Do you still do holiday cards to friends and family? Do you still do family photos every year? What these last few months have taught me, and hopefully the rest of us. Time is valuable, your family comes first, and if we have any more massive closures the Holiday’s are going to be ROUGH!!! So with that said, I would encourage all of you to take time to book early and plan ahead for your family portraits! This way, you can check that off your list, and it makes for GREAT holiday gifts!
Anne contacted me, and said we would like to do our Family Portraits early! Woot Woot! The golden hour is still pretty do-able this time of year and the weather is very cooperative! Anne and I did a little back and forth of ideas for locations and landed on a location with a barn. I have a few contacts with my Wedding vendors and asked if I could come out to their location, and got a YES! So, we have a date, time and now a location ~ which can be half the battle!
When I arrive at a location I like to scope it out and get the run down if at all possible. We decided on River Bell Farms in Jefferson Oregon. If you have ever been out there for a wedding you will be so amazed at their facilities. If you are looking for a wedding venue, I would HIGHLY recommend them! It is a working farm, but they have the most beautiful RED BARN! It is breath taking when you pull into the drive way. They have areas decorated around their property with lots of lights (Edison lights my favorite by the way). You will see in some of the pictures how many different locations they have to choose from!
Have you ever read the book How to Win Friends & Influence people by Dale Carnegie? Once of his famous quotes and greatest quotes “there is no sweeter sound than one’s name” One of the things I do try to do is call people by their name, oh that easy you say!? Well as a photographer, you are also thinking of locations, settings, sunny, shaded, poses, so then when you also try to add names in there sometimes is a little challenging. So, I often have to do a little game with my brain, and come up with things that help me remember peoples names. Like: Peter Parker, Derek Jeeter, you get the point. When the Olsen’s introduced them selves, I thought oh no, I am never going to get this~ 5 kids and 2 adults. Anne, I had already been chatting with, so her name was in my brain, then she told me the kids go in order A,B,C,D,E ~ Hey, that makes it easier ~ well poor Beck, one of my son’s buddy’s name is Brock, I think he was Brock all evening. So I gave it the college try and I think I had them all down by the end of the shoot.
If you are planning to schedule family portraits, I would highly suggest, checking out my Pinterest board “What to wear for photoshoots” there are some great links, color schemes, clothing ideas, and more. I would recommend sticking to a more neutral color scheme that way the camera shows you off, not your wardrobe. You don’t want to look at the photos in 5-7 years (that maybe still hanging on the wall) and say “oh why did I wear that?!” You know we have all done that! Picking 2-3 colors to incorporate into the mix are about right, any more than this and you have a fruit salad (very colorful!). Anne did a great job getting seven people to be coordinated for their family photos, you will have to go over to my webpage and check it out!
Since we are in uncertain times, it’s best to book your family portraits early and lets get them done, we can socially distance and have fun doing it!
