Baby Pio's Baptism | Woodstock GA Newborn and Baby Photography

Oh my poor neglected blog ... tts been 4 months since I posted a session on here !! And considering we're starting to get into the busy season with the holidays around the corner, I  realize I may not post often here for the remainder of the year ! *Smh *. Note to self : Add blogging to the task list of things to do between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am.

Check out all of God's sweet grace in that precious little face ! Not to mention, the glowing radiant mom stealing cuddles and kisses after the ceremony ! The Baptism gown was specially flown in from Italy and was passed down to him from his dad. Wow !

Awaiting Spring | Woodstock GA Baby Photographer

My little guy recently started walking. Well not so recent maybe about a month ago. Since then, he loves to toddle off to spend many a late morning looking out the thin window next to the entry door. I love how he stands on his tippy toes to peek over the plants that are outside on the porch and probably hinder his view. He looks at cars passing, at the school bus that halts right outside my driveway, at the kids going to school in the bus in the mornings, at the kids coming from school in the bus in the afternoon. I've often wondered if he ever thinks his sister might be amongst the kids that get on / off the bus ? (We actually drive to school to get her.) I know he misses her terribly while she's away at school. His eyes light up when she comes home and he literally drags her hand and takes her into the toy room to play with him.

So, I've entitled this image, Awaiting Spring. Spring is what my daughter's name literally translates to in my native tongue.

The case of the cobbler's children having no shoes | Woodstock GA Children's Photography

Have you heard of the story of how the cobbler slogged day and night making shoes for everyone in the village? And how his own children ran about barefoot ? My kids are sort of in the same boat. Before you run out and buy them shoes for Christmas though, hear me out. They do have shoes. LOTS of shoes! Atleast my 6yo does (she has more than I do atleast). My 1yo isn't walking yet and the pediatrician says, socked feet are best for learning balance. So he has just one pair that we put on, on his birthday. He didn't like them one bit !  So, if you see them running around sans shoes, rest assured its for a very good reason, and dearth of shoes has nothing to do with it. Plus, I'm not a cobbler.

So, my analogy of shoes actually, applies to photography. I was done with client shoots and delivering edited sessions 2 weeks ago. And then I realized I hadn't ordered Christmas cards for our family and friends! Not to mention, we had NO pictures that we could use on them ! Well, nothing "christmasy" atleast unless you count the iphone pictures taken by Mr Miraz Light At Work Photography.

So I finally got my act together and did a mini session. These were shot on a cold rainy day so they were taken indoors. It would have been nice to have done them outdoors but see above for the case of the cobbler's kids. And I did want my kids to have pictures done this year. Something's better than nothing right ? And I made it a point to be in front of the lens for a change. I do want my kids to have pictures of me to look back upon.
Here are a few of my favorites.

She had received this outfit earlier this year from a grandparent. While its two sizes too big, she thought it was festive enough for pictures. Plus tts rare that she likes anything pink so I shot away ...

We have nicknamed my little guy The Duracell bunny. He's always on the go ! His favorite pose to sit in, is this. And he sat that way for only 6-7 seconds.

Babies and toddlers really don't need any toys. He's always content playing with my pots and pans and spoons.

I love this picture (yes thats me!) because I have a 2013 picture of me with my sweet little girl ! Memories for me to pass on to her !

You can find the remaining session images, including a cute naked baby butt here. Go check it out !

PS: I love MCP actions for my indoor highkey images. They make my white background pop !

Pickard Family | Marietta Family Portrait Session

This was the first time I had the opportunity of taking pictures of this sweet family. They bid on a gift voucher (and won !!)  I had donated to my little girl's school for their scholarship auction.

Below are a few of my favorite sneak peaks from the session. You can find the complete gallery here 

2013 Fall Mini Sessions!

For those who have asked, here's the fall / holiday mini session information. One of the most gorgeous times of the year when nature puts on its special clothes of reds, yellows and orange so get your pictures taken outdoors. This year I'm including a 11x14 Print, something I don't do very often so its a great time to take advantage of this offer !

Baby T Newborn Session | Baby Photography

This little precious little bundle of fingers and toes, was hardly 2 weeks new but he sure gave me a workout getting his pictures. Here are some of my session favorites.

He looked SO tiny placed on this team flag and I had to get up on a step ladder to get this shot. But it was well worth it !

This is my version of "The Thinker". He definitely is deep in thought.

Have I mentioned I love capturing all the details of soft squishy newborns on camera ? Probably in every newborn post right ? I captured it right on time too because immediately after this shot, he peed on mom. I still have to complete a newborn shoot where the mom, or dad, or even me, haven't been peed / pooped on.

This was amongst the last few pictures I took in the almost 4 hour shoot. He wasn't a happy camper what with me trying to position him every time he fell asleep. After trying several places, I decided to put him on mom. And thats where I got this pose. Soundly asleep. Finally !

Mommy and Me Portraits

There is a saying by Washington Irving that says “A mother is the truest friend we have.” I couldn't agree more !

Mother’s Day is coming up! Regular and mini sessions are available. Please call or email for details.

Before & After peek | North Metro Atlanta Newborn, Children, Family and Senior Photographer

I thought I'd share one of my favorite pictures from my last session of 2011. I was very fortunate to catch  this Super Hero face. I'm told it scares away the bad guys. Now who wouldn't want to be a damsel in distress if there's a super hero this cute who's going to come to the rescue ?

The Before & After will enable you to see the difference between getting portraits at your favorite neighborhood portrait chain and a custom portrait with a professional.

This picture was taken  indoors with very flat lighting. There was a huge chandelier above his head which worked for me as a hair light giving the lovely shine to his hair. In post processing, I brightened his face some to give it a soft glow. I then removed a red spot that looked like a bug bite on his right cheek and finally finished it off by removing the white stain from the vest and the little thread hanging from near the button. I think its the small details that go into creating a good picture.
And yes I used a nekked powered down flash to directly illuminate him. I could have thought of bouncing the flash across a wall and positioning him better and a million different other things but guess what? I would have MISSED THIS SHOT  because it was completely. impromptu.

Christmas Session : M's Session peeks | North Metro Atlanta Newborn, Babies and Children Photographer

With not being able to do much else today, I finally had the time to blog this session from the holidays last year ! The pictures were already delivered to the client but I got tied up with other things and they never made it to the bloggie ....

I was lucky to be shooting Miss M in her grandma's beautiful home. It was totally awesome and chic as you will see from some of my favorite peeks below ..

And in case you were wondering what my typical before and after looks here's a sample -

Yes that is my OLD camera case in the background. I now carry a new trendy backpack from Think Tank Pro. The rest of this gallery can be viewed on my website

My Fairytale Shoot | Atlanta, Alpharetta, Woodstock, Marietta, Roswell, Canton Children's Photographer

I was sitting around one day in this quaint quiet little spot in the woods pondering on the nuance of life and other petty (or not!) matters. The only inhabitants around were little squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. Then,  I heard a soft little crunch. Like something was walking amongst the leaves. What did I find? A small little fairy gently treading around. She had her back to me at first and didn't see me. Boy was I lucky I had my camera on me !

The minute she heard the shutter click, she turned around and caught me. And then gave me the cutest of smiles !

In her hand she held this miraculous invention from Pixie Land. Supposedly, it makes people of all ages happy. She went on to show me how its to be used

She then followed me home and up the stairs ...

She was trying to fly but for some reason her wings weren't levitating her. Maybe because she'd temporarily made her wings disappear ? (FYI - Little Fairies have the cuteest bellybutton...)

She followed me into my studio and didn't know quite what to do.

She got out her magic wand and  was content standing giving me sweet smiles ...

The rest of her gallery can be found and viewed here.

Custom portrait photography and why consider it | Woodstock GA | Children's & Newborn Photographer

We have all been to the picture store at the mall or within our favorite discount store. Myself included. We have all Ooh-ed and Aah-ed at the portraits the first time. Not so much the second time. By the third time, they have started looking boring and posed. To top it, if you have kids who just don't want anything to do with getting pictures taken and won't smile or even look at the camera, you come away without liking any of the forced smiley pictures. I recently had the good fortune of photographing a family who were very disappointed with their experience at a mall studio. Good fortune because I got a chance to introduce them to the wonderful world of custom portraiture. Portraiture thats not forced. Portraiture thats done out in the open where the children can continue being children. Portraiture not done with the standard boring backdrop. At the end of the session, they were very apprehensive and didn't think I had managed to capture anything worthwhile (from their viewpoint where they felt the kids didn't want to do anything in front of my camera). When it was time for the in-person demo, I met with the dad and he was blown away. So much so that he had a hard time narrowing the pictures he wanted. In his words "we want them all !"

If you haven't ever considered custom portraits, give it a try. The difference in the pictures will speak for itself.

Differences in a black and white edit

A non-professional might feel that a black and white picture is a black and white picture and its "simple" and "easy" to create. Right?? If that were true, my chocolate cake made in my GE oven would taste and look the same as my good friend Lydia's who makes AWESOME very professional looking and tasting cakes ! ( My cake making skills are limited to using out-of-the-box mixes and I bake a couple of times a year). She does use the same GE oven though. However, people don't come away raving after eating my cake as they do having had hers. Hmm wonder why ???

Here are a few sample B&W edits of the same picture using Photoshop's in-built menu options and the same picture edited using a detailed non-photoshop-in-built process.

1. Edited using Photoshop's Hue Saturation Adjustment in the layer's palette. All I did was bring the saturation all the way down and adjusting the lightness

Pay close attention to the edges of the bokeh in the background. You can see rings in the bokeh. Not very pleasing to the eye. How long did it take? It was pretty quick. One click to add the adjustment and then a couple of seconds to bring the Saturation slider down and adjust the lightness.


2. Lets look at the next picture edited using Photoshop's "black and white" option, again an adjustment in the layer's palette.

Again, look at the bokeh. Not very appealing. The image also looks kind of flat and oomphless. It took  me a second to click the option and about 5 seconds for photoshop to do its thing

3. Edited manually using custom techniques.

The above picture was carefully edited following various steps, burning a little here, dodging a little there, adding various overlays to get this final product. In this picture, you can actually see several different shades from the blackest of black to the whitest of white. It took me about 15 minutes to complete this edit. A lot of time in my books but it was time well spent.

Defining my style - "Capturing Memories" | Woodstock / Holly Springs Family Photographer

As a photographer, it is so important to have a niche that differentiates you from the gazillion other togs out there. One of the ways, is, as many before me have said, to define one's own style. Do you shoot vintage shoots, do you "style" your shoots, do you go for the modern look, do you use props, or zany outfits or accessories ? The options are limitless and each client is interested in a particular kind of look and will want to hire a photog who has that look defined. 

I still haven't been in the photography biz too long and even though I do not own a studio, I do have a sizeable amount of daily expenses to pay - telephone, internet, insurance, hosting the list goes on ! So I  sure would like to monetize on every single client who approaches me. However, in the long run, I know it will hurt the image I would like to build. So yes I have had to turn away two clients in the very recent past because the sessions they were looking for were just not something I do or wanted to do in the near or medium future. I like to shoot mostly non-styled  and non posed sessions with very few props that help capture the essence of the person or family. 

I have been known to get carried away on time and shoot for longer because a subject might have been shy earlier in the session and might have taken a while to open up or the subject may have just been a natural with the camera and loved posing for me. My husband knows to keep anti-allergy meds ready for me in spring and fall on the days I come home from children's shoots thanks to all the laying, rolling and playing in the grass that I do when I'm out shooting. But thats me. Thats what I like to do.

My shoots are mostly about having fun, with lots of smiles and giggles. And yes sometimes goofiness too.

However, If I do have an opportunity to capture a tender moment or a few sobs, I go ahead and take those shots. 

So, while I haven't been in the photography business very long, when I do get asked by a client that dreaded question "What is your style?" I can truthfully say it is Capturing Memories. Period.

Little J | Woodstock / Roswell Children's Photographer

I shot this session 2 weekends ago. I knew this sweet little girl from seeing her at my local gym. However, I also knew she didn't know me. So, going into the session, I was prepared to have an exhaustive workout (ie run around trying to get a few good shots with a shy little girl). However, she proved me totally completely wrong !! As you can see from the sneak peak storyboard, she was an absolute D-I-V-A ! Not only was she not shy, she actually posed for me and did exactly as I requested. I asked her to run to me on the count of three and as you can see, she did. I asked her to give me sweet smiles and boy did she smile away ! Then, when I caught her pouting once, I asked her to repeat and right on cue she did ! I really like her pouting picture. Just makes me break out into a grin. I was blown away after the session.  My daughter could surely take a lesson (or two or three) from her. Made me wish more little kids were like her in front of the camera, except then, I'd have to go to the gym more often to get a workout and what fun would that be ??!!

More pictures can be found in the online gallery.

Powell Family Easter Session { Roswell / Woodstock Children's Photographer}

I held a few mini sessions a few days ago and I lucked out with these three adorable sisters to photograph for Easter! Big Sis Miss R loved posing for me as you can tell from the sneak peeks ! Miss M who loves following in her older sister's footsteps didn't want to be left behind with posing. She was also as excellent little helper ! The youngest little one little Miss K, was least bothered with what was going on around her. Of all things, she found the pine straw most interesting ! Enjoy these sneak peeks. Higher resolution pictures along with the rest of the collection can be viewed in the gallery here

Easter Mini Sneak Peak - "Little L" {Woodstock, Roswell, Marietta Children's Photographer}

Last week I shot a few Easter mini sessions. Here's a sneak peak at the first one. This little guy was as shy as he was adorable and just wouldn't break the ice to pose for me. Although I had a cute Easter scene set up, I realized he wasn't going to sit there and let me take my shots. So I did the next best thing - I shot him unposed ! I put on a long lens and kept my distance and clicked away when he didn't quite expect it. Here are a few pictures showing his different moods . The only time I got smiles from him ?? Either when I put the camera away to play ball with him or when I asked him to pose with his Mommy ! Moms and beach balls are perfect recipes for getting the giggles and smiles :-)

Baby C 3 Month Pictures {Woodstock Baby Photographer}

I have had the excellent fortune to capture Baby C's journey from being a grapefruit - when he was inside his mom's belly for the maternity shoot, a precious little newborn and now as a 3 month old ! I am lucky his older sister and my daughter are good buddies who love playing together so I get to see him inbetween the "scheduled" shoots as well. He was a very cooperative baby for most of the session other than a little while in between when he got a little mad - probably from being sleepy. Best of all? He loved the feeling of my shaggy throw/blanket that I laid him down on his belly !