Siberian Huskies

Jean and I recently took portraits of a wonderful family plus their two Siberian Huskies. The main goal was to get one group shot for a 20x30 canvas print above their mantle. Easier said than done if you know anything about Huskies. I grew up with a Husky and they have minds of their own. But Bruno and Sarah were very cooperative, and the results speak for themselves.

See the full slide show here. Thank you Ivanov family!

Regards,
paul

Fall Family Portraits

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Christmas Season is in full swing. We also had a busy fall portrait season. There were several outdoor photo sessions at a nearby park, and another indoor session when the weather did not cooperate. (Always have a plan-B!) I've included a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Fun family portrait session

Business is picking up as we finally start to get the nice Spring weather we earned after that long Chicago winter. I'd like to share some favorites from a recent family portrait session.

Kelly, Eric, and their son, Ryan, plus their extended family, had me over in early May. The inside of their house was very cozy. "Cozy" for a photographer means "very tight with a lot of furniture to move." With the weather being damp and cold combined with 3 kids under the age of 3, that meant making the cramped quarters work.

With all our portrait sessions, we try to do a scouting trip and client consultation ahead of time so we have a rough idea of what we're going for. Kelly's main goals were to 1) get a picture of her and her siblings, and 2) a family portrait of her, Eric, and Ryan. Anything else was a bonus.

Fine. I setup the lights inside for the "formal" portraits, and readied another camera to capture the candids that occur whenever kids are around. I started off with a formal shot of the siblings, then followed this up with other shots of the kids and various combinations depending upon which kid wasn't melting down at the time. (Photographers who only take pictures of adults have it easy!)




To break things up, I suggested the adults step outside for a few minutes for some more casual shots. When I asked Kelly about her siblings, she said she wanted a portrait that captured their playful relationship. I think I did that here.








Finally, we came back inside and I took more shots of whoever was willing to get in front of the camera. But I also saw Ryan being lit by some beautiful natural window light, so I asked Kelly to go outside and play peak-a-boo, and managed to capture this image. Those eyes tell the story.







Since Ryan was in a good mood, and took this opportunity to take care of Kelly's second main goal - her family shot. Ryan was tough to get a good smile, but Kelly's sister made some goofy faces over my shoulder and voila.



If you would like to view the complete slideshow, follow this link. Enjoy.

Portrait Favorites

Below are a few favorites from some recent portrait sessions. Enjoy. ---paul

Environmental Portraits

Our bread-and-butter is "on-location" portraits. In other words, showing people in a natural, familiar environment. Jean and I have been to more homes, parks, fields, patios, lakes, beaches, forest preserves, and country clubs than we can remember. This keeps things fun and fresh for us, but it also is a challenge because every location is unique.

Preparation is the key. If we can't scout out a location in advance, we try to arrive an hour before the scheduled shoot-time to get set up. We bring enough studio equipment with us to light up the darkest room, but we try not to use it unless we have to. Backdrops are only used as a last resort. This minimalist approach suits our style and doesn't overwhelm our customers.

It's tough to beat the look of natural light, and we try to choose locations and times to maximize it both indoors and out. Many times we'll supplement natural light with flash, and sometimes we'll go 100% flash. When we do use flash, it's hard to tell because our portraits do not look "flashy."

Our portrait sessions are relaxed and free flowing. We'll have different spots picked out depending on the size of the group, the number of subgroups, ages of the kids, weather etc. Outdoor shots are the best, and we try to make it outside even during the winter. Many great shots occur when the family is having fun in between the posed groups, and we try to capture these like a photo journalist would covering a story.

Within 1-2 weeks after the session, customers receive a keepsake proof album and a link to an online photo gallery. We also try and create a documentary slideshow of the portrait session but can't guarantee this in every case. Customers can order prints using order forms included with the proof album or via the online shopping cart. And calling it a proof album doesn't do it justice. It's really a selection of finished images that have already been digitally corrected and retouched. Check out a sample 10x13 proof portfolio here.

Why do we like on-location portraits so much? Well, first of all, we don't have a studio! But besides that, we feel that we deliver better portraits when we go to the customer's location rather than asking them to come to us. Take a look at a recent family portrait session to see if you agree