BOSTON CHILDREN'S PHOTOGRAPHER, BOSTON FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER, BOSTON NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

I am not sure how their mom keeps up with them, but she does, and she does it well!

Short on words due to a bad ear infection and limited energy and brain power.




I have sort of an obsession with kids and their lovies. So if they have one, they get a picture with it!

Baby Jason can sit!  And he can do it really well!  Erica and I tried to schedule this session a few times, but things kept coming up… and in hindsight, we are so glad we waited until he could sit!  He is seriously delicious.  And he loves… loves… LOVES his mama.  As it should be.  Train your son to say “Mom, I love you and you are my best friend” and you will be a happy woman for life.  Until he gets married.  Then it will be weird.  But until then, he’s yours.

Kit-kat came home from school, literally RAN past me to the shower so she could look all awesome for our session… and she was a ROCK STAR… no, maybe more like a Gap model.  Sort of like Christofer, she’s a little excited because someone else is around, but WHAM she can turn it on for the camera in a split second.  She is ever gorgeous, ever a teenager at age 5.  Love her.

And Erica is beautiful.  Really.  What else is there to say?  I stinkin’ love her too.  She and I have these off the wall conversations that I think about after I leave her house and I kill myself laughing.

I want to post more, but I have to go pay a few moving violation fines so I don’t end up in the clink… and as much as there are about 30 more I’d love to show you, we really want to keep them a surprise!  We’ll share another time!

For right now.  Because soon there will be FOUR!  I should write this entire post in CAPS because I am screaming it in my head.  I AM SO EXCITED FOR THESE GUYS AND TO MEET THEIR NEW BABY.  Seriously.  And it’s not because I have been thinking about how I am going to shoot their newborn session on a daily basis (which I have).  It’s because they are SO READY for this kid!  And I think Cat is going to rock the house as a big sister.  She’s so good with my little Baby J (who is so not a baby anymore)… and she was always so good with Christofer (and now they are BFFs)… she’s going to be the best big sister EVER.  (Like I am quite sure she won’t put a galvanized tin bucket on Baby’s head and bang it with a spoon… I don’t know any kid that would do that, I’m just sayin’).

Anyway, I grabbed some shots yesterday and am sad to say that my camera is definitely needing to go back to Canon.  Though they promise me I will be at the front of the repair line and I’ll have it back (or a rental) for Thursday.  I was able to get a bunch of great shots (more than what I am posting), but I am breathing I sigh of relief that I rescheduled all my sessions because I’d be in tears if this happened with a client (like every shot I would say “I don’t know Erica, I just do not know.”).  But I love these… and hope I can get the rest to her without making her wait 6-12 months (because that is the poor treatment I give my friends and family and myself!).

Quick update… added this one and it could be my fav maternity shot EVER.  If you are curious how I shot this, read on, otherwise just skip to the pictures!  I shot this at ISO 500, 1/200, f/3.2 on my {broken} 5DMK2 with my 24-70 L.  Probably metered about +2/3 of a stop over 0 (where I typically shot, rarely do I meter to 0).  I put Erica up on  a chair (which is sort of mean to do to a woman who is 35 weeks pregnant) since the only way I could get the light right was to shoot up to it (and avoid the white railing behind her)… the light was pretty high and only come through a few branches.  Then I got below her and moved around until the light was partially behind her, partially giving her edge light.  I focused right on the edge.  With a Canon, the only focus point that will allow you to do this is the center one.  The other focus points will search and not lock.  This shot is remarkably similar to how it was SOOC.  I adjusted white balance (added red, reduced magenta), slightly recovered a little Bokeh (+15), and jacked up the blacks to 25 for her tank top.  In PS I tweaked curves a tiny bit, added color balance layer and added a vignette.

Before you all start singing my praises… I did NOT come up with this idea.  Although I have always given guidelines on what to wear, and I have a What to Wear section in my client information packet, the idea of blogging What to Wear is not mine.  Many photographers do this.  But I did hijack the idea because we are upon the Holiday Card time of year and I’d like to offer up some ideas.  These are just ideas, I am not suggesting you spend the $612 or so that I just pulled together on Mom’s outfit at Boden.  But… if you are going to Boden, check out their Outfit Maker!  It’s fabulous!  {it also drew attention to the fact I dress like a dud, another story entirely.}

It took me at least an hour to come up with this, so I do know it’s not an easy task.  Things I kept in mind… I started with mom… because if mom looks good, everyone will have a much better day.  I also believe that if a mom is not comfortable in her outfit, she will generally feel bad about herself and not like the pictures.  I am telling you this because (1) I know it’s true and (2) I am that mom.   So moms… start with you and work out.  Once I had her outfit pulled together (and again, can’t sing enough praises about the Outfit Maker), I started on the boy… there was a Boden sweater I just loved that was the same aqua but with an argyle.  But after dressing boy & girl in aqua, mom in aqua, it didn’t leave me with much for Dad.  If everyone is dressed identical, it’s just plain boring.  I also decided to play it a bit more safe because aqua is a big color, so doing an aqua argyle was a bit too bold of a statement for me.  I loved the aqua and brown because it screams fall with a tiny little nod to the ocean!  I added in the cream pants for the dad (ok, light brown, sorry Owen, I won’t put you in cream) because I thought Mom & Dad would look great together and it would tie in nicely if you did cream tights for mom or the girl.  I also have some cream accents in the mom’s necklace.  Finally, I imagined the pairings you’d do in a session… Mom & Dad, Mom & Son, etc. and everyone seemed to really compliment each other.

Next week I’ll focus on a Gap or Old Navy option, then a more formal one with perhaps Olive Juice dresses for the girls!  Please leave me some love and let me know if you found this to be at all helpful!

Every once in a while, well, actually, all the time, I come across images that just make me smile. Usually I know the minute I take them. I am feverishly proofing to finish up Lisa’s session, it’s taking me 2X as long because it’s a big family with a big gallery… and I came across this one. I knew I loved it when I shot it, I knew I loved it when I starred the gallery (my ranking system) and then I knew I loved it even more when I edited it. Which by the way, was really not editing at all because it came out of the camera pretty damn close to this and really, what’s to do with a face like this?

Thanks for your patience, I hope it is worth the wait!