Two Nations Collide - Erin and Richard

I've been a little preoccupied these past couple months with my full time summer job, Mom.

No excuses now...summer is over, kids are back in school and it's time to get back to work! Labor day weekend I dove in head first for Erin and Richard's wedding in Portland, Oregon.

A union of two nations, Erin and Richard spent their entire engagement flying over seas from England to Portland to visit one another. It was very special to witness the end of the long distance relationship and their start to a new life living not only under one roof, but in the same town, state and country!

Here are a few of my teasers. Can you tell they've spent a lot of time apart? :-)

Lights, Camera...Action!

For our family holiday card this year, I began to play around with my camera’s capabilities to take HD video and really enjoyed this new challenge.

Since I'm obsessed with portraying the interaction between family members, I decided to try out this idea of video in a family session. During the Toro family session I took a few clips of video along with still photos and love the results...the photo session captured not only a still memory of the day, but also a few giggles here and there and added the family's personality to the session.

I think I may be addicted! New ideas are on the horizon... Here's a sample of some of the more "posed" shots... Check out the video to see inside the true Toro family :-)

 

I say make a plan...not to plan! The 2012 No Fuss

Digital calendars are an amazing tool for organizing life. I can't wait til they can plan our life too! To make things easy for you whether you like to plan or not check out No Fuss sessions. It's so easy! Pick a date and location now (put that cute little colored dot on your calendar), in a couple months you'll show up, take some photos and baam that's it.  I might make you lift your kids one or two times during the session, but that is the only finger lifting, I promise! The rest is up to me. You'll be ready for the holiday rush before you know it.

No Fuss sessions are quick 25 minutes sessions on set dates and pre-determined locations at a discounted rate of $100*. The session includes 45 online proofs, an online slideshow and 1**digital print ready file. Can't beat that! Check out the "no fuss" calendar here. To find out more visit the everyday section of my website.

*beach sessions are an additional $25 to cover the cost of the beach permit.

The 2012 No Fuss schedule is now available. Book in advance because there are limited spaces and these usually fill up by the end of summer.

I'm a big fan of walls and other textured backgrounds that lend themselves to more natural (in the moment) posing rather than the perfect triangle poses. This isn't to say I don't take posed photos, but the more open you are to being in the moment the more we'll capture the "experience" of the session.

If your purpose is to capture one posed family photo with everyone looking at the camera please consider booking a private session. It will allow more time to provide you with more options. 

 

Break the tradition.

January is always a blur because it is the time where we sift through the chaos of the holidays to organize and start fresh for the new year. I'm not one to dwindle in the past, but I'll admit one of the sadder parts of December coming to an end is disposing of the holiday cards. I love the excitement of daily trips to a mailbox piled high with envelopes enclosed with smiling faces. Getting reconnected with families is one of my favorite parts of the holidays, and I'll openly admit that receiving cards with the photos I've taken makes the season even better!

As much as I enjoy a the traditional holiday photo with a beautifully dressed happy family...do those holiday cards really capture the essence of a family? Not that we don't enjoy our family or share happy moments, but I know that for most families on the go, freezing for even 1 minute to take a photo of everyone happy and smiling at the camera smiling is just not a true presentation of who we are.

I wanted to take this time to show some of the photos from the holiday season that are more true to my vision of true family life. Traditions are wonderful, but they are meant to be broken.

Got an idea... bring it on

So since it is a week where we say what we are thankful for...I'll admit that I am super lucky. I'm surrounded by awesome people that not only support me as a friend, but also as a photographer. My business was built solely on referrals from a circle of friends and now has me so busy that I book out during the holiday season.

Not only am I surrounded by people who support my talent, but there are also those friends who share in some of the same creative visions. I definitely love to have freedom with my photography, but with my advertising background, I LOVE the challenge of realizing other peoples' visions.

Recently a friend of mine with a wonderfully artistic eye approached me with a vision she had for photos of her girls. She'd done lots of research and forwarded me her ideas which had a theme of monocromatic backdrops that emphasized a glowing light. With her ideas in mind, I picked a location where I knew we could capture the type of light she was looking for. The evening we chose turned out to be even more beautiful than I could have asked for and in the end we produced these amazing photos. Doesn't hurt that the subject matter was just as beautiful as the surroundings.

So case in point...if you have a vision, share it. The more upfront you are about your vision, the more likely you are to get what you want. Come the day of the shoot, trust the professional that you hire, let go and go with the flow and let them figure out how to recreate you vision.