The Duggan Family

I had the pleasure of photographing The Duggan Family who were AMAZING! SOO much positive energy and love to capture. Gracie was just a natural in front of the camera. Mom & Dad were just super in their positive encouragements and playful interaction. And they had some really awesome ideas too.

Good luck in "K" Gracie!

~ Grace

Portrait Tip - The Duggan's did fabulous in their session, from choosing clothing to bringing ideas and items that made their portraits that much more personal and special. For Family Portraits with Children it is a great idea to think of the cute interactions that you do as a family that make you smile & laugh that can be replayed in front of the camera. It is fun, relaxing and turns things into a game. From wrestling, funny faces, dancing, pillow fights, a special handshake, to a family cheer. You can't go wrong when you incorporate those personal touches to your personalized session and capture those special moments for years to come. And make sure you mention those items to us so they are incorporated into your Personalized Session Plan.

Clothing Selection. Bold Prints for Portraits?

Clothing selection is one of the most important aspects of preparing for your portraits. Clothing can harmonize with and enhance your portraits or they can severely take away from them. It has long been advised that people stay away from bold busy patterns & prints as well as colors that are too bright and logos. Also it is usually advised to choose clothing that has a classic look and is not considered trendy. 5 or 10 years down the line the look that was hot now, may make you cringe later.


The photos here are of my own daughter who is about 3 months shy of turning 2. (Isn't she cute? =) heheh) I broke a cardinal rule of putting her in a dress where every inch is covered in a bright and bold pattern. When looking at these portraits though, they still work. While the dress competes with the individual, the poses, lively expressions and great interaction brings strong attention to the individual. The contrast of the dark hair, dark eyes & light skin match well with the contrast in the dress.



So what do I think about the rules of clothing selection? I am MUCH more open minded to it. I agree with the "rules" for the most part but feel they are also meant to be broken... OFTEN. If you have a personality or a strong style that can compete with clothing that is also bold in style then by all means bring the outfit.

We have a private dressing room for clients & I encourage changing outfits to get shots that span a variety of clothing that match a person's variable persnalities. Bring something classic, something casual, something dressy, something trendy, something that matches your personality, ect... Just make sure the clothes are clean (no stains or animal hair), not wrinkled (unless they are meant to be wrinkled), fit comfortably (if they are too tight it WILL add pounds), and you look and feel great in them.

Plus with so many people who are proud and confident of their personal style, fashion and look, there are many who WANT to go home with a photograph that could possibly be ripped from a trendy magazine.

If High Fashion looks are what you may be looking for then we are here to please and can BRING IT!

- Grace

Portrait Tip:

When it comes to individuals or couples the rules of clothing selection are much more easy to break. Family & group portraits are less flexible because in these portraits it is no longer about the individual but about the group. But the rules can still be broken here as well. A common look is when everyone practially dresses in the same top and same bottom but sometimes that can be just as distracting and look "off" if the choices are anything but classic. For example, a family of 5 with everyone in an orange shirt and khakis, it just screams "Not right!".

The important thing here if you want to break the rules a little bit is that all the clothes are similar in style (formal, casual, sporty, dressy casual, edgy, beachy, ect...) and the colors all coordinate well because they are in a similar or coordinated family of colors. If you need inspiration you can usually find them by looking at casual fashion spreads put together by fashion editors in magazines or check out the clothing advertisements at your favorite clothing store on their website, catalog or magazine.

And don't forget that socks and shoes are also part of clothing selection so make sure they are in good shape and the socks are clean and NOT any wild sort of color or pattern unless it was done on purpose. Don't wear all dark clothes and then come with white socks.

There is so much more to clothing selection in addition to this including proper clothing for your body type which I will cover in a future blog post.

If you have any questions on dressing for successful portraits don't hesitate to contact me.

Taylor turns 2

Finally a moment to blog! It's been a while and so I do need to play a little catch up. This post is a recap of a very special session with some very special people.

This session was done back in March to mark Taylor turning 2. That is not the only reason it is so special. Taylor and her beautiful mother Tracey also happen to be the very first clients I photographed outside of the family.

Tracey is an amazing woman to know, this woman went on and on about how much talent she felt I had before I was even sure I would take photography on as a possible career choice. And although I was skeptical in her optimism, her words and belief stayed with me and has fueled many many long hours, upon days, upon months of work and dedication. For those who can call Tracey a friend, you are truly a fortunate soul.

A princess and rightly so, she is just so cute!

Last year Taylor was perfecting her new ability to walk, now here she is teaching me some dance moves.

I included just a few of my favorites from Tracey & Taylor's session.

Sincerely,

Grace

Random Portrait Tip:

Here is a random tip for children's portraits. Schedule portraits so they occur after a nap and after they have eaten when your child or children are typically in their best mood throughout the day. We also recommend bringing dry snacks that won't stain and water or any other clear liquid to drink. So no orange cheesy puffs and red fruit juice that may stain clothes and require you to spend a lot of time cleaning up.

Trout Children's Photo Shoot

Mom really wanted to get some shots of all the kids together for the family as well as several headshots and candid shots that caugh the kids natural personalities. Some would be sent into modeling and talent agencies and the rest would be cherished by the family.

Mom brought Cassett in the end of last year to get some shots to include in her modeling portfolio and for sending out to agencies and competitions. I am happy to say that Cassett has been doing quite well. She just turned 3 and landed a job modeling for Boscov's, and won a local pageant competition and will be heading to compete in a State pageant this coming summer. She is really a huge personality in a cute little package and I am glad to be one of her sponsors.

I met the 2 adorable brothers for the first time and they all did extremely well. I was able to get several different great shots with all the kids together which can be quite challenging when you have several 3 or younger. But I love the challenge of working with little kids and with the help of big brother, Mom and bubbles it turned out just great.

Here are the 3 individual shots that have been submitted into the Child & Baby Portrait Contest that is running through June 1.

Grace

Lauren, Sage & Meredith

I could not be happier with the results of this photo shoot. Meredith who get's her children's portraits done every year around their birthdays had come to me last year for the first time for some family pictures and came back this year to have me do her children's portraits.

She came with some fabulous ideas which resulted in some amazing action shots including one of my favorites below. I love photographing people in costume, or in this case uniform. Those types of images just tend to captivate you and your brain starts asking questions and growing in curiosity.

Our football player Sage LOVES wearing his football uniforms and would gladly wear them every minute of everyday if he could. Mom was able to get this entire uniform for him and once he was in it he was instantly in the game.

This is also one of the images from this shoot that I entered into the Baby & Child contest.



Lauren pictured below is just a natural at posing. A demure and beautiful young lady she did incredible in her interaction with her brother and family and towards the end started throwing out some very creative shots.

The image below was submitted into the B&C contest so good luck to their families in winning, I think the potential is great.


There are many many more great images from the shoot including some great interaction shots with mom & a pillow fight (another one of Mom's excellent ideas). For more wonderful images from the shoot, be sure to check out the slideshow from the session at http://www.gracelightnerphotography.com/galleries/meredith/meredith/meredith.html .
Sincerely,
Grace