Orlando Maternity Photographer | Waiting on Baby Girl

Catching up on blogging and reminiscing about one of my favorite maternity sessions ever from last fall.

I just loved everything about these two — and had a blast photographing mama and her growing belly in this beautiful nook in Oviedo.

The light was perfect, the people were perfect. What more could I ask for?

Are you expecting? I’d love to tell the story of your growing family! I offer maternity, newborn and milestone sessions. Contact me today to learn more about my newborn photography collections! I travel around Central Florida — to areas including Oviedo, Winter Park, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, Orlando and beyond!

Orlando Newborn Photographer | Lifestyle Session for Sweet Baby Teagan

Sweet baby girl Teagan is on the blog today. How beautiful is her nursery? This is the stuff lifestyle newborn photographers dream of!

Orlando Baby Photographer | Ryan's 3 Month Photos

Think you missed that sweet spot for newborn photos? Think again! Ashley knew she wanted me to be the one to take baby Ryan’s first photos, but she lived out of state! She didn’t make her first trip to Orlando until Ryan was around 3 months old. When she asked me if was possible to do Ryan’s “newborn” photoshoot at her mom’s house when she was visiting I didn’t even hesitate.

Candid, lifestyle photography is all about capturing the natural beauty in everyday, so that’s exactly what I did. And I just LOVE how they turned out. We even got a few shots of Ashley’s oldest child — her fur baby!

This little one just celebrated his first birthday, and I can’t wait for him to come back to Orlando to visit so I can get some updated shots of him!

So, if you think you’ve missed that golden opportunity to have professional photographs of your new baby, consider an unposed photoshoot of your new little one in your own home. Contact me to learn more about my newborn collection.

Orlando Newborn Photographer | Welcome Baby Brother

I’ve known this little baby’s mother since high school, and it always brings a smile to my face when she picks me to be her family photographer.

Over the years, I’ve photographed her family many times, so I wasn’t surprised when she asked me to capture the story of baby Jack in their home in Clermont, Florida back in February of 2018 (see previous post — I am a bit behind on blogging haha).

I loved all of the images from this candid, in-home newborn photography session. Here are a few of my favorites.

Are you expecting? I’d love to tell the story of your growing family! I offer maternity, newborn and milestone sessions. Contact me today to learn more about my newborn photography collections! I travel around Central Florida — to areas including Oviedo, Winter Park, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, Orlando and beyond!

Welcome Baby Jack | Orlando Newborn Photographer

Today, baby Jack is on the blog. You may recognize this little guy from previous shares on my social media channels from almost one year ago. Yep, you read that right. Let’s just say 2018 was not the year of blogging. But, I’m determined to catch up on sharing all of the goodness from my 2018 newborns and families, and to be better about timely blogging in 2019. So, let’s do a little throwback Thursday and reminisce about this cutie pie’s in-home lifestyle newborn session.

Often times, I get asked “how old is too old for newborn photos?”. While posed photos of newborns usually must be taken within the baby’s first 14 days of life, my in-home lifestyle approach to photography allows me to capture your new baby’s story well beyond this typical two-week window.

I love to incorporate all of the details of the baby’s sweet nursery mama has spent so much time on, and of course include big brother or big sister and fur babies too!

Jack’s mama, who is also a professional photographer, knew that with my style of photography it was no problem that she waited until Jack was around 3 months old for his photoshoot. The extra time allowed her to look feel more like herself after birthing a new child, and allowed big sister to adjust to her new special role.

It was such a fun-filled family session with lots of giggles and love.

So, if you think you’ve missed that golden opportunity to have professional photographs of your new baby, consider an unposed photoshoot of your new little one in your own home. Contact me to learn more about my newborn collection.

Tips and “tricks” (like what I did there?) for documenting Halloween

Around this time last year, I was receiving countless messages from friends begging for some quick and simple pointers for photographing Halloween. I pulled together this blog post using images from several years back. Writing this last year just before trick-or-treat time really made me bummed out that I didn’t pull my camera out for Halloween 2016, but it was just the motivation I needed to make sure that I documented our 2017 quest for candy.  

I received such good feedback on that post I shared last year, that I decided to write another for this year. So, I give you “Tips for photographing your Halloween like a pro (take two).” If you are shooting in Manual mode (which I highly recommend), pay special attention to the image captions — because that’s where I’m going to share my reasoning for selecting the settings I chose.

OK — so first. The most important tip (that is a repeater from last year) but I cannot stress this enough. The light, y’all. Pay attention to the light. Plan to take your pictures when the natural light is soft and pretty. There is this magical hour photographers refer to as “golden hour” and it begins the hour before sunset. If you’re local to Oviedo, the sun is going to set at 6:40 p.m. this year (thank you, Google) so I plan to head out around 5:45 and spend the first hour or so focusing on getting some adorable pictures.

I’ll start with some traditional portraits (because we all know once the kids start running loose to collect all the candy stopping for a portrait is a long-shot).

Camera Settings: ISO 400, f/2.8, SS 1/1,000. I generally start shooting at ISO 400 outdoors during golden hour. I could have certainly gone lower, but I like to have some wiggle room with my shutter speed since I’m photographing kids, and my camera handles noise very well so I know 400 is a good starting point for me.

My aperture selection of 2.8 here was intentional because I wanted to blur out my background a bit and really have the focus on madison. I knew since i was up close, I didn’t want to shoot too wide open (my lens here goes to 1.4) because if she or I moved a bit, I might have missed focus on her beautiful eyes.

My selection of 2.8 was just a safe aperture where I knew I was likely going to nail focus and still achieve some blur in the background. I selected my ISO and aperture first, and The shutter speed here is just where I needed to put it to expose this image properly.

also i’m not yelling at you. Photo captions only show up in all caps. Ugh. Squarespace…

Once I get those out of the way with, we begin our trick-or-treating. From this point on, I’ll transition to the “fly-on-the-wall” approach and just let the kids enjoy running door-to-door. I don’t ask the kids to smile for the camera anymore but I might guide them with some basic prompts that will help my ability to tell stories through my lens.

Camera settings: ISO 1,250, f/2.2, SS 1/250.

You can tell, compared to the shot above, that my ISO changed significantly. That’s because it was getting darker. Since I was losing light, I had to crank up my ISO. I’ve you’ve gone through my mentoring classes you know I had two other choices — open up my aperture or lower my shutter speed — but I chose to raise my ISO because I didn’t want to risk ending up with an out-of-focus image or an image with motion blur.

So, I set my shutter speed here to 1/250 first. I knew i wanted it over 1/200 since madison was moving. Once I got my shutter speed as low as I would allow it, I adjusted my aperture a little to let more light in — but that wasn’t enough. So, I cranked my ISO as high as I needed to until I ended up with a properly exposed image.

Some questions I might ask are:

• Show me the candy you just got at that house! (Here, I would take a picture of just the candy in their hands.)

• Can you hold your sister’s hand so she doesn’t get scared? (I would take a picture of the girls holding hands walking down the sidewalk or toward a front door.)

• I think that house might almost be out of candy! Run toward the door! (Here, I would aim to capture the motion of running.)

• Do you see any Snickers in that bowl of candy? (This makes their little hands pause a bit and might possibly give me the opportunity to take a picture of hands in a bucket of candy.)

In the image below, I let Maddie walk toward the door, but I stayed behind to capture the scene. I just love how I got a lucky moment of no other children in the frame. I tend to over-shoot and take a lot of pictures of the same scene. I like having many options before selecting “the one.” And, the reason why I selected this one is because I love how she’s in the final third of the frame, and how she is between the two columns of bricks. I also loved how she was holding her dress up, like the princess she is.

Camera settings: ISO 1,250,F/2.2, sS 1/250

Here, my settings are exactly the same as the above shot — and that’s because this was taken minutes after the other. The light didn’t change much, and I was already prepared for movement with my 1/250 shutter speed — so I left my camera as is and kept on clicking.

This was un-prompted, but the kids were so excited to go door-to-door that they were literally running from house-to-house. This was a memory I didn’t want to forget, so of course I took a picture.

Camera settings: ISO 2,000, F/2.0, SS/ 1/400

What changed here? Now, she is running. And she’s running fast. So, I need a higher shutter speed to freeze the movement. Because I cranked up my shutter speed (blocked light), I also had to crank up my ISO to let some light back in.

With documentary photography, my personal opinion is that there is a lot of waiting for the “right” moment. I took several pictures last year of the kids at various doors, but this shot was the one I had been going for. Where the entire group was huddled together at the same door, waiting for someone to open it and greet them with candy. If you’re patient, the frame-worthy moments will happen. You just need to wait for them, and be ready!

Camera settings: ISO 3,200, F/2.2, SS 1/400

And, it’s getting darker. so my iso is going up. looking back on this, I could have lowered my shutter speed here — because they’re pretty much standing still at the door and then that would have allowed me to lower my ISO — but I know my camera handles high ISO well so I didn’t bother.

I believe this was shot using one of the prompts above. I probably asked Madison to see if they had any Snickers for mommy.

Camera settings: ISO 3,200, F/2.0, SS 1/125

Yikes, it is getting darker. so here, I chose to lower my shutter speed instead of raising my ISO more. As you can see, I’m very low at 1/125, and this is usually a signal to me that there isn’t enough light left and I’m minutes from putting my camera away for the night.

This is one of my favorite shots from 2017. The light wasn’t ideal (because, it was almost gone) but I just LOVED that this home had a smoke machine going and I knew it would make for some awesome spooky pictures. Sometimes, you just need to take the shot even if you don’t know how it will come out. You may surprise yourself.

Camera settings: ISO 6,400, F/2.0, SS 1/125

But, when I saw this set up, I couldn’t put the camera down yet. I don’t dare lower my shutter speed below 1/125, so up the ISO goes.

Don’t forget to take pictures of the details, too! On Halloween, you’re bound to find cool decorations with spooky effects. I was loving this neighbor’s set up, and the way the smoke photographed.

Camera settings: ISO 6,400, F/ 2.0, SS 1/125

And this was the final shot of the evening. Don’t forget the details!

Once it gets dark, I pretty much put the camera away and just enjoy the moments. I think it’s super important to find balance between documenting those special occasions but also actually being present as well.

I hope this was helpful. For more tips, check out last year’s post here.  

Orlando Family Photographer | C Family in Oviedo

Fall family sessions are in full swing — and I just delivered this family’s gallery of photographs. I know I’ve been slacking on the blogging, but a session like this was just the motivation I needed to get back to it.

Telling you I loved everything about this shoot would be an understatement. Words can’t even express how much I enjoyed hanging out with this adorable family of four last weekend in central Florida. As you can see, the two little boys are the cutest — and mom and dad are some of the most beautiful (inside and out) people I know. And, y’all, they drove all the way from Tampa to meet me in Oviedo. From the mouth of of the girl who thinks driving anyway farther than 15 minutes is “so far away,” that meant a lot!

I sent mom the pin of the location I selected for our time together. When she pulled into the empty grass parking lot, she had commented about how this space was pretty basic — and not in a negative way at all, she was just making an observation and said it with a laugh. She trusted me, and she knew I knew what I was doing, but her comment really stuck with me, because so often clients (and photographers) search for these elaborate spots to shoot and, in my opinion, it’s just not necessary. All I need is some grass and trees, space for kids to run and play, and some golden light of course.

So, warning to future clients — I may ask you to meet me in an empty parking lot, or at a gas station, or at any other random place I find. But, I assure you, I have a vision and I have an eye for light. I location scout every time I’m on the road, or going for a walk — always thinking in my head if that run-down lot of nothing would be a good space for golden hour photos, or sunrise photos, etc.

And, if I do say so myself, this spot I’ve been eyeing for a while was pure perfection. And so was this family. I’m so thankful they chose me to take their family photos this year, and hope I get the opportunity to document these boys growing as the years pass.

Beautiful Belly Session | Orlando Maternity Photographer

A couple of weeks ago, I met Kim and John at my favorite field in central Florida (Oviedo) to capture the story of their growing family.

It won’t be too much longer until this stunning couple welcomes their first baby – a girl –  into the world, and I’m so glad they chose me to document some of the last moments of it being just the two of them.

I’ve been shooting a lot more maternity sessions lately, and I have to admit – I’m totally in love. It’s not because I take a different approach when shooting – I actually shoot a maternity session as either a standard couples session or a family session (if there are any older siblings) and just be sure to put some extra emphasis on the bump. There is something so special about the connection of a mom and dad waiting for a baby to arrive, and Kim and John’s connection really came through in these images. I can just feel the love they have for each other and bond that they share.

Only another month or so until I get to photograph part two of this Belly and Baby Collection. I cannot wait to get some amazing shots of these two holding their baby girl in their arms.

If you’re expecting, I’d love to hear from you, too! I offer maternity, fresh 48 and in-home newborn sessions. CONTACT ME to learn about my availability. 

Waiting for Baby Brother | Orlando Family Photographer

The end of 2017 was so incredibly busy. I spent time with so many amazing families capturing lots of play, giggles and love.  I'm always hesitant to blog full sessions around the holidays in fear of possibly spoiling a card, but I just cannot keep all of the cuteness to myself. So, over the next couple of weeks (well, this may take months because I had so many sessions) I'm going to be sharing a little blast from the past. 

First up, is this adorable family of three, well, technically four. They drove all the way from Clermont to hang out with me in Oviedo so I can finally take their family pictures!

Jessica and I have known each other since high school, and we both went to the University of Central Florida as well,  but we really reconnected once we were both pregnant back in 2014. Harper (her ADORABLE doll) and Kenzie (mine <3) are both three years old. I wish we lived closer so the girls can play more, but when we do get them together they always have a blast. 

So, if you have a three year old, you know these tiny little humans are full of love but so unpredictable. Especially when a camera is thrown in their face. I actually am a bit of an odd ball when it comes to photographing "threenagers" because I absolutely love it! Yes, it can be challenging but I truly find it to be so much fun. I know how stressful it can be for the parents, too. After all, they've just invested their hard-earned money into these pictures, and the last thing they want is for their child to scream the entire time or just not cooperate at all. 

While I don't claim to have any "secrets," it's been said time and time again how amazing I am when it comes to interacting with the children of my clients. I think it's because I approach them in a playful manner, and sneak a few pictures in between.  Eventually, they tire out and sit still enough for that traditional portrait, but the playful in between shots of the laughing and running and just being crazy are always my favorite. 

Since Jessica is pregnant I made sure to put a focus on her sweet little baby bump in this session too. We got some stand-alone portraits of her and her belly, and of course a few shots of her and her husband as well. 

Later today, I'm heading to her baby shower and I have a feeling she's going to love her gift(s). Speaking of gifts, did you know I offer gift certificates?? They make wonderful baby shower gifts for expecting mamas! 

Well, enough of the words. Let's look at all of the beautiful images. I can't wait until it's time for newborn photos!

If you’re expecting, I’d love to hear from you, too! I offer family (in-home and outdoors), maternity, fresh 48 and in-home newborn sessions.

CONTACT ME to learn about my availability.