Wow, this has been a busy week. Just this weekend I shot a styled session, a wedding, a newborn baby, a family and an engagement session. Gotta love the diversity of my photography life. Here is a quick preview of Jake, volleyball player, beach lover and off to University of Arizona this fall. Enjoy!
One of the best things about being a photographer for me is variety! I love waking up and knowing that today will be completely different than yesterday or tomorrow. I may end up at the beach, at an amusement park, at a baseball stadium, you never know. I am the kind of person that always tries something new on a favorite restaurant menu, or takes a different driving route home, just to mix it up.
I believe all my clients deserve the same thing. I have literally photographed 100s of family sessions, high school senior sessions, and weddings. Many times they are in the same location that I have used numerous times in the past. So how do I prevent every image looking the same, with only the subject changing you might ask? Simple, I give myself a little assignment at every session.
For example, if I am shooting on a beach that I have used several times before, I challenge myself to find one totally different background that I have never used. Since I photograph using a very shallow depth of field, I don’t need to find a huge spot, just a little corner somewhere that is entirely new to my photography. Changing up poses and clothing can also help create an entirely personalized look for my clients.
This is also really important as the majority of my Blue Sky’s clients, take family photographs with me every year. I can promise you that in most cases they want something original each year that help celebrate and document this time in their families history. Sometimes that is a tall order for me if I have been shooting the family for 10+ years. By constantly keeping my eyes open for new places to shoot, keeping up with the latest clothing trends and investing in the best camera equipment, I have managed to successfully offer original photography every year.
Here is a recent example of a senior session, at one of my common photography spots. I used lots of flowers to differentiate this session from my previous work at this location! Enjoy! ;)
Each and every year for over ten years I make my entire family get together for a family photo session. Not just my husband and kids…. but my mom and dad, my sister and her family and my brother and his family. We pick a color scheme, a location and we spend about two hours creating beautiful portraits, as well as some very funny memories. I then spend my last spare moments during the holidays putting together either a coffee table book or an album for everyone for Christmas. Every time we get together as a family, the kids sit down and look through the years of their albums and books and laugh. I am so very glad that I MADE everyone join me, even if it was a really busy year, even if I had to stay up until 2 AM to finish the albums and that I have these precious memories to enjoy year and after year.
That is why I always encourage all my clients to do the same thing, document their family each year and put together some kind of book or album. Sometimes in the moment, it seems like a real hassle, or like a large investment, but in the end it is one of the best gifts a family can give themselves.
Here is the beautiful Hawkins family that I documented for the first time last year. I loved how different all the boys personalities were and how much they all loved each other. Enjoy!
Pam called me up saying she had been dreaming of getting great family portraits for years. After visiting to her niece’s house and admiring the Blue Sky’s portraits on the wall, she decided to make the call. She was a little worried as her guys were all grown and had their own ideas about clothing and style, but she decided to go ahead and book a session.
Fast forward a few months to a gorgeous afternoon with huge waves on a beautiful beach in Laguna and we had the perfect day for her family portraits. After her oldest threatened to wear a vintage hawaiian shirt, she was pleasantly surprised when he showed up in a nice dress shirt and jeans.
My favorite part of this photo session was how much warmth and love this family showed to one another and how willing they were to follow my directions, even when they were a little unsure of the results. Thanks to the whole family for working with me and I hope you enjoy the portraits! :)
Lucky, lucky me that I get to work with these two beautiful gals every year around their birthday. While I have a lot of advantages when it comes to these two because we know each other really well, they love getting their portraits taken and they are typically up for anything, there are still many things Mom & Dad & I have to collaborate on before we actually start the session.
1) Location, location, location…. When you photograph kids every year, or families for that matter, they want variety. While it is kinda cool to pick one place and shoot there every year to show how the family has changed, it is not my thing (and I am guessing most of my clients would agree that it isn’t theirs either). So, when I photograph the same kiddos year after year, it is one of my challenges to come up with new, fun, hip places to shoot them annually. Typically this is a collabrative effort. As many of my clients can atest to, we start planning for the following year’s session as we wrap up this years! My clients have been amazing at coming up with cool themes and new locations throughout Orange County.
2) Is there a location that best capture the kiddos or the family at this time in their history: For example, and I know you ALL know this, my family spends all their extra time at the swimming pool. AND the swimming pool is located at Soka University. So it just made sense that in 2012 we photographed my family on Soka’s campus. AND yes, we got one picture with the pool in the background… Thanks to Emily Ivey at Fresh Ivey photography for shooting the session!
When it came to deciding a location for the twins session, we considered a number of factors, such as where have we shot in the past, the age of the girls, what would be a fun spot to capture their true personalities, and where could we get a lot of different “looks” in walking proximity. We came up with the Fun Zone in Newport Beach.
3) Now, what should they wear- Coordinate but don’t be matchy/ matchy. My mantra. The clothing should match the location, the age and the story you are trying to tell about the kids/ family. In the twins case, we wanted bright bold colors to go with the colorful background of the ferris wheel and arcade, more neutral clothing with a pop of color for the beach and denim for the candy story.
Often I also encourage incorporating props or personal items to make the session my client’s unique story. Since we went to the candy story, the candy made a perfect prop!
Here is the results! Enjoy!
