This picture of Harry is so cute! He has a great expression. His hands are perfectly positioned (no thanks to me — sometimes I get lucky). The colors are bright and bold. And best of all, the lighting is perfect! What makes it so perfect? He is laying on the floor in front of a large window with sunlight streaming in onto the hardwood floor nearby. Harry is looking in the direction of his mom, who is standing in front of the window. Look how sparkly his eyes are!
We photographers LOVE eye sparkle!
And sometimes it’s awesome when the light comes from behind!
Sometimes we don’t really care about light because what’s happening is the more important thing. I tried desperately to get Lily to look at the camera, but she was SO into her jewelry box that I finally relented and just took pictures of her playing. The result: a classic shot!
I brought lollipops with me. Note to self: when bringing lollipops to a shoot, make sure to reveal them AFTER all the close-ups are finished!
Harry was baptized a month or so before this shoot, so we thought it would be cool to get some shots of him in his baptism outfit. Don’t you just LOVE this child’s hair? I swear to you, it really does grow like that! It’s AWESOME! Unfortunately, Harry had been in his white outfit for only a minute or so when a minor disaster struck…
…and he needed to be immediately changed. That happens.
Andrew was being all shy with me when I first got there. So I played his game and hid under the counter too. Gotcha!
He wasn’t shy for very long though.
So basically, here’s how to shoot for sparkly eyes: HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS POSSIBLE and just go with the flow because happy children have happy eyes, and happy eyes are sparkly eyes!
Peace,
jules
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:02 am
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for Nicole and Brian’s slide show. When the show is over, it will automatically jump back here where you can leave a comment and answer a question to win the family an 8×10 print!
He is easily one of the smiliest babies I’ve ever photographed!
Everybody loves bath time.
He looks like the frog! Love it!
This kitchen gets a daily scrubbing. Look how much water is on the bench from the baby’s splashing.
The kitchen is not the only thing that needed scrubbing.
After the bath: I love this one.
It was one of those days when it was raining so hard that every now and then Brian would go look in the basement to make sure it wasn’t flooding. There was no chance we were going outside, not even for a minute. So, we made do with an entirely indoor shoot, capturing various activities of their son’s day.
I love this one.
Love their beautiful wood floors and furniture too.
Here’s today’s question: Nicole and Brian were in the same kindergarten class. To win them an 8×10 print, leave a comment telling us which ones of the children Nicole and Brian are.
They didn’t realize until just before the wedding day that they had been in the same kindergarten class. Isn’t that the sweetest story?
Thanks Nicole and Brian. I can’t think of anything more fun to do on a yucky, rainy day than hang out with such a fun, smiley family that laughs so much and has so much fun together!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:02 am
Her grandpa flew in from Texas, and since I had pictures of Grandmomma from another shoot, I had to give equal time.
I think this may be the cutest picture I ever took. Look at the sweetest little smile on the baby’s face. Melt time!
Love this one too.
Those EYES! Wow. I’m lucky she is so intrigued by my monster size camera.
When I was taking this picture, I was telling the family that I really wish I had pictures of my grandparents and me. I love this picture because he’s holding her so tenderly and his crossed hands, doubling for added protection, are a clear expression of love.
This one, and the one below, are examples of how I choose to present a picture in black and white or color. This one is black and white because stripping out the color allows us to focus on the pure emotion of the shot, the gaze of his granddaughter’s eyes into his. That’s all we see. We don’t evaluate her pink outfit. We don’t scrutinize the background. We don’t notice a variation in skin tones. All we see is what she’s doing, and what she’s doing is the important thing.
This shot is similar, taken only seconds later. In this one, it’s her eyes we want to gaze into. The color is so pretty that stripping it away wouldn’t make artistic sense to me.
Thanks, David, for letting me come hang out with you and your beautiful granddaughter for a little while!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:38 pm
Remember Sophie?
Mom’s maternity session is here
Sophie at 8 weeks
Her baptism
On Halloween
Her Christmas card
Oh, and she was Baby Jesus in the Christmas pageant too!
So be on the lookout for “Sophie’s First Year” baby book coming soon to the blog!
Above, take a good look at that pretty red sweater because in a minute it’s going to be icing.
But first, the “1″ candle is very tasty.
Look at that! She’s offering her cupcake to her big sister!
YAY!
I think she likes it. Hey Mikey.
YAY!!!
Happy birthday, Sophie!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:48 am
Lots of pictures of Alex’s Christening below, and if you didn’t get a chance to see the sweet slide show yet, please email the family for the link.
Above, his eyes are beautiful!
I love the lights and the colors in the Sanctuary.
Capturing moments like this one is what I love about lifestyle photography.
This one was taken from back in the pews. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, when I shoot religious services, I never use flash, and I try to be as invisible as possible. I only take as many pictures as I need, and I never use rapid fire shutter release in a place like this. To me, the most important thing is for the worshippers to experience the moment and not be distracted by a photographer. That said, if the family wants me to capture moments during the service, I will do my best to keep my shots as real as possible without being a distraction.
Not using flash allows me to take advantage of the natural light too! Beautiful.
After the service is over, though, my focus shifts to capturing all the other people capturing posed group shots.
I sneak in a few of my own too.
After the service, I found some nice window light for a quick portrait of mom with her sweet baby.
Love this one.
At the reception at the Saltwater Grille I obviously had a lot of window light to work with!
In this one, I isolated the designated baby-rocker. I love the simple white background, which is really the bay outside the window completely blown out.
You can see the bay in this one, and the snow on the deck. What a gorgeous sunset.
This is a nice portrait of the grandparents by that big window. (More “mug for me” shots in the slideshow.)
This little girl and I became fast friends.
I couldn’t help following her around. She reminds me of my niece, Hope, when she was that age.
Isn’t she adorable?
He’s only two months old in these pictures. Time for a nap.
And a lot of looking around to check out all the people checking him out.
I love this shot of the baby snuggled in dad’s arms.
This one is nice too. May God Bless you, sweet child.
We’ll be seeing a lot more of this family over the next year, so if you’re in their circle of family and friends, be sure to bookmark the blog!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:27 am
Sweet baby in her sweet room at home. I love this picture!
And it’s made even sweeter when you know that grandmomma is there too, chatting with her daughter and offering help wherever it’s needed. If you ever wondered what I consider “family lifestyle photography” to be. This is it.
Beautiful.
An unconventional portrait, for sure, but this picture tells the story of new babies. Who’s everybody looking at?!
She’s wrapped in dad’s arms. At first we thought dad’s monogram would be distracting in the picture, but now that I see it there, it’s perfect!
Big brother!
Did I say he’s the *BIG* brother!
He loves to read.
Don’t worry. He’s not actually asleep under the dining room table. He’s just pretending for me! I love how playful he is!
Bless you, sweet child!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:25 am
Grandma Minnie’s family celebrated her birthday recently with a photo shoot! Lots of pictures below, and if you didn’t get a chance to see the sweet slide show yet, please email the family for the link. What a beautiful gift for the person who has everything!
I love the picture above! One of my new faves!
The room was totally dark except for a few candles on the cake and that table lamp way in the background. I took this shot with a high ISO and low shutter speed, with the camera just hand-held. (No tripod.) I love my new camera!
Isn’t Grandma Minnie beautiful? I love this untraditional portrait because of the children just hanging around in the background. Those are two of Minnie’s great grandchildren.
This one was taken earlier in the day with just window light. Again, it’s not a traditional portrait, but that’s what I like about it. I can’t help wondering what the baby is looking at.
We set up for some informal shots of the individual families, but I like to swing around and see what’s going on at the sidelines! I love this shot! So much depth and motion going on here, nice angles and I love the posture of Grandma Minnie and her grandson, John, sitting criss-cross on the floor. I wonder: how many times over the years has John sat at grandma’s feet just like that?
This is more of a traditional posed snapshot. What I love about it is the blurry people in the background.
We were so lucky that it snowed a few days before our shoot!
The kids had fun sledding.
See?
Sledding makes for great natural smile shots!
And I love the girls’ snow suits and fun hats!
No shortage of happy smiles, and these girls are getting used to the photo shoot routine. This is their third shoot with me!
Love the light in this one, and his sparkly eyes.
Later in the evening, he went around the room collecting $5 bills. NOW he’s smiling a natural smile! Love it!
Snow is a natural reflector. It really adds nice sparkles to eyes!
Of course, it helps if you have gorgeous eyes, like these two.
I love the snowball fight pictures with grandpa too.
This one is a classic. I remember eating off of a TV tray at my Grandmother’s house in Atlanta 30-something years ago, but I don’t have any pictures of that. I love this shot.
This one is my new favorite of all time! The little boy peeking from behind the piano is Grandma Minnie’s great grandson. Nobody prompted him to go back there; he was just hanging out listening to the music. And isn’t it SO COOL that Grandma Minnie still plays the piano at 97 years old!!
May we all be so blessed.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:05 am
I spent the morning with Sam and Rebekah at the hospital. Margaret is SO perfect! Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for a sweet little slide show, quickest one I ever made!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 4:29 pm
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for Eileen and AJ’s slide show. When the show is over, it will automatically jump back here where you can leave a comment and answer a question to win Eileen and AJ an 8×10 print!
A little aside here: I love that picture above! I feel that it represents how my photography has evolved. When I first started, I found it difficult to get parents involved in the shoot because they only wanted pictures of their children. But I’ve come to realize that parents THINK they only want pictures of their children!
Once parents see the pictures of the entire family, and especially the pictures that show mom and dad as a couple — and they see their children’s reactions to those pictures — it becomes obvious that pictures of mom and dad together don’t happen nearly enough.
And I’m not talking about posed shots, but shots like the one above, where all I’ve done is said, “Hold hands. Slow dance. Snuggle. Kiss. Whisper something sexy in her ear.” Wow, things often do take off after that, and I get some great couple shots of mom and dad, the kind that married couples usually only get at the wedding and at a big anniversary now and then. So what’s my point? My point is that my family sessions are not going to be just about the children! Because as much as children love to see pictures of themselves, they also love to see pictures of mom and dad loving each other.
It is so hard to get a family with three children under 3 all looking generally in the direction of the camera. Usually, it’s mom and dad who are not looking because they’re trying so hard to get the kids to look! But Eileen and AJ were great! This picture is so cool in black and white!
Here’s another cool black and white. I can totally see this shot as a large print under a wide white mat and a simple black gallery frame, finished size of 20×26, hanging on the wall in any room in their home. They have such great taste in wall colors! The black and white print would look so cool against it!
Here’s what the wall actually looks like. (I love that father/son shot!)
Here’s another black and white that I love! He’s looking through the bridge of his train set.
We were lucky it wasn’t too cold that day to get outside for a little while!
I heard great stories about all the fun they had in summer on this slide. In full sun all day, the slide would need to be cooled before a child could slide on it, so they got in the habit of turning the hose on it, and putting a little plastic pool at the bottom. Sounds like the kids had a blast sliding into the pool all summer!
I love this shot.
Love this one too!
Cheers!
LOVE the reflection!
That bowl of fresh lemons looks beautiful, doesn’t it? But what makes the picture interesting is the curious little girl checking me out!
How cute is that? I love how the m&m’s are blurred from the motion of the pouring!
This picture is what my new camera is ALL ABOUT! LOW LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY! It was a cloudy day. There are two windows on the far side of the room. The wood blinds were drawn shut for nap time. It was dark in there! But I was able to get this shot with no flash thanks to my fantastic new Nikon D3 using manual settings of super high ISO and a slow shutter speed. It was so dark in there in reality that I couldn’t see if his eyes were open or closed. (Upon close inspection in the editing room, they were open!)
To win Eileen and AJ an 8×10 print in your name, be the first person to leave a comment correctly guessing either the ISO setting of the picture above, or the shutter speed. (For hints, there are lots of photos in other posts (here’s one and here’s another one) that list the camera’s settings for each shot. Have fun and thanks for playing!)
Thanks Eileen and AJ! I really had a great time with your family in your beautiful home!
Until next time, be on the lookout for more Christmas card designs in the winter contest coming soon!
jules
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:42 am
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for the slide show from Dean’s baptism.
When the slide show is finished it will jump back here where you can answer a tree-related question and win a free 8×10 for Dean’s family and lots of blog praise for yourself!
Above, Donna and Dean before the ceremony started way back in early November. I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it to the service, and since it was a last-minute plan for me to be there, I waited to edit their pictures after I’d finished editing all my Christmas shoots and designed all the Christmas cards. Sent the last one to the printer early Saturday morning (deadlines. ugh.) and so I finally had some time! Yay!
I love this one. The ceremony was held in a large chapel. The light was perfect to capture this image engraved in the window. I was lucky, too, that the trees were still changing then, providing a beautiful backdrop.
I think there were 13 children being christened that day.
I love this one. There really weren’t any restrictions on photography, but I didn’t use my flash during the ceremony simply because I feel that the ceremony should be about the moment of worship and nothing should distract worshippers from focusing on the moment. So, my ceremony pictures are grainy and maybe a little bit blurry, but I rather like the drama of how they look.
I especially like this one. I like how the shot focuses on just the father and son in this over-crowded room.
Dean wore the same hat that his brother, Dylan, wore at his christening. It is fondly referred to as the “dough boy hat.”
I love this one. That’s Dean Sr. coming up the street in shadow.
I got lots of nice pictures at the reception. Donna was very smart to bring lots of things for the children to do!
I can’t help it. I am drawn to photograph children. They have a way of staring into the camera sometimes that just makes me wonder if they can’t see through it and into my eyes.
This was taken inside the restaurant. In reality, she is standing in front of a gaggle of adults, but I took all the distractions out in Photoshop. She is so beautiful and I love her dress, so I just wanted the picture to be all about her.
Lots of sweet shots of Donna and her family and friends.
You may remember Donna from her maternity shoot, or from Dean’s newborn shoot. She is a beautiful person inside and out and I love her family dearly now!
TODAY’S CONTEST QUESTION
Which tree in my yard was the first one that Mike and I planted?
Have fun and Merry Christmas everybody!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:45 am
