Another Year Another Fall
Here’s a glance at my fall season. Bright colors, fun leaves, shining faces!
(click to enlarge!)
The G Family
The G family has expanded, so they gave me a call! I’m so glad they did. What a bright space and a bright family!
The W Fam!
I’ve been photographing the Ws for a few years now and this year we decided to do something a bit different. It was cold when we scheduled their shoot (not much warmer now!), and we thought inside would be best.
I asked them to think about things they like to do together, or things the kids enjoying doing, and I came over and shot a variety of posed and posed-candids. I think it’s a fun collection!
Mini Sessions, Round Two!
I usually only host one mini session event in the fall. I invite clients new and returning to pick a time slot on one specific date and meet me at a predetermined location for a quick twenty minute shoot. It’s a great way to get family photos and for me it helps me provide photography for multiple clients during the busiest time of the year for me.
After my annual mini session day took place, my sisterfriend Maureen got in touch with me and said that she and a few friends would love to have mini sessions too. Typically I would let my sisterfriendclient know that mini sessions are a one day thing, unless multiple families want them. But in this instance, Maureen simply brought me clients, which was so amazing! I was able to provide photos for her family, her friends’ family, and a third family who signed up after I promoted the event.
We shots these photos out in Sudbury. It was a blast, the weather cooperated, and we met for the best light - in the late afternoon!
Holiday Card Design Advice
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is when the cards start coming in. I hang the cards on my wall, and thanks to the popularity of photo cards, before long I have my own little gallery up. It’s great!
Here are some thoughts about what I personally think makes a holiday card really pop!
1. In my opinion, card recipients want to see a clear, beautiful portrait of you and your family/kids/dog, front and center. Make your photo the feature of your card by avoiding designs that take up half the card with sentiments. The sentiments are lovely, of course! but even better is your smile. If you do choose a more elaborate card, use very simple photos (like tight headshots) so that there are not competing design elements, creating a busy, un-peaceful mess.
2. If you’d like your family’s photo to be the featured photo, zoom in on the action - your faces! Sure, you may have gone to the beach this summer and want to share that news, but a beach shot where your family is tiny in the frame just doesn’t feature you the way your card-recipients want to see. Save a shot of your guys burying each other in the sand for the backside of the card, which will contribute to telling a little story about your year!
At right is the original crop, which I zoomed in on for the best effect on the card. When zooming in, be conscious not to crowd the subject by coming in too tight.
4. After you have a well-lit, nicely cropped shot of the whole family for the cover photo (or maybe just the kids, that’s cool too), use the back of the card to share photos that tell the story of your family. Avoid similar photos - four pictures of your kids from the waist-up smiling in the same manner is kind of boring. A shot of your daughter playing a game of soccer and another of your son engrossed in a project are more interesting, and for those who haven’t seen your kids in years or perhaps haven’t even met them, well, they’ve just learned something about your child! Also, if you’ve included a nice cover photo of the whole family looking into the camera, you don’t need a replica shot on the backside, so - go candid!
Do you like a card that’s more design-heavy? Consider a simpler photo, like the ones used in the below samples. Converting your photo to black and white can help avoid clashing colors too.
Click on the thumbnails below and roll your mouse over the opened photos to read more tips. Again, these are all made from shoots during my sessions, but I encourage you to add your favorite candid shots from the year to share with your recipients! (I used mpix.com to create these cards samples).
Happy designing!
• Avery and Will {boston family photography} •
I love seeing my littlest client grow over the years and Will and Avery have been doing just that! Combine some nice light, the pretty campus of Wellesley College and the promise of lollipops for good behavior, and you've got a fall family session!
(click to enlarge)
•The W Family {Boston Family Photographer}•
Stephani found me through another client of mine and I'm so grateful she did! Her youngest was just coming up on one year, and I was to take some family shots and some portraits of her little gentleman.
Such beautiful, big eyes! (click to enlarge)
•Amy & Co. {BOSTON FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER}•
As a kid, my parents would take my brother and me to a small neighborhood in Cape Cod called Tahanto, where we would spend a week or so. I was really small, so I don't remember much beyond the feeling of happiness I had being there.
Amy and I are from the same town, and her family frequently would visit the same neighborhood at the same time as us. Looking back, this was probably intentional. I remember riding bikes, and I remember wandering alone, just us kids, to a rusty-yet-enjoyable playground not to far from our cottages. I especially remember walking at night, both our families, to get ice cream. The excitement of walking in the near dark, and getting a special treat, while my brother and Amy sang a song they'd learned, maybe at school. It's on the tip of my tongue...something about gooseburgers? Pickles were involved (man, that's gonna bug me).
There was also a parade in that neighborhood in the summer which we participated in. Somewhere there exists a photo of myself and Andy, Amy's younger brother, wearing clown costumes, and another of my brother and Amy dressed as cavemen. Their costumes were made possible with seaweed and, I think, pillow cases. Apparently I remember far more than I thought of those times.
Back on track here (get on with it already, Cyd). Thanks to FB, Amy and I have been connected for a while now, and I was psyched she picked me to come and photograph the many generations of her family on the day of her mom's birthday. (click to enlarge).
