Fall Family Portrait Promotion

Get Ready for your Lifestyle Family Portrait Session

The traditional family portrait - shot in a studio, with everyone posed in a neat group - is fairly easy to prepare for: pick out some nice clothes, show up on time, maybe bribe the kids with ice cream if they'll stand still for five minutes. The lifestyle family portrait, on the other hand, is a whole different animal. Lifestyle photography is all about spontaneous expressions and natural gestures; a successful lifestyle portrait tells something about the subjects beyond just what they look like. To achieve this, the photographer must help his clients to feel comfortable in front of the camera, and do whatever it takes to inject some life into the photograph.

If you've hired a photographer to make some lifestyle portraits of your family, there are a few things you can do in preparation that will help ensure the session goes smoothly, and that you'll get the amazing, evocative images you're after.

1. Get ready to let go. If you're a parent of young children, you know the stress of bringing the kids into an unfamiliar situation and expecting 'good' behaviour: toddlers and preschoolers tend to want to do their own thing, no matter what you say, and the more you try to force them to comply, the more resistant they'll become. That kind of tension obviously works against the goal of capturing happy, natural looking portraits. I tell my clients to, as best they can, give their children a free pass for the duration of our session together: if they don't feel like being in a picture right now, and would rather run a lap of the field instead, its best to just let them do that - it might turn into a new, unexpectedly awesome photo opportunity!

2. Get in the zone. In my role as a family photographer, I know I only need to have the kids in the right place, with the right expression, for a fraction of a second to make a great image; that image can't happen, though, if the parents are busily trying to manage the kids or are thinking about the supper menu. If mom and dad just concern themselves about looking at the camera and looking great, the photographer can focus on bringing out the best in the kids.

3. Get rid of the cheese. No one looks like they're smiling naturally when they 'say cheese', and not every picture needs a smile. Just be yourself, and let the kids do the same; a good photographer will work with you to get natural expressions before you know it.

4. Get comfortable. While a formal portrait may lend itself to suits and fancy dresses, great lifestyle photography demands that the subjects are comfortable. You might be rolling on the ground, running in a circle, or being leapfrogged over, so its not really a place for the Sunday best. Adults and kids alike should be dressed in clothes that allow easy movement, and that make everyone feel like themselves.

5. Get rid of the logos. Nothing dates an image like having a big logo or phrase on the front of a subject's shirt; further, human nature means a viewer will try to read the words before looking at the expression. If it's at all possible, skip the logos.

Done well, lifestyle portraits capture a child's adorable gesture, biggest smile, pensive glance, and loving embrace. By mentally preparing for a loose, improvisational photo session, you can help your photographer get genuine expressions in situations where your family's unique dynamic can shine through.

www.purplehousephotography.ca

4Cats - Evanston

I am sometimes asked to cover corporate events, and was recently contacted by the lovely owner of 4Cats Arts Studio in Evanston, Sharon Persicke, to cover their grand opening. 4Cats provides really creative art lessons for children and adults, including studying masters like Van Gogh and Andy Warhol, within a super fun space where it's not just ok to get messy, it's encouraged. Here are some of my favourite captures:

www.purplehousephotography.ca

Kristen's Graduation Portraits

Kristen and her family came down from Edmonton a couple of weeks ago to have some graduation portraits made, and we were fortunate enough to score a beautifully sunny evening to shoot on at Baker Park. She brought her elegant and fun, gorgeously green grad dress with her, and her cheery personality really comes through in the images.

This session also happened to be my first since switching over from Canon gear to a Fujifilm system, and I was thrilled with how my X-T1 performed. Without geeking out too much, I'm really pleased with the image quality in the files, and found a number of features specific to this type of camera to be extremely useful. The small size and light weight of the Fuji mirrorless system is ideal for the type of work I do, and I'm excited to continue flexing its muscles in different circumstances.

www.purplehousephotography.ca

Landon Turned One

I had the privilege of making family portraits for the Dalziel family last summer, and was excited to shoot a new session for little Landon's first birthday - especially when southern Alberta's ridiculously snowy spring gave us a window of warmth to show off some grass and allow for short sleeved shirts.
I met up with Anna, Jaxon, and Landon at Strathmore's Kinsmen Park and we ran around and goofed off for a couple hours. What a fun, loving family; here are a few shots from the session:

www.purplehousephotography.ca

Eight Month-old Banner

Each month, I do a few photos with my son Banner, which are always a blast to shoot. He's changing so quickly, but one thing that's always been consistent with this little guy is that he has the most expressive eyebrows I've ever seen on a baby. He turned eight months old yesterday; check out some of the pics:

www.purplehousephotography.ca

Nikki Reimer

Last week I was thrilled to be contacted by acclaimed Calgarian poet Nikki Reimer to make some promotional headshots for her upcoming book tour. Nikki's work is wry, unflinching, and masterfully observant (for more on her writing, including her first book, [sic], click here), and so we were going for a serious but not stuffy tone with the pictures. We met up at her house and did some work both outdoors and inside, using an amazing painting by her mother as a backdrop. It was a privilege to work with her. Here are a few samples:

www.purplehousephotography.ca