There are certainly some things that take a lot of time...fine wine, great cheese, elephant gestation.  You get the idea.  But a great portrait doesn't always take hours and hours.  Some of my best shots come in the first fifteen minutes of a shoot.  Especially when I'm shooting kids.  After about 20 minutes of looking at a crazy lady with a camera, most little ones (and big ones) are over it.  With teenagers, they're over it before it even starts, so if I can promise them they'll be back to texting on their iPhone in 20 minutes, they're a lot more cooperation.

 I've never offered a mini session for this great of a deal.  What can I say, I love fall!  So if you've been wanting to do family portraits but you didn't have the time, jump on these sessions.  I've made it even easier by creating a sign up for you.  CLICK HERE: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090449AAA92AA57-fall

Pizza Night!!

Every family has their own set of traditions.  There are the big ones; turkey for Thanksgiving (maybe ham), presents on Christmas Eve, presents on Christmas Day, does Santa wrap his presents or not.  For the record, we're fried turkey at Grandpa's house, presents on Christmas morning and Santa doesn't wrap at our house.  :)

But we've got tons of little traditions, too.  LIke every Friday being Pizza Night!  Sometimes we make our own (ala the photo above), sometimes we try a new pizza place we've never been to before.  But no matter what, Friday means pizza.  It's not really a big deal, but we make it a big deal.

It's our family "thing" and I think those little "things" are pretty important.  In a world that has become increasingly narcissistic with Facebook, Twitter and every other social media outlet, these little family traditions are about WE not I.  It's that valuable oneness that's pretty unique to family.  

Sure, it's just pizza, but to our family it's a whole lot more.  What are your little family traditions?   

 I wear many hats.  Homeschooling mom, photographer, wife, fitness instructor...but today, I'm going to help mamarazzi's avoid one of the biggest mistakes when taking pictures of their kiddos.  

  If you've visited my website or my facebook page, then you'll notice that I photograph a lot of kids.  In fact, they're my favorite subject to photograph.  Yet one of my biggest challenges is overcoming the "cheese" face. No matter where I go, I usually see at least one mom or dad, belligerently demanding that their child say "cheeeeeeeeeeeese" and look directly into their camera or iPhone.  Every time I witness the child comply and make the most pained, fake smile, I cringe.  How we've all been brow beaten into doing something so ineffective just baffles me.  Before I knew what I was doing, I demanded my kids say cheese, too.  What gives?

  A long time ago, someone noticed that emulating the "eee" sound with the mouth produces a lift in the edges of the mouth; a pseudo-smile.  Notice that I said "emulating" not "making" the "eee" sound.  (Dang, that was a lot of quotations!)  Most people don't know how to pose their faces which is why catalog models get paid to smile professionally.  For all the normal people out there, a real deal smile is the way to go.  Actually saying cheese doesn't create a smile.  It creates kids who hate to have their photo taken and parents who get really frustrated when their kids pictures look bad.   You'll never get a real smile out of a kid, or an adult for that matter, by saying cheese.

 So what's the ls the solution, you ask?  (You did ask, right?)  Talk to your kids!  Ask them about funny stuff in their lives.  Tell them dumb jokes. Make inappropriate noises (you know what I'm talking about).  And if they don't look at you, who cares?  Some great shots are made when a kid is happily playing and not looking at the camera.  So do yourself (and me, when I'm shooting your kids) a favor and never teach them to say "cheeeeeeeeese".  You'll be so glad that you did!