Twin Cities Newborn Photographer - Motherly Love

I love mom + baby sessions!  This was no exception.  So lovely.



Have you watched Mirah's Birth Story yet?

Twin Cities Family Photographer - Merry Christmas!

Twin Cities Newborn Photographer - Candy Cane Baby

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads..."

Twin Cities Maternity Fitness Photographer - Pregnant and Working it!

(Note: These images were taken only two weeks before my sister in law gave birth to our sweet Cecilie. )

My sister in law is a triathlete.  She was also pregnant with baby #6 when the following images were taken. You'd think pregnancy might deter one from working out as much, but not her.  She was not about to let physical fitness slide, simply because of pregnancy!

She trains with Pellicano Endurance Coaching (located in Saint Louis Park, MN), and I've gotta say - this was by far the most ingenuitive and customized workout I've ever seen or heard of.  After watching her push herself for 2 hours straight (while), I came to this conclusion:

Pregnancy is not a disability, or a condition that gives us the right to be lazy/complaintive.  We are all as strong or fit as we want to be.

You can truly do ANYTHING, if you set your mind to do it!

So here is your challenge for the day...if a woman at 39 weeks pregnant can do the following, anyone can.  :-)

Twin Cities Maternity Photographer - Pregnancy Fitness

Remember my amazing sister in law?

As well as being a mom of almost-six, she is also a highly motivated athlete.  So at 39 weeks pregnant, instead of cute or romantic maternity photos, she wanted...fitness photos.

Shall we say, empowered???!!

 

 

 

 

Psst...Okay, so we staged this to get a reaction.  ;-)   She usually lifts two 10lb weights while pregnant.  But that's still pretty incredible.

Twin Cities Beauty Photographer - Old-Fashioned Girls

A few more favorites from this  vintage photo shoot.

I want to do more of these!!

Twin Cities Fashion Photographer - Broken Windows

So, we found this broken window...and I just had to do something with it.

Twin Cities Fashion Photographer - Pocketful of Sunshine

That song is running through my head on repeat - but it really has nothing to do with this post.

Or does it?  My models do look rather sunny...

Anywho, I've wanted to start playing around with other, more commercial genre's of photography.  So I found two awesome ladies willing to pose for me, and we headed out to the Stone Arch Bridge and surrounding areas.  Beautiful scenery around there...and the decrepit old buildings were perfect for what I was looking for.


You'll be seeing a couple more posts of images taken from this photo session...enjoy.

Twin Cities Family Photographer - How NOT to Dress for a Family Photo

This is a recent photo of my mom, sisters and I.

Cute right?
Well, mostly.  :-)

If this was not an impromptu photograph we could have improved it a lot by our wardrobe choices!  Notice my bold-patterned shirt?  Well, this shirt is a pretty good example of what you should never wear for a family photo!

I encourage families to stay away from "matchy-matchy" outfits - everyone wearing shirts and bottoms of the same color is almost never a good idea for a family session.  Especially not black and jean! I know the same-color-shirts-with-jeans look sounds like a nice uncomplicated way to get a decent portrait, but it can also be disastrous.  Even if you don't mind it at the time, you may cringe at the sight of it years down the road!

My own family has a large, black-shirt-and-jean family picture, taken by a professional years ago.  Great picture overall - LOVE that we got the whole family together for it and I have great memories from the day.  But if you look at it for very long you'll begin to notice the children's "floating heads".  The children are of course being held, or standing in front of an adult who is wearing the exact same color shirt as they are - thus creating the illusion that they are nothing more than floating heads.  Funny illusion, but not so great for a family portrait.

When you are preparing for a photo session, first be sure to put each person in colors that compliment their skin tone.  This is possibly the most important step to creating a portrait the whole family will love.  The second, and more complicated step, is to choose colors that compliment each other and do not clash.  And thirdly - bonus points for choosing clothing you can layer, accessorize, or has a nice texture to it; this can add a lot of personality and depth to the finished portrait.

A good rule of thumb for those group holiday photos: Dress in neutrals (beige, ivory, taupe, black, gray, and white) which compliment your skin tone.  These colors will blend easiest and best for impromptu photos, and most people have a neutral colored shirt on hand.  The colors may sound a little boring, but you will find there are so many different shades within the neutral palette (pinks, greens and purples, even!) that can actually create very deep and rich color combinations.  Just be sure not narrow the colors down to black and white - you'll like the photo far more if you let everyone choose their own neutral combo.

Happy Styling!

Questions?  Leave me a comment below.

 

Twin Cities Child Photographer - iPhone's Make Good Photos Too

This may be a camera phone photo, but I think it is one of my favorites of Debbie, to date.  I'll keep my 7D and be oh-so-thankful for it, but the iPhone is pretty awesome for those random pictures I'd miss otherwise.

Oh yes, dirt piles make for endless entertainment at softball games.

Who needs a ball and a stick when all you need is a good pile of dirt??!
That's my Debbie.

 

Twin Cities Child Photographer - On Photographing One's Own Children

One of my initail motivations for pursuing photography, was so that I could take better photos of my own kids. This worked very nicely for the first couple years of my daughters life, but as soon as Debbie turned two she suddenly became very difficult to photograph. She just doesn't like it. Not usually - and especially not if her mother was behind the camera!

Much to her grandparents dismay, most of Debbie's pictures from the past year are of her looking the other away - or simply giving me that blank, smile-less stare. As if to say, "Okay mom, I'm looking at the camera - but I'm not going to like it."

Yesterday I tried to sit Debbie down for a quick little session in front of the living room window. The lighting was just perfect, and as I saw the way it lit up her blond hair I knew I had to capture the moment.

Only moments before I took this picture, Debbie was perfectly happy reading books and re-arranging the furniture. But the moment I tried to get her to sit still, this is the look she gave me:

[caption id="attachment_2078" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Seriously, how heart-wrenching is that?  I just want to take her picture, not her reason for existence."][/caption]

Apparently she was not going to make it easy for me.  Now I had to really work it.

Tickles, funny faces and peek-a-boo proceeded.  But it was her personal favorite that tipped the scale. You see, the one sure way to make Debbie laugh,  is to..

wait for it...

make scary growling dinosaur noises!

Girly, huh?

After a few growls (and reciprocating squeals), she gave me this:

But as soon as I took the shot she must have thought:  "Uh, oh, mom got me laughing! I'd better compose myself quick!"

This is OK though.  This look is so Debbie that it truly deserves to be captured.  Smiling is not always important - as long as you catch that gleam in their eye!

A couple tickles later, I got the look I really wanted.

[caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="467" caption="Ta-da!"][/caption]

Whew! That was a 10 minute work out right there.

As soon as I took this photo she was done, and on her merry way she went.

(As a side note, I am continually amazed at how exuberant, emotional and particular an almost-3-year-old can be!!! Where does this come from anyway??! - Oh. Right...)

And that my friends, is what it's like to be a photographer, photographing one's own children.  Not as easy as you might have thought, eh? :-)

Twin Cities Family Photographer - Irrational Fears?

With the help of a magic marker, Debbie decided to re-make her doll-house dolls.

These dolls (Dahls?) are affectionately named: Mommy, Daddy, Debbie and Baby Byron.

Lately I don’t know if these dolls or Debbie scares me more!

It's pretty close, but I think the Dahl-dolls are just a tad freakier.

Twin Cities Birth Photographer - How I Chose a Birth Photographer

In my last post I discussed Why I chose to hire a birth photographer.  I will now tell the tale of how I found, and Chose my birth photographer.

Professional birth photography is a relatively new idea.  Because of this, the search for a good birth photographer can prove a little difficult.  Among those photographers who might be interested in photographing a birth,  few are capable of being on call 24/7 - so it isn't even a plausable option for them.   And even if you are lucky enough to find a willing and capable photographer, there is still that very important question...is this the sort of person I will be comfortable having at my birth?

It is always important to feel comfortable with any photographer you hire (this is key to getting good images!), but it is particularly vital in the case of birth photography - and understandably so!

When I started looking for a birth photographer, I knew that I needed someone whom I could trust fully.  Someone I could trust to be both tasteful and discreet with the images, as well as other aspects of the event.  But probably just as important - I needed someone I could like! Someone I could like as a friend.  Because birth is hard enough without adding personality concerns to the mix.  She (and yes, it must be a she) had to be someone I felt so comfortable with that I could entirely forget at the birth.

As a birth photographer myself, I knew what I was looking for - but I still had to find it.  I started and ended my search with birthphotographers.com.  Though I did some googling and asking around as well, I found this website to be the most helpful go-to resource for my area.

Lucky for me, birthphotographers.com listed several photographers in my area.  And all of them do some really nice work!  But having never met them (something I intend to change soon!), I had only their websites to go on.  It was based on what I saw of her on her website, that I decided to interview Erika Laurice - first on the phone and later in person.  I really liked her photography style, loved that she was a mom of two kids, and surmised that she might be my sort of "comfortable".  After meeting with her in person I felt even more confident with my choice - I could just chill with her and we actually ended up talking for quite a while - no worries!  Among various topics (but more on point) we discussed the upcoming birth, what I was looking for in a photographer, as well as the images I expected (or did not want)...and that was that. I signed the contract (she signed a confidentiality agreement) and sent in the retainer.  Simple as that, she began to anticipate my call.



Erika turned out to be fabulous at the birth.  So fabulous that I barely noticed her until the baby had finally arrived!  She did great with the photography and captured some great moments that I will cherish always.  I am so happy with my choice and now truly view her as a friend (life-changing events do that to people :-)  ).  Thank you so much, Erika! You rock!!

Twin Cities Wedding Redux Photographer - Wedding Photos (Re-done) a Year Later!

My friend Jen had a beautiful wedding. Everything went perfectly (for the most part!), and everyone had a great time. But to her, there was one disappointment...her wedding photos.

One year after her wedding, Jen formed a grand idea to resolve this problem. Why not fly her friend Elizabeth all the way down to TN, to do a Wedding Redux?

Well, this turned out to be more than a grand idea - it was a GREAT idea! Jen and I had so much fun planning this session, and all without the wedding-planning-pressure like the year before. We had the time and leisure to visit 3 different locations and to get all the poses she wanted. Her husband Zach was a great sport about it as well - I think he enjoyed seeing his wife so excited and happy. :-)

My favorite part was seeing the amazed look on Jen's face as I periodically showed her images on my camera. Jen forgets how beautiful she is, even though she could be a model. It was my pleasure to provide irrefutable proof of this! :-)



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