Week 11

This week's theme is: Darks and Lights

I had no idea where to start, all I could think of was laundry! haha Some people actually did that and pulled it off really well! I considered doing something with candles, or a nightscape or something with a dark background and a bright light, but lets face it--I'm a busy girl and I don't always have a lot of time to set these things up! haha So I finally thought of my daughter, who has two different colored eyes; one's blue and one's brown (there's my light and dark). After I started editing it, I thought I'd turn it into more of a black and white because I thought it went better with a "dark and light" theme. Here's how it came out:



I know her eye color is pretty subtle, but I didn't really want to change the color and have it look fake, so I kept it real. :)

Week 10

This week's theme is: childhood toys.

As I looked through the other submissions I saw a lot of toys just set up and taken a picture of straight on or whatever. While some of them were really good, I didn't want to add more of the same. I looked around my house and saw my big jar of marbles and thought maybe I could mess around with those, since I'd played quite a bit of marbles as a kid. This is what I came up with:



I thought it turned out pretty fun and at least a little artistic, maybe a different take than the normal "toys" idea. :)

Photographer's Tips

Some things to think about before you get to your session:

If you're wondering what kind of clothing to wear for family pictures, it all depends on what kind of style you're going for. If you want to all match, I think simply black or white shirts is easiest and will look classic. I also think wearing all mismatched colors works as long as there isn't any sort of graphics, writing or pictures on the clothing. Honestly, when I plan my own family pictures I try to choose colors that match the decor in my house, because if I'm going to hang them in my living room I don't want them to clash! If you have more questions about wardrobe, feel free to ask!

One of the most important things I can suggest for you to do is to think about what exactly you want before you ever head out there. Are you expecting just family pictures, or do you want pictures of each child individually? Do you want some shots of you and your spouse? Do you want some of just the children as a group, have you seen a picture you'd like to imitate? Think about this and then let your photographer know what you expect so they can accommodate you. It is always disappointing to leave a shoot, get your pictures back and realize you expected certain things after the fact.

Are you up for anything? Or are you conservative? Are pictures hard for you to do, or do you have a spouse that doesn't really enjoy taking pictures? Do you have a child that is anxious or has a hard time sitting still? Does that child have a favorite game or something that makes them relax? Let your photographer know these little details and it will make your shoot go so much smoother. Or in other words, have good open dialogue with your photographer, good communication is the key.

If you are pregnant and want newborn shots, the best time to do it is two weeks and under. The younger the newborn, the sleepier they will be and it will be easier to get some of those really fun shots. So plan that ahead of time with your photographer so they can get there earlier than later.

Thats all I can think of for now, but most importantly: if you have a question let me know!

Week 9

Well, this is week 9 and the theme that was chosen was: Express Yourself.

Wow. I had a hard time with this one! I kept going back and forth and back and forth on what I wanted to do! I just couldn't think up a creative way to express myself. Do I take a picture of art stuff? (I do love art but I don't get to actually create things THAT often.) Do I do a different photography technique I've been wanting to try? I finally decided I would take a "self portrait", something I have really struggled with in the past and really don't like to do! haha But instead of just taking a picture of myself, I wanted to do my makeup on half my face really dark and on the other half nice and bright. I need to learn how to be more extreme I think! I tried but I am just not a heavy makeup wearer and it was hard enough to do what I did! Anyway, enough of the preview, tell me what you think of the final product:



I feel pretty silly actually showing you this, but I suppose it could be worse right? It probably could have been a lot more fun if I'd had more time and good lighting, but thats why I'm doing this, to get some experience!