15: The Other Side of the Lens, The Client Experience: The Bodilys

Hiya Humbletakes Fam!

I have a very special treat for y'all. Cuz I love ya! I have another installation of  "The Other Side of the Lens"! *and the crowd goes wiiiiiiiild*

I have taken Erin's family pictures for many years and I have loved watching her three wonderful kiddos grow up. This is another reason I feel lucky to be working as a photographer. I get to watch, and be part of, your family growing up and maturing. I get to see how an awkward 9 year old with glasses and braces blossoms into one of the most beautiful young women I've ever seen.  How a tiny 4 month old is on the move only a year later. These are wonderful, fast-moving times. And sometimes I'm even lucky enough to see the absolutely perfect baby that was just a "baby bump" the year before! My job is a gift. My clients are my family. And my life is full of joyous moments.

You have your family pictures taken every year. Why?

In real time it may not seem like it happens very quickly, but my kids change so much. You know that saying, "the days are long, but the years are short" (or something like that). When I look back at previous sessions and old photos, I can barely believe how much they've grown. We have used Melissa for years because she can capture who my children are at that point in their lives. If they make funny faces or react to something in a totally genuine way, she catches it. These moments are absolutely priceless. It's so easy to forget the silly face my youngest used to make that would have us all cracking up or the reaction my daughter had when we would talk to her about boys at school. I feel like Melissa gets it. She understands that these times fly by and these moments are precious.

What are some of your favorite things you've done with your pictures?

I have used Melissa's pictures in so many ways I can't even count. Aside from the family photo book and social media, I would have to say that my favorite thing I've done is get huge...like, huge 16x20 gallery wrapped photos of each of the kids and the kids together on the wall going up the staircase. I love looking up at that wall. OH! And I printed another gigantic (can't remember the size) gallery wrap and put it above my mantle in our main room. It completely finished the look of space and is an absolute eye-catcher!

What is one of your favorite pictures or sessions that Melissa has taken and why?

That's so hard because I’ve loved every picture.  But some of my favorites are:

One of my favorite pictures Melissa has taken is an amazing sports volleyball action shot of my daughter, Baylee.  It shows her hustle, drive, determination, hard-work and beauty, all in one shot.

There is a shot of my second daughter, Brielle, that I just can't get enough of. Bree is very intelligent and her humor is often subtle and understated. Her expressions are the same. There is a shot of her that perfectly captures her slight smile and brilliant eyes. I just love it.

And my youngest, oh my youngest! This boy is an all out goof ball. He is a comedian through and through! He has us laughing constantly with his crazy facial expressions and witty remarks. I think Melissa catches his craziness in such a way that you can see he is silly yet sweet, energetic and endearing, crazy and charming.

There is a family shot Melissa took of my family in front of barn doors that is one of my favorites!  It captures the personality of my family, shot beautifully, and in a setting the has an emotional connection for me of my childhood growing up in the country.  Pure Magic.

I have loved watching this little mob grow and change. I feel like these kids are my very own. I adore this family and feel incredibly blessed that they trust me every year to permanently capture these amazing times in their ever changing lives.

Shout out to you, Bodily's! *fistbump*

Shoot ya Later :)

3 Tips to Photograph Your Kids Like A Pro

Hey Humbletakes Fam!

        

I'm gearing up for my last May MMS and June's MMS's that are just around the corner! Links to book below :)

May 27th: BOOK HERE

June 3rd: BOOK HERE

June 11th: BOOK HERE

June 24th: BOOK HERE

In the meantime, I thought I could help all of you moms and dads capture the ever elusive and eternally adorable smiles of your kiddos with three of my favorite tips.

Shooting kids is most often the hardest (and most amazing) part of my job. Kids have a hard time during photo sessions because, well, photo sessions are boring. Over the years I have learned some valuable lessons when it comes to shooting kiddos to get not only beautiful images but genuine expressions!. Here are my top three snippets of advice for the next time you want to capture your child's adorableness!

It's up to them!

I promise this is the best advice I can give anyone!  If your kiddos are not interested in taking pictures they will absolutely let you know. My advice? Take pictures when they're up for it. That means:

*well rested

*fed

*happy/playful

Be patient and wait for this golden time. I guarantee the best pictures always come from kids who feel good.

Let them relax! (so you can too)

In my experience, kids do the absolute best when you allow them to take time to relax. If you're constantly screaming "smile" at them, you will get a fake, plastered, school-photo-type smile. If the kid wants to:

*make a funny face...

*show you a leaf...

*tell you a funny story...

...let them

And be snapping pictures the entire time! Sometimes the greatest pictures happen when you and your kiddo weren't even trying. So relax and have fun!

Play!

My final piece of advice is to let your kids play! Let them run around, pick up things they find, or play on the swing-set.  Not only will you capture the true essence of your child at that point in time, but your pictures will have so much more personality and genuineness. It's worth the time and energy for you to poke your head out from behind the camera and tickle or chase them. Don't be afraid to stop shooting for a couple minutes to chat with them or just hang out. Your kids will love spending time with you and probably won't even mind a camera in their face!

I love the crinkled noses, closed eyes, funny faces and huge smiles.

Getting beautiful pictures of a child's genuine happiness is never easy, but I hope that with a couple hints and tricks you can relax and enjoy taking pictures of your babies!

Tell me, what are some of your favorite tips for shooting your kiddos? Happy shooting!

Shoot ya Later :)

The Other Side of the Lens, the Client Experience: The Blankensteins

Hey there Humbletakes Fam!

I'm happy to see y'all here! I am also happy to report that I have something very special in store for you. I am starting a new series. Y'all always get to hear my side of the story. You hear me rant and rave about my amazing clients, but you never get the other side. You never get to hear first hand accounts of what it is actually like working with me or how my clients feel about their pictures/session. Well. Now you do. I would love to present you with my first installment of "The Other Side of the Lens, the Client Experience"! 

You get to hear from some of my previous clients completely honestly and unedited. I love these posts because I feel so connected to my clients. I mean, taking pictures of a young family year after year or capturing someones wedding day is extremely intimate. My clients are my extended family. I love them. Truly.

I especially love watching a young family grow not only in age but also in size. I've been shooting the Blankenstein family since they only had two little blond haired blue eyed beauties. They now have four! FOUR wonderful kiddos...and I've had the honor to watch them grow up and be part of their lives in such an incredible way.

Unfortunately, I do not live near this wonderful family any more so our sessions are a little more spread out. Regardless, every time I see them all of the munchkins run up with huge smiles and give me the best bear hugs a girl could ask for. I love these kids. And I love watching them grow up into such awesome medium sized humans...can't wait for when they're full sized humans to see what amazing things they will do.

What was it like working with Melissa?

We have worked with a number of different photographers, and sincerely feel like Melissa is the best!  Not only is she easy and flexible to work with beginning to end, she has such an amazing energy.  It is super important to me to see genuine smiles in my kids pictures, and I have found out over the years that not every photographer can elicit that.  I feel like the older the kids get, the more they unfortunately have to 'fake' their smiles.  Well, it was even more obvious to me this year (2016) since it had been 3 years of not using Melissa.  We no longer lived by her and had to venture out to different photographers.  You know how sometimes you don't know how good something is until it's gone?  Well, that's what i'm trying to say.  So, this year was no different....as soon as Melissa starts a photo session, all of my kids (ages 4-13) are captivated by her sincere excitement and happy energy.  We tend to laugh a lot, and before we know it, the session is over and once again my precious munchkins have been captured as their genuine selves.

What are some of your favorite things you've done with you pictures?

I love to get big prints (16x20) of each of my kids to hang on the wall in our home.  I love closeup head shots so I can document and preserve how much they change from year to year.  I'm big on keeping record and love looking back throughout the years and being reminded of how important it is to enjoy the moment because time flies.  For me, it can be easy to look forward to a certain milestone coming up and think..."life will be a bit easier then..", but again, looking back on great pictures helps remind me how precious these memories we're making now are and to just soak it up.  So, I guess that what I'm saying is that the other thing i really like doing with my pictures is to use the digital images and put them in a scrapbook.

What is one of your favorite pictures or photo session that Melissa has taken and why?

I have a couple memorable photo sessions.  When my kids were young, we went up in the mountains by a bridge and got some good shots.  My youngest was only 10 months old and sometimes that's a tricky age because they need to be full and rested in order to find those happy smiles.  I love the picture of her looking up, showing her only 2 teeth and chubby cheeks as she's giggling. This was a great photo session because we could be ourselves and get those genuine smiles I love.

Another year, I was slow in getting organized and it was already late in the year before we got things scheduled.  We had bad luck with weather, and had to reschedule once and then after thinking we'd need to reschedule a second time because of snow, we decided we could make it work in our own backyard in the show.  Even though the brightness of the snow was almost blinding to our blue eyes, they turned out amazing.  

I love my oldest (age 8) in this session who looks like she's ready to laugh and is proudly showing off her 4 missing teeth. It didn't matter that we were using the old wooden fence right in our backyard, because it only added to the beauty of the picture.  There were even a couple serious faces in this session that turned out pretty.  

My 5 year old in black and white looking right at the camera, and me staring off into the distance with a snow covered tree in the background.  This was a great session because even though the location and timing wasn't what we planned, the kids were happy, cooperative and Melissa got some great pictures as usual because she was happily pulling those smiles and beauty out of us. 

Thank you so much, Janelle! And thank YOU, Humbletakes Fam for taking the time to get to know my wonderful friends, the Blankensteins!

Shoot ya Later :)