Baby Brother Newborn Nursery Session

What could be more natural than newborn nursery photos at home?  Big brothers have enough to contend with when a new baby turns up on the scene.  Better to pose for photos at home in a comfortable and familiar setting.  This little chap took a nap while we photographed his new baby brother and when nap time was over he was ready to get into the act.  I love photographing families in their own personal space.

Create a yearly photography plan for your family.

Clients tell us it's difficult keeping up with everything and although they'd love to have professional photographs taken of their children at least once a year (birthdays being the likely choice) well that's just one more thing that seems to fall off somewhere around March like diets.  Even in the families of professional photographers, child #2 has fewer photographs than child #1.  I guess it's a logarithmic phenomenon.  The more kids - the more laundry, lunches, carpools, ballet lessons and book reports we have to keep up with.  BELOW are a few fun photography tips for making sure your kids have awesome photographs of their childhood.

 
 

 # 1 "ALL MY FAVORITES" You'll love remembering all of your child's favorite things ten years from now. Take an hour or an afternoon and photograph your child with all his/her favorites.  A favorite stuffed animal, that outfit she drags out of the dirty clothes basket because she wants to wear it everyday. Your son wearing Dad's boots, riding his bike or eating/wearing ice cream.

 # 2 Make sure you take at least one annual photo with grandparents - it's a great excuse for a road trip.
 # 3 It's fun to take a roll of black and white film - once a year!  Come on you have an old traditional film camera somewhere.   The look is so unique it's worth the effort.

 # 4 If you live at the beach how can you resist beautiful beach portraits - go for sunrise or sunset - the light is so much prettier.

 # 5 Don't forget about family pets - close ups are best.

 # 6 Kids on the move. Get the kids together for a series of sibling action shots - close up and of course full length so you can see how they have grown from year to year. 

 # 7 Skip the traditional school photos and instead schedule professional portraits in your child's birthday month.  A fun tradition, hallmark and an opportunity to plan a fun, themed session that fits your child and will ultimately be more meaningful.

 # 8 Moms & Dads - Your children love you just the way you are.  You'll never be younger or have less wrinkles than you do today.  Stop worrying about losing five pounds your kids don't care.  Since we don't know what tomorrow brings.  Get a photo taken with your kids today.  If you are the primary photo bug in your house get out from behind the camera.  Hand it over to someone else and go in for a big hug. 

 # 9 Kids derive a certain sense of well being from the story told of their lives in photos. Don't worry about the ones you missed of the baby in your family - you know the one with the most empty pages in their baby book.  Start snapping!  

 

If you need a little reminder for birthday portraits sign up for our Kids Club Birthday Registry at http://deannedunlop.com/?load=flash#/1112944/Kids-Club-Birthday-Registry

you'll receive a reminder 4-6 week before your child's birthday, enough time to schedule an appointment.  We can help with a themed birthday shoot, location and with KYDS children's clothing boutique downstairs we can even help pick out an outfit if you like.

How soon should I schedule newborn portraits?

 

 Mom's call me all the time to ask - "How soon should I have my baby's newborn portraits taken"?  My answer is generally the same?  It's always best to do your newborn portrait session within the first 7-10 days, if at all possible.  What do we do when clients want to include siblings, Mom & Dad and even grandparents in baby's newborn session?  It is no problem when we are photographing in the comfort of your home and we love photographing in client's homes, which of course gives us the opportunity to photograph the baby in his or her nursery as well.  The best thing about newborn nursery sessions is that we come to you, a genuine luxury at this time in life.  I am really excited about sharing this sweet newborn service with new parents.  Newborn Nursery Sessions are so intimate, unique and  lend themselves to really creative sessions.  If you know someone with a knockout nursery don't forget to share this post with them. 

Newborn nursery sessions make great shower gifts and welcome baby gifts.  

Of course, we are still offering our studio newborn sessions as well but many of our clients have found the intimacy of having their family photographed at home makes these portraits so much more meaningful and personal.   

Joyful Beach Christmas Postcards

Christmas Family Beach Postcards

What a precious family. I loved photographing this fun group for their Christmas Cards. This set is a 5x7 2 sided postcard.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Christmas Cards at the beach

It may sound funny but photos of older children are so important to their memory of childhood.
Don't stop having portraits taken of your children when they are no longer toddlers.  I often hear parents say I wish I had taken professional portraits of my children when they were young.  They are still young - don't miss out on this age - this stage.  In a few years when they are in high school you'll look back and realize how sweet and young they look.  I remember thinking I had missed it when I looked at a portrait of my son when he was 9 years old.  He look so big and I wonder how it had happened so quickly. Today he looks like a little boy in that photo.  He remembers that time in his life. I know this family will cherish this photo of their children at these ages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Photo Cards at the Beach

 

This 5x5 tri fold card is a photo album in an envelope.  What better way to catch up with a growing family than a mini photo album in a Christmas Card. 

Christmas Baby Announcements

I love this soft gray for babies.  Spencer's skin looks so soft and sweet.  This is a cute postcard announcement from his newborn baby session.  The card will be printed on pearl paper for a really warm and sparkly look.

 

 

 

Christmas at the Beach

Nothing like living at the beach.  When it comes to celebrating Christmas we rather like the warm, white ground cover.  Here we call it sand.  And unlike the Northern variety - it actually feels good between your toes.  Ben and Bear are always so much fun to photograph.  Bear was a really good sport reindeer ears and all.
 Mom and Dad selected a 5x5 Trifold card.   It's easy to see why - there are so many adorable photos of this little boy.  Use your imagination.  Both side panels fold into the center to make a 5x5 square card.  When you open the card the message flap is on the right and a photo is on the left.

 

 

 

This is the inside.  The left and right photos fold in onto the center 4 photos.

Playful Christmas Postcard

I love when my clients select playful images.  Family life can be so hectic and crazy.  It's difficult when taking the photos yourself to get casual images of sweet, family fun.