5 stress-free ways to get the most out of your 18 month old portrait session

1. Bring props that really make the session all about your child.  This darling little girl's mom totally nailed it!  She brought her daughter's toy kitchen, which they love to play with together.  PERFECT.







2. Have realistic expectations. Lots of running around happens at 18-month old sessions!  It is nearly impossible to make most children of this age sit and pose for pictures, so instead we just try to make things really fun and catch the action as it happens.  If you love portraits that showcase their personality rather than a perfect pose, we'll all be a lot happier.  (And this is what I like best in any case.)  A lot of the time I do portraits for this age at the park, but it works inside too.

 



3.  Be prepared to be in the pictures yourself! Sometimes the very best pictures are the ones of you together.


4. Schedule the session at the best time possible for your child.  It's worth it to me to be flexible with my timing so that we never schedule a session during his or her nap.  I would never schedule an evening session for a baby or toddler (you parents out there know about the 5:00 witching hour!)  If my calendar doesn't work with your schedule, please just let me know and we can work something out.


(By the way - love the boots!  I *believe* they are her great-grandfather's.  She loved to cross her legs - so darling.)


5.  Try not to stress.  I have 3 kids, and I remember what this age is like.  I love working with these little ones and I will love working with your child.  When parents can relax and not worry about directing their child's behavior, that allows me to build a little relationship with him or her myself.  I have lots of tricks up my sleeves (which I never needed to use for this sweetie here) and I am positive that I can safely amuse your child for the time that we'll spend together.


Toddler sessions tend to go fast - it all depends on your child, but they will seldom last an hour.  We always take breaks for drinks, snacks, and anything else he or she needs. But when they're done, they're done!  I often have parents tell me that they were worried that I didn't get anything at all, but they were happily amazed at all the great portraits they ended up with seeing at their viewing session.

If you have a toddler and want to capture this sweet, happy, busy time of life, please give me a call!  I'd love to talk with you about a portrait session.

Or, see this page for other ideas about how to make your portrait session the best that it can be. 

Don't vacuum up the legos!

My husband and my daughter went to the pool this week and they were surprised at how full the lap lanes were. Not me! It's January, time for everyone's New Year's resolutions!

I never used to be much of a goal-setter. But last year suddenly I got the goal-setting fever! I have a list of things to work on, but business and personal. So this week I spent some time looking through last year's goals, and, okay, there are a bunch that I need to work on again this year. :)  I did a good job with some of them though, and for me that's encouraging.

One thing I really want to work on this year is both business and personal.  I've been seriously neglecting to take as many good fun pictures of my kids as I should.  Last year I did this session that I totally love, but didn't get to some other stuff I really meant to do.  This year I have a goal of one really fun personal project per month.

Starting off for January is some fun for my son.  He loved this - he told me it's the first time I've ever told him to make a mess (I'm not sure that is true but admittedly it's not a common theme in our home).  He's such a sweet guy and I don't take as many pictures of him as I do of the girls, but this was perfect for his funny personality and I love it too.



This one - not as convincing maybe, it's harder to get two kids to pose in a tricky way, but my little daughter was thrilled to be involved.  (My older daughter, who is too tall to get into this sort of picture in the room that I had, was being a human light stand for me just to the right. :) )



If you like the idea of a creative theme photo session, but legos are not your thing, I have other creative photography ideas posted here - look through and see if you feel inspired to do something creative with your children! I'd love to work with you.

Fall family portraiture - some favorites

This fall went by so fast that I'm still wondering what happened!  Autumn is the busiest time of the  year for most portrait photographers, and this year was no exception for me.  I hardly managed to blog a thing - for me, getting to put a blog post together is the icing on the cake after I finish proofing a session, and when I'm that busy I just don't feel like I have the time.  So!  Now that I have a little more time, I put together a few of my favorites from last fall.

I loved getting to meet new families, and also getting to work with old friends.  Thank you for your trust in me and for allowing me to help capture this moment in time for you!  I don't know how I've been so fortunate, but I have the nicest clients in the world. :)