In the meantime, I want to share an image of this lovely family. One of the first things clients ask me after they schedule their session is, “What do we wear?”. I think this image is a great example of how to dress. Simple clothes in similar colors work best. If you were to book a session with me right now, here are my top five suggestions on how to dress your family:

1. Have everyone wear dark-washed jeans.
2. Choose jewel-toned colored shirts, such as emerald green, burnt orange, plum, maroon, and even chocolate brown.
3. Shirts should be long-sleeved and have no patterns, designs or words.
4. Accessories are great. Use scarves or jewelry to add interest or another pop of color.
5. You don’t have to “match”. Not everyone needs to wear the same color. But, if you all choose jewel tones, the colors will go together.

The reason this image works so nicely is because each person has a slightly different shade of the same color. I love it!!

It happened to me recently with a new portrait concept. Something kind of new and different and fun! The tough part was still getting all my other stuff done. Like getting the kids to soccer practice, cooking dinner, working with clients and making sure homework got done. Unfortunately, this also happened to be a week when my husband traveled, so it was extra hectic. By the time he got back on Saturday, I was so wiped out, I had to take naps all weekend in order to catch up on sleep.

The good part about all this is that I’m still jazzed about my new project and am working out the kinks. Here’s a little sneak peek of the upcoming series. Isn’t this little guy adorable? His eyelashes are to die for. Can’t wait to share the rest with you soon.

Below is the image we created that day. The girls in the background were sitting doing homework and we asked them if they wouldn’t mind being part of the image. You can kind of see that they are cracking up. I think they were teasing each other.

So earlier this week I had a meeting on campus and saw my image on the final printed piece. It never gets old for me when I see my images in print. I just love it and I’m sure most photographers feel the same way. Scroll down to see the image of the Marketing Piece for the College. I really enjoy the fact that I get to create photographs of so many different types of people and situations. It really keeps things interesting and constantly challenges me.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a Tips post so I figure there’s no time like the present. Let’s face it, parents get really stressed about have family portraits done. There’s so much to think about! You have to coordinate clothing and make sure the kids have haircuts. I won’t even mention getting to the location on time. Well, I did mention it, but I could go on. Seriously.

The point is that for parents, it can be a daunting task to even get the kids out of the house to a family portrait session. Then, when you get everyone there, you’ve spent so much time and energy planning the session, the least your kids could do is cooperate, right? This is where I come in. I want you to RELAX. My job is to take over once you’ve gotten everyone there. And here’s how you can make it even easier on yourself. Make it a game and make it fun.

What I mean by making it a game is that you can go two ways when telling the kids about the big family portrait. The first is to say, in a very stern voice, “We are having our pictures taken this Saturday morning and I expect you all to be on your best behavior!” Geez, no pressure there, Mom.

Or, you can use what I call “The Suzanne Family Fun Method”. This is when you mention, in a totally causal way, that you’re really looking forward to hanging out with the family on Saturday. This works best for parents with tweens and teens. If they’re interested in hearing more, they will ask. Now, if you have little ones, let’s say under the age of 10, you would say something like, “Saturday is supposed to be nice. Let’s go to the park and have a picnic and then maybe go for ice cream!” Oh, and by the way, some lady is going to be there with us and take a few photos.

You may get my not-so-subtle hint here that making it into a fun experience will get you far better results. Some people think that not mentioning it at all is the way to go. The thought here is that if you don’t mention it, no one will complain. Personally, I don’t like surprises and I’ve noticed that my kids do much better when I set the expectation ahead of time. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re thinking about spending a relaxing Saturday morning drinking coffee and reading the paper, but then your spouse springs on you that he or she has decided to take a trip to Ikea or head to your mother-in-law’s. You wouldn’t be too happy. Our kids are not different.

Once they know that a family outing is planned, they have plenty of time to prepare mentally. The key here is telling them how FUN it’s going to be. And giving them a reward, like ice cream, for all their good behavior is just an added bonus. Make it into a game and an opportunity to have fun, semi-structured time with them. You will be so happy with the results!

During the months of October and November I photograph lots of children and families, which I love. But sometimes, I need a change of scenery so that I can recharge my creative battery. Allison and I are collaborating on a fun project and while we were out, I managed to get a few images at Mt. Holyoke College that really speaks to Fall in New England.

More on the fun project soon!

Just before I left, I hosted the Vanity Chair event. It was so much fun and we raised over $100 for Girl’s Inc. I am so pleased with the project, if not a bit sad that it’s over. This personal project challenged me in many ways and pushed me beyond my creative comfort zone. I don’t think I’m quite ready to let go of it yet so if you were at the event, give me a call to create your very own Vanity Chair style portrait. Heck, even if you weren’t at the event, I’d love to photograph you.

I wanted to share some of the images I created for the project as well as some photos from the event itself. We all had a great time and raised money for a great charity too. I really want to thank Kim for taking photos at the event and Heather from Suki and Karen from Salon Karma for helping to make the event such a great success!

-Suzanne

First off, I really love all visual art. I’m drawn to scenery, paintings, and all types of imagery. Since becoming a photographer I see light in a very different way. I even notice it when watching films which can be both fascinating and distracting.

When I first decided to explore photography as a career choice, I took a few classes and learned how to develop film. Yes, that’s right actual film. It was great seeing my images appear like magic in a darkened room with a faint red light glowing and the overwhelming smell of chemicals. I enjoyed being in the darkroom. It was quiet and sort of meditative.

Fast forward to photography school where I spent an exhaustive, overwhelming and fantastic ten months studying every aspect of photography possible. There was literally no room for anything else in my life at the time. My favorite part was being in the Commercial Studio which is where we would practice photographing things, objects. For example, silverware, wine bottles, glassware, toys, and so much more. I loved being in the quiet space painstakingly setting up the lights and set. There was no one to talk to and objects don’t talk back. By the end of the ten months I was pretty sure that I would be a photographer of objects, not people. Then I had the opportunity to photograph a family with three young children as my first paying job after school.

It was challenging to photograph young children who moved around and didn’t do what they were told. And, this was long before I had children of my own so I was a little out of my element. The mother and I came up with a great spot for the photo session and I remember it was a beautiful late summer day. I worked pretty hard that day trying to remember all the “right” settings for my camera and thinking about the different poses to try. I sent the film to the lab and waited for about two weeks to get the proofs back. It was agony.

I stressed for two weeks driving my poor husband crazy thinking that somehow there wouldn’t be anything at all to show my new clients. However, I was happily surprised to find that indeed there were some good images within those proofs and one stood out especially. It was an image of two little girls looking at a bird house and their little brother trying to steal one of the flowers out of the basket one of his sisters was holding.

Now, I didn’t plan this image. I remember telling them all to look at the little bird who lived in the house, but we all know that two-year-olds do the exact opposite as to what they’re told, right? This image sealed it for me. I guess it was then that I realized that capturing life as it actually happens can be so much more interesting than the posed and planned.

The mother was so thrilled with the photos and I made my first sale. I was ecstatic and I wanted more. When I photograph children now, I continue to try to capture what happens naturally, although I may direct a little. But, honestly, just talking with kids and telling them silly stories, I am able to bring out their little personalities and it’s so rewarding when a parent is amazed that I was able to capture all the different sides of their child. I love seeing the joy and pride on the faces of parents when they look at the images I create and that is why I love what I do.

This week, my son started Kindergarten, and my daughter – 1st grade. A bitter-sweet moment for me. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The idea of my two beautiful children attending school for the WHOLE day, without me having to leave to pick up someone in the middle of the day. Part of me is so excited, and yet there is still a part of me that can’t believe I have two school-aged kids. Before I know it, I’ll be writing about graduation. Yikes.

So, in celebration of this magical moment, I’ve organized our first Fall Mom’s Night Out. We will be meeting at La Cucina in Hampden at 7pm, this coming Monday – Sept. 14th

Can’t wait to see you all there!  -Suzanne