I fell in love with this structure while browsing through Pinterest this week! I would love to have one of these in my garden, it’s so beautiful! I am not sure of the source as it was uploaded straight to pinterest by a user, you can see it here. It looks to me like it was constructed with old windows, the stained glass window on the top really makes this little outdoor room so charming. Maybe one day I’ll have one to call my own in my garden. Until then, i’ll just have to swoon over this one.
Today’s tip is about most every girl’s favorite thing, shoes. Shoes as we all know can make an outfit, show off your personality, and make your legs look fantastic! However, they can also date a picture, and they can be really distracting. My style of portrait photography is always geared to be timeless, relaxed, and natural, and so in almost all of my portraits, my subjects have bare feet. Most of the time I am photographing small children, and with kids especially I always prefer bare feet! If you sit a child, you are almost always going to see the soles of their shoes which isn’t pretty, but also takes your eye away from that precious little face. The sole of a shoe is never going to be attractive as the sole of a foot, and kids do the absolute cutest things with their little toes! That being said, if you just can’t live without donning your feet in your finest footwear for your portraits, make sure to use the most important rule of fashion icons; Keep it Classic Darling!
Today we were able to go down to the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. This is always one of my favorite places to go, especially in the summertime when they have the best assortment of vegetabls and fruits! There is nothing quite like fresh summer tomatoes! And in our family at least, nothing better and sweeter than ripe summer watermelon(our chickens love it too!)
My daughter Ashlee has an artist’s soul. I knew that from the time she was little bitty. These days she is busy with her own Etsy shop called Sweet Sophie Blues. She sometimes brings me her wares to photograph and we have a great time trying creative ways to portray her beautiful art. Here are a few of her charming sweet necklaces she made this past week. All of the fabric comes from vintage hankies which she then hand embroiders. The hearts represent the birthstones of your loved ones and she also does custom orders. Check her store out at www.sweetsophieblue.etsy.com
One of the questions I get asked all the time as a child portrait artist is how I capture such natural expressions. People tell me all the time that when they look at my portraits, that they feel like they know what that person is like. For me there is no higher complement. After getting my BFA 25 years ago and working all that time since as a portraitist I know that I am fully capable of producing a portrait in any style I would choose to shoot. I know I can artfully render a photojournalistic style image,make the colors pop,shoot in grimy urban settings and so on but these also become more about the place and style these days than really telling you anything important about the person.I am a big believer in the old adage KISS. Keep it simple silly. SO that’s what I do. I keep it simple but Most Importantly I keep it real. So if this interests you here are a few ways to keep it simple and real with your own kiddos and hopefully create images that fully express who your child is.
!. Never Ever Ever say smile. Or Cheese. When you do this your child will at best grit his teeth and give you that big fake okay here is my picture face. At worst he or she will pout and do the exact opposite because you want them to smile and they know it,and if they are two they really like to show you who’s boss. Here is an example of what you can get by not asking them to smile.
2. Don’t be trapped by the idea that a smile is always best. Some of my favorite portraits I have taken are of little ones not smiling. You will be able to get that smile the rest of their lives but the wide eye innocent look only lasts for a little while.
3. Get out of your “mommy – daddy” mode. The only time in my life where I had a disastrous result when photographing a child was with my own.Hannah was 6 and I forced her into a dress she hated and made her go out into our gardens on a hot humid day and told her to sit in the swing. I was totally in my mom role and found myself getting more upset by the moment as she whined and pulled at her dress and told me she was going to faint. The last straw finally came when I decided to move from the swing over to the lily pond and try to take the last to frames of film of her on the bridge. SHE by then was telling me she felt like she was going to throw up and faint. At my wits end I told her to put her toes in the water to cool off. The next thing I knew my darling daughter had slipped on a wet stone and ended up in the pond. Needless to say I never got her portrait in the little white dress in our garden. This was never in “Hurricane Hannah’s” personality and when I went with the flow with her I got amazing portraits.
4. Be in the moment. One of the reasons I love working with young children is they are such great teachers and entertainers. When you enter in to their world you you enter into a Most special place. Their world if filled with awe and magical thinking and is such a fun place to be. When you establish a real rapport with your little one they forget about you taking their picture and you get their true expressions. One caveat here, children are very intuitive and they know when a person is being genuine, so be real with them and you will be amazed at what they will give back.
5. Keep them entertained. Play games.Sing silly songs. Be in the moment…anticipate and always be ready to snap that shutter.
I remember when my Dad tried so hard to teach me golf. He was a golf fanatic and really really wanted one of his daughters to learn the sport. I was a real daddy’s girl and wanted to learn to play to be able to make him proud and spend time with him. Well no matter how I tried to get in the golf stance..head down,contort your body swing the club and always keep your eye on the ball… it never ever felt natural to me. I may have been okay at the sport if I had spent many,many,many hours practicing but I did not love it. Truth be told I did’nt even like it. So if all these tips and techniques to take better photos of your children seems like hard work bring them here, because I did find something that I really, really loved doing and have spent my life practicing hitting that shutter at just the right time to hit that hole in one. I think all that hard work paid off. What do you think?
I always marvel at how creative Ashlee is. I have always known,from the time she was a small child that she has an artists soul. She has grown into an amazing talent and everything she touches becomes a piece of art. When she told me she wanted to have a party for her birthday this year and suggested we have it here in the studio I was very excited. I knew she would have great ideas and I was really looking forward to creating all the decorations with her for the party. As it turned out this fall ,when her birthday is, was one of the busiest ever and I did not get to help her very much. Turns out she really did not need my help. She created such a fun and happy atmosphere for her retro themed party. Here is a look at a few of the details of her day.
I know it has been a while since we flew down to St. Martin to photograph Menno’s and Pauline’s wedding but the joy of that day comes back fresh and alive when I look at these images. Pauline and Menno are from Holland as are both their families. They had 40 or so family and friends fly in from all over the world to celebrate this wonderful day with them.The wedding was to take place, of course, on the beach and then the reception was being held at La Samana, one of the most beautiful resorts on the island. Having spent months at a time in St. Martin we all expected the day to be sunny and beautiful.The worst anyone expected was ,maybe, a passing shower that would come and go in 20 minutes or less. The wedding planner was so sure of the always sunny weather that she did not have a back up plan for rain. So,I’m sure you can guess what happened.Yep,a front came through and socked in and stayed. No blue sky and a lot of wet. The rain did not dampen the mood of the happy couple though, or any of the family and friends .. Everyone was incredibly happy and such a joy to be with
The rain just kept coming down but Menno and Pauline only had eyes for each other. Their first look was sweet and happy and filled with love bubbling over.
After, special drinks were served and toasts were made. Our plan had been to spend the next few hours before the ceremony getting shots of Menno and Pauline at some of their favorite places on the island. We decided to go out a couple of days after the wedding when sunshine prevailed once more. Larry and I were so impressed that everyone just went with the flow and did not let anything spoil the fun of the day. We met back up with the happy couple 2 days after the wedding and spent the entire sun-filled day going around the whole island and having a great time getting all the shots we missed on the big day. The fact that we did not have to rush made it all the more fun and we ended up doing a lot more shots than we would have been able to do on the day of the wedding.( I will post some of these photos later). Early afternoon we all gathered to go to the “backup” site for the wedding ceremony. Our fun loving couple had decided the mode of transporation for the day would acomodate all the guests and wedding party. And party we did on the big yellow school bus that picked us up. The whole crowd was having such a good time,as we all bounced along and sang songs. The back up site was a brightly painted room that fit everyone in, though it was a tight squeeze. The ceremony was all in dutch and though Larry and I did not understand one word we knew it was filled with laughter and love. After the ceremony we were back on the bus and on to La Samana. Just as we arrived the rain stopped and the sun started to peek through the clouds and we ended up with one of the most brillant and beautiful sunsets any of us had ever seen. The french have a saying,we were told,that if it rains on your wedding day it is a GOOD sign. It means you will be showered with many blessings. I know that Menno and Pauline were indeed showered with many blessings on their wedding day from all the love and support of friends and family and for the love that they have found in each other. Larry and I were too, to be a part of such a loving and fun filled day.
Sounds like the title of a children’s book, doesn’t it? I was going through some files on my computer tonight and found these shots of Lily in St. Martin from this summer. She seems to love being there as much as we do. The side of the island that we live on there is french and the french love their dogs. The only place she can’t go with us is the grocery stores, so she gets to hang out with Mom and Dad a lot.
Lily loves to share lunch with Dad
Lily's favorite beach wear.
Dad is always in the lead. His legs are a lot longer than mine.
Lily and friend in Marigot.
This is the way to fish!
Lily's favorite french boulangerie. Mine too.
