Valentine Portraits

 

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I love pink and little girls and LOVE!

So, I was very excited to photograph three sweetie pie sisters

Bella, Brooklyn and Britton for Valentine's Day.

 

Who doesn't love a bucket full of kisses?

 

My friend Lucy came along and took photos of me taking photos.

It's always fun to see this perspective.

 

Notice I am wearing all white.  That's because whatever color I

wear reflects in my subject's eyes.  I learned this when I was editing

a portrait and couldn't figure out why the gal had hot pink in her eyes.

I looked closer and it was my hot pink shirt!

 

Wearing white, I am now a wonderful reflector creating

catch lights in my subjects' eyes!

 

 

I also love to style my portraits and found everything

at thrift stores...even the red ladder.

 

 

Bella is 9 and children her age are usually great to work with.

They can follow direction and love posing.

 

 

 

4-year-old Brooklyn got shy when it was her turn.

This is very common with this age.

 

A snuggle with daddy...

 

 

But she was still shy. 

 

That's okay!  Just shoot in their natural state. I get some of my

best photos when it is completely natural.

 

 

Then there was 3-year-old Britton

who smiled and posed like a pro!

 

 

Are these the sweetest sisters?

 

 

It was 21 degrees and snowing when we took these photos.

I had my camera in a plastic Ziplock bag.  I really need to order

a rain cover for my camera especially for Michigan winters.

 

 

I was up on the ladder...

 

 

to shoot THIS pose:

 

 

Finally time for the family pose.

 

Lots of help fluffing them up...have to make

sure lots of tutu is showing!

 

 

Love it...you're all looking great...

Love all the laughter!

 

 

Click!!!

 

 

Such a beautiful family!

 

 

Every time I do a photo shoot, at the end, I have my

clients pose in front of my white board at the edge of my garage.

 

This narrow space offers exquisite natural light.

 

The white board shots have become my signature and

are often the favorite from the entire shoot.

 

I will have to do a blog post about them!

 

 

The girls held up well in the cold weather...

 

Such special Valentines!

 

 

 

Emma's Winter Birthday Portraits

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My favorite part about being a portrait photographer is

styling the photos.

 

That means I pull together the entire scene right down

to the clothing.  I buy all my props and clothing at thrift stores, but I did

splurge on this amazing children's table and chair set last summer on E-bay.

 

I also DREAM a lot of my ideas!

The idea for Emma's 2nd birthday shoot came in a dream.

 

 

I saw Emma sitting at the table with a SNOW WOMAN!

The day before, I was trying to think of a wintry stuffed

animal to put in that chair.

 

But after I had the dream, I HAD to create a snow woman!

 

 

The long green dress is simply a larger size...in this case size 6.

On a two year old that is long.

 

I found the big flower at a thrift store and pinned it to

the thrift store hat.  All the tableware is from thrift stores

and my friend made the fake cake.

 

Read this blog post to learn how to make a fake cake.

 

 

The snow woman was a challenge!

We have a ton of snow, but it's light and fluffy and won't pack.

 

So I had my son shovel some into buckets.

 

 

I kept it in our 40-degree garage overnight.

 

 

The next morning, it was perfect packing snow...Yahooo!

 

 

I made Ms. Snow Woman right in the garage.

 

 

Then she chilled on my back porch for a week waiting

for the shoot.

 

Nobody turn on the grill!!!

 

 

The day of the shoot, I snazzied her up with eyes I saw in my dream.

Really odd, but I had randomly bought the pink buttons at

a thrift store a few days BEFORE I saw them as eyes in my dream!!!

 

Isn't she a GLAM birthday guest?

 

 

Before Emma arrived, I set up my scene.

 

Here, I was trying to figure out how I could

stab the stick arms into the ice hard body.

 

I ended up carving holes with my car key.

 

 

I always take test shots before the child

arrives.  This is how I realized, Emma's chair

needed to be on the other side of the table

for a better background.

 

Especially in the winter, when it was only 21 degrees,

I wanted everything in place and ready to shoot so

Emma did not get cold or lose interest.

 

 

Emma's mom Grace helped make her comfortable.

 

She LOVED what she called Missus Frosty!

 

 

With all the preparation, the actual shoot lasted only ten minutes.

 

Emma pretty much forgot she was at a photo shoot, and

Grace says she is still talking about Mrs. Frosty.

 

If you have an idea...pay attention to the details

and PREPARE everything ahead...

You will LOVE the results!