Alaskan winters are LONG and HARSH and it is around this time of the year when we are all just done, well I will speak for myself- I am DONE! The Mann Leiser Memorial Greenhouse is just gorgeous and WARM and it reinvigorated my inspiration for creativity when everything is pretty dull outside right now! Don't get me wrong, winter shoots can be and are gorgeous in there own way but if you are looking for a little warmth, I would LOVE to do a shoot with you at the Greenhouse!
This photoshoot was a Christmas gift to the matriarch of the family, since she is the family member always taking the photos but never in any of them....sound familiar?! I thought that was such thoughtful & beautiful thing to gift her! Its priceless and something she will cherish forever!
There was so much love between all of these family members-it made my job really easy to capture them showering each other with it. As a daughter, sister, wife, mother and photographer, I see the importance of documenting these precious people in your lives. If you have not done it yet, DO IT! You will not regret it.
It was a cold, but beautiful foggy winter day at Taku Lake in Anchorage, Alaska...the scenery couldn't have been more perfect for an extended family photo shoot! Although we only had about 20 minutes, we made the most of our time and captured some lasting memories for this fun family!!
How To Prepare For Your Outdoor Family Photoshoot
Outdoor shoots create more natural looking photos, and they can be a refreshing change from a studio shoot. There’s always a bit of excitement and adventure when families travel to their favorite weekend or vacation spot, and it creates something much more special than a studio shoot.
Before the day of the shoot, the photographer will usually ask questions about time of day, shoot location, style and other preferences you and your family may have. Be sure to discuss any ideas or visions you have for your shoot with your photographer well in advance.
Here are a few tips to help you prepare for your outdoor family photoshoot:
Purpose
What is the purpose of the photoshoot? Yearly family photos? A birthday, graduation or anniversary? Or are you just looking for a special portrait to hang on your wall? Whatever the occasion, make sure you inform the photographer of the purpose of the shoot, so he or she can prepare appropriately. Think about any props you may want to use, like balloons, flowers, chairs, signs, etc. You can also get ideas by searching online for “outdoor family photo shoot ideas”, and then make sure you share these ideas with your photographer in advance.
Time
Photographers may give you time slots to choose from, or they may ask you what time of day you’d prefer. The hour after sunrise and before sunset is called the “Golden Hour”, and it’s considered ideal for shooting because the sunlight is softer. This can make your photos more attractive, so think about whether or not you’d like to shoot around these times. Make sure the time slot works for all of your family members. This can be a bit trickier if you’ve got a large group, including grandparents, aunts and uncles. It’s important to plan on arriving early to the location, especially if you’ve never been there before. Make sure you allow enough time for hair and makeup, either before or after your arrival. Lastly, give your photographer enough time to set-up and do test shots to adjust his or her camera settings to the outdoor lighting.
Style
Depending on the purpose of the shoot, you may need to hire a hair and makeup artist or get some of your friends to do it. For family photoshoots in broad daylight, natural makeup is ideal, while photoshoots done in low light may need heavier makeup coverage. Think about what everyone will wear, and give yourself enough time to purchase any items you may not have. Make sure you take everyone’s style tastes into account so everyone feels comfortable and happy during the shoot. And sometimes allowing little ones to wear their favorite piece of clothing, like a tutu or cowboy boots they’ve worn everyday for the last six months, can make for a sweet photo and a great memory years from now.
Posing
This is sometimes the trickiest part in every family photoshoot---smiling for the camera, giving big hugs, and making sure everyone looks happy and natural during the photoshoot. Your photographer will have lots of pose suggestions for you, but if you want a particular pose or look, be sure to let your photographer know in advance. It’s a good idea to let the children go first in the photoshoot because of their short attention span. After the children, let the grandparents and pregnant women go next. It’s also a good idea to bring a bag with children’s toys, snacks, medications and any other items needed by each member of the family.
Patience
Some shots need time to compose and even more time to edit, so a lot of patience is needed for your family to get the perfect outdoor family portraits. Although the photoshoot may only take an hour or so, editing the raw photos can be a long and grueling process. Give your photographer a couple of weeks to get the finished product to you.
Katie Conlon is a young freelance writer who recently graduated from a university filmmaking program. She manages the blog and social media program for video equipment maker ProAm USA. When not on her laptop, Katie can be found snapping images of friends and family, or hiking outdoors with her beloved dog Turner.
Last call for my Fine Art Holiday Photos this Sunday, December 3rd! I still have a few openings, contact me if interested! Only $20 to reserve a spot for the entire family It will only take about 15 minutes and you will get beautiful, timeless images of your kiddos!!
This little guy was less than two weeks old and although I just had a baby 5 months ago, he totally gave me baby fever!! He is one lucky lil guy, with some adoring parents and big sister- who wasn't quite sure about sharing him yet, but could be easily bribed with some chocolate chips! :) His dog siblings tried to steal the show the entire shoot as well! :) Bring me ALLLL the newborn lifestyle shoots, I am in love with documenting them!
I had so much fun with this family! The main thing that they wanted me to capture was the Alaskan spirit that surrounds us so that when they move, they will have some memories of this gorgeous state that we live in! We met at McHugh Creek and even though it was mid October, the fall beauty was everywhere! The bond between the four of them was so sweet!
This was one of the last shoots I had before the snow fell, and I couldn't have been happier with the colors that were still lingering around the mountains up at Flattop. I loved photographing this family, they are a hockey family-both the boys play and the dad a former Pro, not to mention Slade, the older brother is a budding videographer, so we had lots to chat about! :) It was so lovely to see how much these boys still adored their mama, even being older...it was way too sweet, not to mention the way their dad looked at her. I mean, well look at her, it's not hard!! Congrats to Slade, who will be graduating this year from Service High!
It was a glorious Autumn day at Reflection Lake when I met up with this adorable family! I had an amazing time just capturing them loving on each other, playing with their energetic and hilarious dogs and throwing rocks into the lake!
I have known Ashlee for a long time... we used to work together way back in the day, so I was very excited when she asked me to capture one of the most important days of her life! To say she was the coolest bride is an understatement, the exact type of bride that I love to capture-fun easy going and down for anything! There were so many people around her loving her, supporting her and making her feel like the most beautiful bride in the world, which I how it should be.
Getting ready for the big day!
The groom and his men
Heading down for the first look
Getting ready to walk down the isle
Family
bridal party & reception fun
The dances
old friends and family
the beautiful bride
cutting of the cake
It's hard to tell, but it was raining hard before this shoot. Luckily, this family was adventurous and literally right after we decided to tough out the weather and go for it, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was the most beautiful night, no wind, no rain, gorgeous light and a lovely family!
I have been photographing the Davis Family for around 6 years now I think? It's been crazy to see these kids grow up right before my eyes, and I've absolutely loved being able to capture them all these years! This year they added a new addition to the family-their beloved little pug Pup! I have pugs as well, so I was cracking up at him the entire shoot...they are hilarious little dogs. We were lucky enough to have a break in the rainy weather at the Eagle River Nature Center and got some gorgeous views of the mountains!
I met the Wood Family at Reflections Lake on probably one of the nicest and hottest days of the summer, I am talking 80 degrees - Alaskan heatwave!
Photographing families like these are what makes my heart sing as a photographer... being able to capture these loving and fun-filled candid moments are what make my job so amazing!
I have been photographing this family for a few years now and I absolutely love watching these kids grow up, they are all as sweet as they look!
I feel so lucky to have a job where I get to capture the love and connections between such amazing families!
We skipped a month in this project, so getting back to videoing was so freeing for me! This month's project was free choice of anything we wanted to video of one second clips. I was lucky enough to be able to document my kids and their cousins loving life down on the beach in Ninilchik...something I had been wanting to do for some time now! I had my newborn strapped to me, so creativity was limited, but I am still happy with what I was able to capture!
There is so much talent in this group, go over and check out the super talented, Amber Walder and check out her beautiful video!
I have had a lot of people ask me where I got these square prints from on my wall, so I decided to blog about them!
I literally have about a zillion images on my computer of my kids and was getting sick of them just taking up hard drive space. I love seeing my family in print on my wall, but know how expensive that can get-and then when you throw in frames, canvases, albums, etc...it only adds to the expense.
I don't always want to frame every image I take, and was trying to think of a unique and cost effective way of displaying them. After doing a lot of research, I came across Artifact Uprising and their awesome square prints that I absolutely love AND they start at $14 for 25 prints, what is better than that?! They come in different sizes, are thick and have a matte finish-which look really good as a stand alone print. I prefer matte over glossy anyways, it just has more of a finished, refined look than glossy does in my opinion.
Here is one way to display the square prints, but there are a bunch of other ways you can display them as well. I always love turning to Pinterest for inspiration- type in 'display square prints' and bam! there you go! Inspiration for days!
I hope this helps in giving you ideas on how to get those images off of your computer and onto your walls in a fun and fresh way!
"Family is...
The people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are, love you no matter what and would do anything to see you smile"
Potters Marsh
Exploring on the boardwalk
the treehouse park
Dandelions for mommy
I had an amazing time capturing this family simply just spending some quality family time together doing some of their favorite activities-baking, art and snuggling! It's the little moments in life that are so important to document!!
