I have been photogaphing this family since the children were very small. I even did Leigh’s bridal portrait! They had wanted an extended family image with all the new little ones in, so last Saturday we had a blast with the whole family! Jackie is quite the seamstress and every year I can’t wait to see what she has sewn for the children to wear. This year new baby Parker had on the sweetest outfit and Jackie had done all the intricate embroidery on the blanket as well as his outfit. Momma Leigh is a big fan of Africa, so Jackie found sleeping baby African animals on the internet, copied them, printed them in black and white and transferred them to the blanket and gave it to Leigh for her shower. WOW! Was it fitting or what that baby Parker fell asleep on the blanket, just like the baby animals?!
Year: 2010
Happy Birthday to you…
Lynne came to me several months back and wanted to do a special image of herself for her husband for his birthday. She was very organized and had planned ahead. After consulting with her on her ideas and where the image would hang and clothing styles and colors we came up with some wonderful ideas. Since the birthday has now passed, I can finally post the images! Hope your hubby was thrilled and surprised!
Do this…Not that…..
In the interest of sharing what I have learned over the years, I decided to start a new feature that I hope I can update on a regular basis. I went to Honeymoon Island yesterday evening and found wonderful lighting and some great images to photograph. As I approached one of the benches there and was drawn to the lighting, I went through the process of eliminating all extraneous parts of the image almost automatically. As I paused, I realized that many may not have the benefit of my experience. So, here is the do not do:
Obviously, a nice bench, nice lighting, good sea oats, nice sky…But, my shadow, cars in the background, horizon line not level… so, try this…
Better, but lighting flattened out and I lost the tops of the sea oats.. so … try this…
Much better lighting, my shadow is gone, the sea oats are in the sky so that they stand out, the parking lot is all but gone, but the horizon line is still a little bit askew, so … go ahead, take one more…
Horizon line much straighter, the bench now appears to not be leaning forward, the sea oats are more pronounced in the blue sky and even in the clouds. You can find great images anywhere, just look. Then look again, adjust your position, walk around the image, get down low or up high, until you find the look you are looking for. Make your images great!
Father’s Day surprises…
Both of these Dad’s got surprise images for Father’s Day…dad with his 3 grown sons and new dad with his new little one. The image of Gary with his 3 grown sons is just great because you can see the pride in his face and the joy of being there with his children. Mary Jo is going to decorate her family room with canvases of all the different poses of the entire family group as well as individual separates. What a keepsake that will be for the family throughout the years. The one with her new little grand-daughter and her son is so precious because of the “smile” that you can see on daddy’s face. No, you can’t see his face, but you CAN see the delight in the smile crinkles around his eyes. I just love this one!
Norb and De celebrate their 50th
Norb and De were in Tampa to celebrate their 50th Anniversary with their children and their families. All 16 of them gathered at the atrium in the Intercontinental Hotel in Tampa before their dinner at Shula”s. The light was perfect and the waterfall as a background gave a lovely addition to their family portraits. Look closely at De, she is wearing a gold heart necklace that Norb gave her on her 17th birthday! What a lucky lady! I have had a lot of anniversays lately; so glad to be part of such happy times. Let’s see if I can remember all their names:
Norb, De, Tom, Lynn, Tom (he was in the senior portrait post from several weeks ago, see if you can find him), Kristen, Katherine, Timmy, Sawyer, Laurie, Richard, Cassidy, Cindy, Jaybird, Vito, Roma, ….hmmmm who am I missing?
I loved all the family images, but I think my favorite is Norb with all his grandaughters cuddled into him.