Whew!
That was the sound of the last sigh as I emailed the last client gallery off today. It’s been a busy fall, and not just for portraits. Life in general is just busy, am I right?
As a portrait photographer, when it comes to fall pictures for the Christmas card, I am no different than you. My family is no different than yours, I’m sure. My husband is never thrilled about taking pictures, but because he understands how important these are to me, he goes along with it and usually with a happy spirit. My kids think its play time with the photographer and break out all the silly faces and weird poses and it’s anyone’s guess as to what they will bring up to talk about.
As a mom, these pictures are important to me. My kids don’t realize it yet, but they will be important to them one day as well. I want just one photo. Just one photo where everyone is looking at the camera. No one is crying. No one is pulling someone else’s hair. No one is yelling at a child to look at the camera, or get their finger out of their nose, or sit still, or to stop sticking their tongue out. No? Not you? Is it just my kids that do that?
After we get that Christmas card picture, I absolutely love the candid, non-posed, playful photos. That’s what I want my kids to remember. Not mommy sternly talking to them through clenched teeth while trying to smile and threatening them to behave. I want my kids to like picture day and have fun with it. When momma is relaxed, everyone else is relaxed.
This year, I really branched out though. Let me back up a bit.
When it comes to outfits, I will usually have an idea in mind. Either an outfit of one of the kids will be my inspiration or something I know I look good in. I mean come on, us mommas want to look good! However, on a recent trip to visit my parents, my husband surprised me and said he wanted to buy me an outfit for our family photos. I thought it was an extremely nice gesture and was genuinely surprised. We went to a store I’ve never bought clothes from before, but have always liked their style. The girls that worked in the store went to town, throwing jeans and sweaters and cardigans and shirts over the dressing room door for me to try on.
I have to admit, I was a bit overwhelmed. For one, it has been a long time since I had the time to try clothes on while in the store. With three kids, I’m in an out of stores and will try clothes in the comfort of my home without little people trying to take over the dressing room. Secondly, the clothes were a bit out of my comfort zone. . . which was a good thing. I need to branch out a bit and was kind of stuck in a rut.
So, we made our selections and checked out.
Now I had to re-think the whole family wardrobe situation. I had a few days so I didn’t stress about it. The night before our pictures, I went through everyone’s closet and picked out outfits that coordinated with mine. It was completely different than the route I originally had in my mind, but that was okay. I think it actually turned better than what I had planned. Since our photos were first thing in the morning, I laid out everyone’s clothes the night before. Kind of like your supposed to do for school, but nobody actually ever does?
They say the devil is in the details and it is so true when it comes to pictures. I tell my clients that all the time and I tried to take my own advice for my family portraits. I painted my nails a nice neutral pink tone that I knew would compliment my clothing choice. It wasn’t anything that would draw attention to my hands, but would subtly help to complete the look. I had had my hair done a few weeks prior, so there weren’t any roots or split ends to deal with.
You’re going to laugh at this one, but the morning of our portraits, as I was putting my makeup on, I broke out the fake eye lashes. They felt a little awkward and super obvious to me, but I knew it would look good in the pictures. It just gave my eyes a little bit of pop without having to layer on the mascara and eyeliner.
I picked out jewelry that was in my style and not distracting. Again, everything needs to complement and not take away from the people in the picture.
Once all that came together, we showed up to our pictures. Oh, and we were late. I’m sure no one out there is ever running late to your family portraits. But our photographer was fantastic and she did a great job with everything. Check out her work Photos by Hailey!
So there you have it. My confessions of being a family portrait photographer and being on the other side of the camera. I understand what my clients go through and what it took to get them there. When I get my photo taken, I don’t care about what settings the photographer used. I care about what is happening in the photo and how we’re connecting. It’s a good reminder to me as I photograph my clients. Yes, I want to be technically correct with my portraits, but it’s more about who is in the photo and what it taking place.
Jodi Byrnes Photography is a family portrait photographer specializing in families, children, and couples in Greenville, South Carolina. Serving Taylors, Greenville, Greer and the Upstate region of South Carolina.
Interested in a session? I would love to chat with you regarding a family portrait session whether that’s you and your eighteen kids, or you and your special honey, or just your precious babies. Contact me to set up a time to talk about your vision for portraits. I offer heirloom albums and fine art prints, along with digital negatives.
Greenville family photographer | Greenville Children’s photographer | Greenville couples photographer | Taylors family photographer | Taylors chidlren’s photographer | Taylors couples photographer | Greer family photographer | Greer children’s photographer | Greer couples photographer | Jodi Byrnes Photography.
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