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Friday, May 9, 2008 | F.A.Q.s
f.a.q.--posing
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Linda left this comment on my blog awhile back when I shot the Neese Family Portraits and I think she has a great question.
I've never been good at posing. Yuck! One of my least favorite things to do as a photographer. But sometimes you gotta do it. Here's an example of an obviously posed photo. I'm pretty proud of this one because posing isn't my strong point but it came out beautifully I thought: |
So you gotta do the posed shots for pretty much every shoot. But what I really love to do is draw the emotion out of my clients. Everyone I work with--whether it's a family for family portraits or a couple for a wedding--has a connection, and that's what I want to capture. My goal is to be able to give as little direction as possible to get the desired effect. I need to get the emotion and connection from them but I don't want to be creating something that wouldn't be natural for them, I just want to create the environment in which what is natural for them comes out.
The two best and fastest ways (posing-wise) to get people to be natural in front of the camera and let their emotions out are to have them focus on one another and get as close to each other as possible. I try to take the attention off of the crazy lady pointing a camera in their face and get them to focus on each other as best I can. Sometimes this takes most of the shoot to do. Oftentimes I find that I get the best images in the last 15 minutes of a shoot because people have loosened up and are enjoying themselves. But I digress.
Ok. So I do give my clients direction on where to stand or walk generally. We want to get great light and pleasing backgrounds for the shots.
Here's an obviously posed wedding photo where I told the clients where to stand and then just asked them to look at one another. I love the connection in their look: |
| Here's an obviously posed maternity shot of two sisters I did awhile back: |
| After we did that shot, I told the couples to interact with one another and just kept shooting. Sometimes they're uncomfortable at first, not knowing what to do, but if you let the awkwardness linger for a little, they end up laughing and you get great stuff: |
| If couples are stiff and I can tell that they need a little more direction than just "interact with one another," I oftentimes will have them put their foreheads together. What that does is forces them to get close. Closeness, like I said, is one of the key factors to drawing out that natural emotion: |
Another one of my favorite things to do is to get people walking. When they're walking they always look natural. I just make sure to tell them not to look at the camera but just at each other:
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| I'm very fortunate that many of my clients are total naturals and need very little direction other than asking them to stand, sit or walk in certain places. If you just leave them alone for a few minutes and shoot with your long lens off in the distance, you get total cuteness: |
| Hope that helps Linda! Great question! |
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | Engagements
Emmitt & Jocelyn's Engagement Shoot
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Tonight I got together with Jocelyn and Emmitt for their engagement shoot. These two were so fun--I just love how they look at each other and are constantly having fun together. It made my job easy!
Their wedding is next March--which seems like a long ways away--but I'm excited that I get to see them this Fall for two of their friends' weddings that I'm shooting.
We started out at Jocelyn's home to get a few photos with their dog, Baby. Weighing in at just over 4 lbs., this little Maltese is the smallest little bundle of concentrated cuteness I've ever seen. And she was so good in front of the camera showing it off! |
| What a sweet family they make: |
| Then we headed over to the Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix where Emmitt proposed. We went to the exact spot and had a little re-enactment: |
A guy who witnessed the whole thing stopped us afterwards to ask if Emmitt proposed and to offer congrats!
Here's a few more of my faves from our shoot: |
Afterwards we went out for the yummiest Thai food. Loved it!
Thanks guys for a fun night! |
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 | Personal
I am lost. and love it.
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I love this show. Seriously so good. If you haven't gotten hooked, go rent the DVDs from the first season. It's like a really good movie that just keeps going. And yes, I am a little lost about what all is going on but I love the brilliance of it. And the characters--SO great and well developed.
So here's a test I took to find out which Lost character I am. If you are obsessed with Lost like I am, take it and let me know who you are!
Unfortunately I'm not thrilled with my results.
Juliet isn't the most lovable character. But at least I'm not the bald guy in the picture like my friend Michelle! :)
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Monday, May 5, 2008 | Engagements
Mike & Jen's Engagement shoot
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Saturday I took a day trip out to Orange County to meet up with Mike and Jen for their engagement shoot. These two are getting married here in Scottsdale in November, but their entire dating life has been split between Mike's home in Orange County and Jen's in Scottsdale, so they wanted to make sure to capture some of both places. Mike is moving to Arizona in a couple of weeks, so they have a lot going on and I was excited we could fit this in before the big move.
Jen and Mike are a great couple and we had a fun, laid back session around Laguna beach and Balboa island. But first we headed to Muldoon's restaurant--the site of one of their first dates: |
| Here's some of my favorites from the rest of our session: |
| It was so fun hanging out with you guys! Can't wait for the wedding! |
63. Babysit my nephews once a month for a year
I feel bad for having to have put this goal on my list in the first place. I'm an aunt to two amazing boys--Noah is turning 8 this month and Elijah is 6. And I feel SO blessed for living as close to them as I do--7 miles away. A lot of aunts and uncles don't get the pleasure of being so close and seeing their nephews grow up. I should AT LEAST be able to babysit them once a month. Right? Isn't that what a good aunt would do? But I found myself not. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like time is flying by faster and faster these days. I go to sleep and wake up and a month has gone by! I realized I needed to be more intentional about doing my aunt-ly duty. It's something I WANT to do but unless I make a specific goal to do it, it just doesn't happen. So I put it on my list last year and am proud to say I have babysat the boys at least once a month since last June. Some months I would call up my sister and force her to make some plans so I could get my babysitting in, I was that serious about it :). There were even a couple months that were over-nighters. I'm so blessed for this time I've spent with Noah and Elijah and I definitely plan to continue to be intentional about serving my sister and brother-in-law in this way and getting in quality time with the boys.
Yay for checking another one off the list! |
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Thursday, May 1, 2008 | Personal
Kim's Baby Shower
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Yesterday I went to my friend Kim Jarman's baby shower. Kim is a fabulous fellow photographer and this shower was thrown for all of her wedding industry pals--mostly other photographers and coordinators. It was outdoors at The Farm at South Mountain just in time before the Phoenix heat becomes unbearable. It was a gorgeous day and I had so much fun connecting with good friends who I don't see often enough.
I brought my camera along and took a couple shots to share with you. This is my good friend Michelle Meyer and her adorable son Tate. You may recognize them from my blog--they've made numerous appearances in the past. Tate was looking super-handsome yesterday: |
| And the guest of honor--Kim. Kim is a great friend of mine and I'm so excited for her--she's expecting her first child in July--a girl! There were so many super-sweet girly gifts she opened: |
| And then came my gift. Not so much on the super-sweet side of the spectrum, but more on the dose-of-reality side: |
I saw this onesie in a Portland specialty store and just had to get it for Kim. I think she may truly feel a little more like she looks in photo #1 about it, so we'll see if it actually ever gets worn. :)
Can't wait to meet little baby Jarman! |
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | Weddings
Daren & Sarah
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Daren & Sarah were married Saturday at the Portland Art Museum on a gorgeous Portland day. They gave me a bit of a challenge and set a record for me with a bridal party consisting of....
10 on the girls' side: |
CRAZINESS!
But i get ahead of myself. The day started off in the bride's parents' 15th floor loft overlooking the city: |
It was a dream to shoot in.
Some fun detail/prep shots: |
| One of my favorites from the day: |
| Sarah had two pairs of shoes--one for the ceremony and one for the reception. I love these Kate Spade shoes she wore for the reception: |
| Dad getting his bow tie on: |
| Getting into the gown is always a feat in itself! |
| We were able to take a few shots of Sarah in the park blocks outside the museum before the ceremony. |
| We even borrowed a passer-by's Great Dane for a shot! |
| The ceremony was in the sunken ballroom of the Portland Art Museum: |
| A few portraits of the happy couple: |
| The details in the reception ballroom were stunning: |
| One of my favorite "reaction to the toast" shots: |
| And finally--a sweet image from the father/daughter dance: |
Thanks Sarah & Daren for flying me out to be a part of your wedding!
If you'd like to view a slideshow with even more photos from this amazing day, click here. |
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Monday, April 28, 2008 | Personal
fun portland day
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Today was super-fun. It started with sleeping in. Always a good start to a day :).
Then I took a few photos just for the fun of it around my friend Ellen's house:
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| Then I met up with three photographers for lunch in downtown Portland. This is Kevin Meyers and Elena & Demetrye of Elena Photographers. Good conversation was had. |
Then Kevin and I walked for a few blocks around a cute area of Portland and did a little shooting for the fun of it. I've done this a number of times before on my trips out here. I always get so inspired being here. Everything looks like art in Portland.
Kevin decided to take his dinosaur film camera out and shot a whole role of 12 frames while I happily shot hundreds on my 5D. Here he is sporting his equipment: |
| There's tons of trees in Portland with these beautiful pink flowers on them: |
| And today it was a bit windy and it literally rained pink flowers: |
| Just found this cute guy on the side of a building. |
| Beautiful Portland architecture: |
| Love the colors in this one: |
| After shooting we met up with some of my friends here for dinner. Here's the fun crowd: |
| Keri used to be my roommate in Phoenix before she moved up here. Now she's dating Robb and we did like a two minute mini-session to get them a few good photos. She let me stay in her room for the past four nights in Ellen's house and I noticed a great lack of good photos of them so we had to remedy that situation. Here's one from our super-short mini-session: |
Then I was off to the Portland PUG meeting (see next post!)
What a fun day.
Headed home tomorrow.... |
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Monday, April 28, 2008 | News!
Portland PUG
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Tonight I had the chance to speak to a great group of photographers here in Portland. The Portland PUG (Pictage User Group) happened to meet on the Monday after I had a wedding up here so it worked out perfectly for me to stop by. I spent most of the day hanging out with Kevin Meyers, the Portland PUG leader, (more on that next post) and he has a great community of photographers up here who meet monthly and talk about all things photo and business. Tonight we talked about everything from pricing to networking to websites and blogging. I had a great time! It's always fun to get to know photographers in other areas of the nation.
Here's a shot of the group: |
Mark usually has his eyes open but unfortunately not so much in this shot. Sorry Mark! The rest of us just looked so good in this one so it won out :).
Thanks for having me fun Portland people! |
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Friday, April 25, 2008 | Weddings
Daren & Sarah's Rehearsal Dinner
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| This weekend I'm up in Portland (Oregon, that is)--one of my favorite cities--for Sarah and Daren's wedding. I'm so excited to be here--it's been too long since my last visit. Tonight I shot the rehearsal dinner at this fun joint: |
Sarah and Daren are having a HUGE wedding party tomorrow--10 bridesmaids, 10 groomsmen and 10 kids. I think that sets a record for me! Should make portrait time fun!
Here's a few of the kids before dinner started: |
| Sarah showing off the ring: |
| I'm so excited for tomorrow--can you imagine what a beautiful bride Sarah is going to make? |
| These fun glasses were worked into a toast: |
| I'm here through Tuesday so more fun Portland photos are soon to come! |
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