It’s time for portraits and senior sessions!!!
April and May are great months for outside portraits. Let’s get you booked now!
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Tag: Family Portraits
A Few of My Favs from 2015
2015 was a great year!
Here’s to 2016! Call now to book your date!
This! What Ben Chrisman says so perfectly!
Guest Tip – Ben Chrisman on the Importance of Print
A few years ago we asked past brides what they ever did with their wedding photographs. We weren’t selling many albums then, but were giving the high-resolution files away. Almost every single bride told us their photos were just sitting on the disc in a drawer because they were just too busy and overwhelmed to even make 4×6 inch prints. At that point, Erin and I decided we needed to change things for the benefit of everyone.
After you get married, life changes fast. You buy a house, you have kids, you move up the ladder at your job. And your wedding day you planned for so long suddenly begins to slowly fade from memory. And the technology used to store those memories becomes undependable or even obsolete. So to help reverse that worry, for them and for their families, we decided to start including an album for every wedding. We didn’t raise our prices, but we took out the high-resolution files.
All of a sudden, giving a tangible product made so much more sense. We were providing our clients a lasting memory of their wedding, and also ensuring their children and grandchildren would be able to feel what the wedding day felt like 50 years from now.
And we finally became a full-service business that took care of people start to finish, which has made us extremely proud of what we do.
…we finally became a full service business that took care of people from start to finish.
It also gives justification for our prices because we know what we are doing will have even greater value to our clients than they could ever imagine at the time of booking us.
A few weeks ago, we received the sad news that a groom from last year was losing his mother to cancer.A few weeks ago, we received the sad news that a groom from last year was losing his mother to cancer.
We just couldn’t believe the young, beautiful lady we watched on the dance floor was already being moved into Hospice Care. We had, just a couple months earlier, made both sets of parents their own album, and the bride wrote us to tell us how important that book had become to her mother-in-law. She wrote to us: “She absolutely adores her album and shows it to everyone who has visited, even today in the last days/hours with her, she asked to see the album and your photos. So thank you so much for creating it and for capturing so many moments for us that we’ll cherish more than we ever knew at that time.”
I now realize that if you don’t give your clients an album, you’re not really doing your job as a wedding photographer. Technology trends come and go faster than ever. But a wedding album is going to last. And so will the photographs you put all your heart into making for the families who choose you as their photographer. As artists, we all want to see our photographs printed. And we all want our photographs to be looked at forever. We have the ability to do both, and everyone will be better off because we took the initiative to make that happen.
So do yourselves a favor, and most importantly, do your clients a favor and give them something they may not fully appreciate now, but definitely will once life kicks into full gear right after the honeymoon ends. There is something magical about looking at a book of photographs. And it’s an honor to make one for every single wedding we are asked to document.
~ Ben Chrisman, Chrisman Studios
Just a few of my Favs
Just moving August images into archives and I thought I’d share a few of my favorite images from last month.
Enjoy!
That was one hot morning! But the girls were so patient and gracious with their smiles.
What a sweet elopement this was. Were we outside the Faust Park with Carolyn Burke, the Elopement Connoisseur.
Mark is a Senior this year! First time I photographed Mark, it was for his bar mitzvah, he wore his pet snake around his neck!
Cover image for the Clayton Chamber Ensemble program at this year’s Midwest Clinic in Chicago. I can’t wait to see/hear them perform!
Sammy! You made me smile from the first time I met you!
I met Sammy when he was 8, 9 or 10, oh, I can’t remember exactly. But I remember he was full of energy and driving his mother crazy. You see it was his brother’s bar mitzvah day and Sammy was having nothing to do with family pictures. In fact I believe his exact words were “NO, NO, NO”. And he meant it. After letting Sammy take a few pics with my “big fancy camera”, he warmed up to me and actually let me make some images of him with the family. He was cutting up and just making me laugh. He simply kept me entertained the whole night. Every time I’d see him after that, I would say to myself…”I love that kid”! So you can imagine how happy I was when his mother ask me to photograph his bar mitzvah, and even happier to have his mom call me for his senior portraits too. And yep, I’m holding out for his wedding (though he need not be in a rush!).
Here are a few pics from Sammy’s Senior session.
Spring Time
I kicked off spring with two bar mitzvahs in the month of March. Mitzvahs are one of my favorite simchas to photograph…and no it’s not because I get to go to Demolition Ball, well OK, maybe just a little. One of the great things about Ethan’s bar mitzvah is I got to spend time with his family again. Talk about three awesome kids! We were at B’nai Amoona on Friday morning for the formals and then off to Demolition Ball on Saturday for his party. We had a a blast…check out a few of his pics.
Later in March I went to CRC for Ryan’s bar mitzvah. I photographed his formals before the service, capturing a lot of wonderful images of the family. They were so easy to work with; big smiles from everyone, including his great Grandma (she doesn’t even look old enough to be a great grandma)! I truly enjoyed getting to know Ryan and his family. Ryan had his party at Westbrook Country Club where I got to work with my favorite DJ, Rick Paul. The kids had a great time too! Here are some of Ryan’s images.
Do you have a special event? Contact me, I want to be your photographer.
My trip home…
I just got back from visiting home. I was able to see my family and have a great birthday celebration! It was like a small family reunion with cousins I hadn’t seen in a long time and my great aunt and uncle, who are in their late 80’s and 90’s and still enjoying life and of course our favorite pizza…Sir Pizza!
While I was home I got to squeeze in a portrait session in the Raleigh Durham area. Hannah was so much fun. She is one happy little girl. She woke up ready to smile for the camera. She loved seeing her images on the back of the camera too. I was going to share a few of my favorite images but I couldn’t choose just one or two so I made you a slideshow instead. Enjoy!
If you or anyone you know needs a photographer in the North Carolina, please share my information with them.
Senior Portrait Session
I couldn’t believe it when Laurie emailed me and asked if I could photograph Rachel’s senior portrait…when did that happen? It seems like just yesterday I photographed her bat mitzvah. We decided to meet at Faust Park. And well, it was one of the hottest days of the year. While I was sweating bullets, Rachel was calm and cool. She made my job easy with her posing and smiles…and her fun ideas of course. Since Rachel plays the Viola, she brought it along too. Now that I think about it, I should have had her play me a song or two.
Enjoy the images of Rachel’s and stay tuned for the other Berwald sisters, they will be coming close behind.
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Family Portraits
Remember when I photographed Sam’s homecoming? Can you believe that was almost 2 months ago?
Well the Bergson’s had another big weekend. Sam got baptized at The Gathering over the weekend. It seems only fitting that his whole family would come. He had his grandparents and an aunt and an uncle come for his big day. We all got together Saturday morning (the hottest day of the summer so far) in Lafayette Square Park and we created some family portraits while everyone was in town.
Both Sam and small Paul did great, even though a picture day was not their idea of fun. We made it as quick and painless as possible, and had a little fun too.
Enjoy a few from the session.
Are you looking for a family photographer? Contact me! I want to be your photographer!
Sam comes home
Rebecca and Mac have been waiting to bring Sam home for 2 years. May 31 was finally that day. Mac stayed in St. Louis with small Paul, whom they adopted earlier in 2011, while Rebecca and her mother, Sungja went to Seoul to bring Sam home. It was a long busy 2 weeks but for the Bergson family, well worth it. Many friends, Linda, a minister from The Gathering and me, their photographer got to the airport early so we could see them coming through the corridor. There were signs and lots of “welcome home” shouts and a few tears of joy too; I was so excited to be there to capture such a special moment! What a special, wonderful and happy family!
Enjoy a few of the photographs I captured.
If you have a special event you need captured, contact me. I want to share with you, your special moments!
Fine Art Photographic Pet Portraits by Kristi Foster Photography, Inc. 