Toothless

This is my little brother Sam and his "best friend" Ella (more on her in a day or two).


I arrived at my parent's house for Easter on Friday night and Sam quickly announced that he lost one of his front teeth! Of course, we had to do a little photo session to document the occasion. He was so proud and the tooth fairy left him a whopping $20. The tooth fairy must have a fat bank account.




Two days later, the other tooth fell out too (with a tiny bit of help)!


Who knew being toothless could be so cute?

What to Wear: Family Photos (Spring)

People often ask the question "What should we wear?" and honestly so many of my clients nail it - bright colors, great prints, coordinating beautifully. My first advice is to trust your gut! Often times people over think things but if you trust your instincts and go with what you love, then everything will work out just fine and look fabulous. Bright colors are great and photograph well, especially in the springtime when the grass is green and the flowers are starting to bloom. I put together two different outfit sets, since I haven't done this in awhile, both for a family of three.

I love this first set, and I would tuck the woman's blouse in to give it a more polished and flattering look. I would also roll the sleeves up on the man's shirt (which you could tuck in or leave out, depending on your style). You'll notice the flower print AND the plaid - they work together because they are similar in color, so don't be afraid to mix it up.

Flare Denim by Urban Outfitters
Wedges by Lucky Brand

This second look is super fun with one of my favorite color combinations right now - orange and navy. This set has a more relaxed, casual vibe and I think the little boy's outfit is just adorable (love the shoes!!). I also found this super cute nautical dress for a little girl for a family of four (or if you have a girl instead of a boy).

Toddler Boys' Shoes by Gap
Sandals by Kelly & Katie

Daydream Believer

As a kid I had an active imagination, often coming up with grandiose plans and I wasn't afraid to dream big. For example, after watching the 1994 winter Olympics, I was convinced that being a figure skater is what I was meant to be. I spent time drawing and dreaming up costumes (it was always about the costumes - especially the feather accents...hello, Oksana Baiul?). Anyways, you can imagine my excitement when I got ice skates for the following Christmas, nevermind the fact that I had only ice skated a handful of times in my life - I was certain that once I put on these beautiful white skates I would be doing a triple salchow in no time (all I needed was the perfect skating dress...). Anyways, as I'm sure you've guessed, my figure skating dreams didn't come true but I had such a great time planning and dreaming about it that it wasn't too disappointing in the end.

What does this have to do with photography you may ask? True to form, I tend to plan and daydream constantly about ideas for sessions and am constantly seeing inspiration in magazines, catalogs, and online. I'm often uncertain as to how to approach people with my ideas, as occasionally it can be hard to explain my vision to others and it sometimes takes just the right client to make an idea work. So, instead of letting the ideas float around in my brain and possibly never come to fruition, I thought I would post some thoughts/inspiration here in the hopes that maybe an idea will speak to someone who reads this.

One session I've been dying to do ever since I saw the February 2011 J Crew catalog is a vintage (60's?) inspired session. I'm not talking full on retro, but when I saw the catalog I was in love with the images and would love to do something with a similar feel. You can view some of the images HERE, I'm especially in love with this one and this one (despite the fact that we have no palm trees here, I think I could make it work).

I also think about locations that would be amazing...I'd love to do a session in a field of flowers (haven't found one around here yet, so if anyone has any good spots they want to share, let me know!), at an apple orchard, and on a farm.

Baby sessions are something that I've been doing a lot of lately, and my sister showed me a super creative 1 year session where the parents had the baby "paint" a canvas (with baby safe non-toxic paint, obviously). The little girl played in the paint and crawled all over the canvas and then the parents had the canvas stretched and it now hangs in the baby's bedroom. I thought it was such a unique take on the 1 year session (cake smash, etc).

So anyways, those are some of the things I've been daydreaming about recently - hopefully one of these session ideas will come to life someday!

Have a fantastic Friday!