to relax on a vacation.

The next day was pretty much the same.  We had planned to leave in the morning, but we were having such a great time we decided to spend a few more hours there.  Finally it was time to go and we had to make the trip back to Boston.  This time traffic wasn’t so bad on the bridge, but the freeway was murder.  Fortunately we arrived safe and sound.

The next day we went back to downtown Boston to try to see more site, but were unable to see much as it was raining all day.  Not only was it raining, but it was in the low 70s so I felt like I needed some pants and a sweater.  We went to a mall and got some clam chowder from Legal Seafood.  Yum!  After realizing that it was not going to stop raining, we went back to my mother-in-law’s.  Once there we packed to leave the next day.

There wasn’t too much that went wrong going home, except for the fact that this time my son’s bag was pulled out to be searched.  We had already consolidated the liquids into one bag to be checked, so we weren’t going to have that problem again.  Of course they didn’t find anything in the bag, so we packed up and went on our way.  Once home, my husband’s little brother realized that he didn’t have his wallet.  He thought he left it at the house on the Cape, but it turns out that he left it in the minivan.  Evidently a family that rented the minivan found it and notified the rental agency.  Of course all of the money was gone, but the wallet was there.  I have my theory of what happened, but this post isn’t about that. The wallet was mailed back, finally after much consternation.   Oh yeah, we get to look at all of the pictures that were taken!  What can be better than that?

This session was pretty much like my other sessions except for two things.  In the bedroom shots I decided to use natural light since a lot of sun was coming through the windows.  Even though it was sunny, it wasn’t quite enough sunny enough for me to shoot without a tripod.  Luckily Justin went back to sleep after a series of shots and I was able to shoot without any movement.  Yay!

Next we moved down to the basement and I set up my backdrop and light for other shots. I don’t use very many props, but one that I do use is what I like to call my “Moses basket”.

In case you haven’t noticed, Mr. Brown is a natural in front of the camera.  He loves having his picture taken and always gives me “good face”.  Sometimes I wonder are the sessions really about the children or are they about him?  At any rate, please enjoy the images from the session!

The special moments I like to capture are those in intimate settings with a small number of people, generally 5 or less people.  I get to work on my own schedule and don’t have to worry about not being able to stand in a certain place or not be able to use my lights or other such rules.  I like to feel comfortable and not be rushed so that I can get the best images possible.  When I’m comfortable my clients are comfortable and we have fun.

For the past two weeks I have showcased the Brown family.  Since I have such an extensive history with them, I figured I should share them with you.  This year marks the 5th year that I have photographed them and each time it gets better and better.  Last week I shared images of Mrs. Brown and son, then the previous week was Mr. Brown and son.  Today will be the entire Brown family.  Well one member isn’t that visible, but his debut will probably be in next week’s post.

There are many types of photography like wedding, portrait, sports, architecture and so on.  Within these categories are subcategories like photojournalist weddings, lifestyle portraits and the like.  I often say that I photograph lifestyle portraits.  For the most part I do, but I also do what I call relationship portraits/photography.  Generally there needs to be at least two people in the portrait to create a relationship.  From there I will have my clients interact with one another.  I’m not too into posing, but I will when I have to. The reason is because not everyone is good at posing or following directions, but they are good at being themselves.  Usually I will put my clients in a situation and let them take it from there.  They can talk, laugh, play, whatever makes them comfortable.  Sometimes I get in on the act and end up making them laugh.  Those are usually my favorite shots!

When you throw children in the mix, there is no telling what will happen.  They add a certain something to the image.  It is so great to see two parents smiling nicely and then their child(ren) are doing something that’s just off the wall.  A lot of times, that’s just how it is.  My motto is to let children be children.  I try not to constrain them, but that doesn’t mean I let them go completely crazy either.  Just a nice balance of both works out well. So with all that said, enjoy the images below!

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There are many old wives tales that are supposed to be able to determine the sex of a baby if you don’t already know.  The one that I’ve had the most experience with is the one where children who are of the same sex as the child you are carrying, will tend to like you, as opposed to children who are a different sex of the child you are carrying.  I’ve even experienced this one myself.

When I was pregnant my husband and I decided to not find out the sex.  Of course everyone was upset with us because they wanted to know.  They said that if they didn’t know what sex the baby was, then they wouldn’t know what gifts to give or in what colors. Even if my son had been a girl, I still wouldn’t have wanted anything pink.  Anyway, I was still working as a software consultant and a group of us were about to go to lunch.  The wife of one of my co-workers was going to join us and they brought their son who was about 3 or 4 years old I think.  As we were about to leave, I realized I needed to go back to my desk to get my purse.  Well this little boy who didn’t know me from Adam, stepped away from his parents, took my hand and walked with me to my desk.  It was totally unexpected, but very sweet.  At that moment I knew I was having a boy.

Another example, my cousin was visiting from Cleveland.  She had been here previously and one of my nephews met her and was quite enamored with her.  He next visit she was pregnant and he couldn’t stand her.  She ended up having a girl.  Still a coincidence?  Here’s one more…

Every year since their first son was born, I’ve taken pictures of the Browns.  (Mr. Brown and his son were featured in the previous week’s blog).  The images from the last blog about them showcased the closeness between the father and son.  Of course he loves his mother too, but he and his father have a very special relationship.  At any rate, Mrs. Brown got pregnant with their second child.  She told me stories of how close he seemed to have gotten to her since her pregnancy.  He’s always wanting to sit on her lap or be as close to her as possible.  They decided not to find out what the sex of this baby was and just from the way their first son was acting, I figured she would have a boy.  Well, April 28th they had another boy.  Funny how that works out.

I could probably give more examples, but you get the point.  You should try it out yourself.  Now there are some constraints that need to be followed in order for it to work.  I believe the child needs to be between the ages of 1 and 4, but no older than 4. Don’t force the child to go to someone, just see what happens.  If nothing else it’s a very interesting experiment.  Below are a few images of mother and son from the family/maternity session we had.

Before the youngest Brown came along we had a maternity/family session.  These are always great because we mix up the session so everyone gets to be photographed with everyone else and by themselves.  Of course this type of session lends itself to plenty of images with lots of choices!

As many of you know, there is nothing like the bond between a parent and their child/children.  Because mothers are supposed to be the nurturing ones, it’s no surprise when they are closer to the child than the father, but there are times when the roles are reversed.  Being a mother, I understand the love and devotion between a mother and her child/children and love capturing that connection.  Every once in a while I get to witness that same type of connection between the father and the child/children.    This connection is quite evident with Mr. Brown and son.

From the very beginning it has been quite evident that he had a special bond with his son. Fathers and their first born sons are always a major deal, but it seemed to be a bit more between these too.  They are just a joy for me to photograph because when I put them together they begin interacting with each other.  As I’m composing a shot, there may be a hug or kiss exchanged, some playful moments and very tender moments.  Is it always quick and easy?  Of course not.  Children can’t be turned on and off and sometimes you have to bribe them to get the shot.  Other times they are just priceless and no matter what they do it’s pure magic!

Well I can try to describe the bond between them all day, but I think it would be easier if I showed you.  Below are some images from the session along with a collage that I created.  Mrs. Brown provided me with what she wanted created for Mr. Brown’s Father’s Day gift and I did the rest.  It was printed on a 20×24 gallery block and was absolutely gorgeous!  (Thanks Artsy Couture!)  Without further adieu, meet the Browns (again)!