Weekly Challenge | Pairs

This week's guest judges were the lovely ladies from Oh Snap Magazine.   What a difficult challenge pairs ended up being!  So many gorgeous pairs!  

Oh Snap Magazine chose Katy Tuttle Photography as the winner, almost unanimously. This image is stunning.  Congratulations!

and our top ten in alphabetical order.

Alana Harris Photography

Ashley Duquette Photography

Hulahoop Photography

Mandy Gillispie Photography

Misty DeBlasio

olive gray Photography

 .Robyn S Russell Photography

Sandra Bianco Photography

Sheila Spencer

The Sleeping Willow

Top Eleven grab your badges (.png file) to display on your websites, blogs or fb pages.  

And now for our next theme,  Oh Snap Magazine chose Spark!  Post your Spark photos on our wall by next Saturday night and check back Sunday to see if you were chosen.  www.facebook.com/lovephotographsbeautifully

Spark by Sterling Life Photography

Vendor Spotlight | Polka Dot Bungalow

 One of our missions here at LPB is to support some of the awesome vendors who provide photographers with amazing goods and services, so we will be featuring great vendors once a week.  And click here to see our Magic Hour Foundation Camera Bag Winner. Congrats to the winner, email me here with your address!

This week's vendor has the prettiest custom camera straps with lens cap holders.  OMG.  I wish I had one of these when I lost four 50mm lenscaps in a month.    That is almost 10 dollars a cap with shipping.  EEeeek.   

A little from Polka Dot Bungalow.

Looking for a way to dress up that boring, black strap that hooks itself to a world of art? You have found it…lovely camera straps, camera strap covers and props. Polka Dot Bungalow was established in 2009 and has blossomed into a photographers {amateur or professional} ambiance . When wearing one of these lovelies, I want you to feel pretty and to do that I aim to keep style and a love for design as the focal point when creating…Go make memories with class!  

 If a custom design is requested to match a color or branding, we are happy to dream up a product just for you.

Be True ~ Be Lovely ~ Be You

 Find more about Polka Dot Bungalow Here

www.polkadotbungalow.com

www.polkadotbungalow.blogspot.com

 And now for a giveaway, Stephanie with Polka Dot Bungalow has generously gifted one of our readers with their choice of a camera strap or camera strap cover!  <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Examining Your Frame | Guest Blog by Colie James

This is where I tell you to SLOW down and really look at your frame before you shoot.   Just like some people take a shot to then review their settings and adjust, the same can be true of the elements of your frame.  Take a shot and re-evaluate the frame.  If you can identify any objects that don't belong remove them.  If they can't be physically removed then it is your responsibility to either move your subject or reposition yourself to eliminate distracting elements from the image.  

My biggest pet peeve in my living room are my lamp and that recliner.  I hate that recliner.  No really, HATE.  For planned shoots in the living room earlier this year I would push it into the dining room or even the kitchen to get it out of my living room.  Now, my daughter simply will not allow it.  She LOVES sitting on the recliner during the day.  There is no need for the lamp during the day so I try to remember to remove it first thing in the morning.  If I forget, I usually remember when I am looking at the back of the camera because it is quite an eyesore for me.  It is also pretty common to slide the coffee table over to the area in front of the fireplace leaving a nice open space for Chloe to play in and a clean frame for me to shoot in.

Here are some nice clean images taken once the room is rearranged.

 What do I do with the permanent elements that can't be removed?  Namely the wall outlets or the air vent on the floor.  Well, with my lens I can try to shoot in a direction that eliminates them from my frame or when that doesn't work shooting at a wider aperture so they are not as noticeable.  I also have the option of removing them in post processing but that isn't always easy.  This picture of my daughter would look SO much better with the vent removed but it is no easy feat.  I might "fix" that someday.

What about the temporary items that are in the frame but do not relate to the story?  Typically these are toys that Chloe was playing with and they don't play a part in my story.  I have learned to wait until she leaves the room to clean up the room, otherwise she literally walks behind me putting the toys I am picking up exactly where I found them.  I swear the kid LOVES mess.

 Sometimes it just takes too much effort to clean the room.  Look at these two images.  The first is a moment between my husband and daughter.  She is wearing her new big girl panties and showing him her guitar.  Such a sweet moment.  The frame is certainly not clean, but everything in it has meaning.

For this second image, the story here is that her old stroller has become her new personal recliner.  Admittedly there is a lot of clutter in this image that does not add to the story.   It was my anniversary and I just did not want to clean the frame.  This image still tells a story, but the clutter is distracting.  What about for you, do you ever shoot and leave the clutter?

Thanks for reading.

By Colie James – Boulder, Colorado

Colie is a storytelling lifestyle photographer based in Boulder, Colorado serving all areas between Ft. Collins and Denver. She is an on-location photographer who loves to tell the true stories of her clients, just as they are. She also writes a weekly blog column for LIght Inspired sharing her own work and others.  While her love of photography started long before the birth of her daughter, Chloe, it has taken on a life of its own as she strives to capture all of her own moments and now her clients. Colie equally loves espresso, her husband of twelve years, James, and her daughter who is two going on twenty.

http://www.coliejamesphotography.com

http://www.facebook.com/coliejamesphotography

http://lightinspired.net/author/colie-james/

Planning Ahead with Wardrobe Wednesday {and a GIVEAWAY!}

First of all, I am SO honored to have been asked to contribute to this wonderful site! I am very excited to get started. I was asked to post twice a month and provide styling/wardrobe advice. I am one of the 7 contributors to the Facebook page Wardrobe Wednesday, so this is right up my ally! Wardrobe Wednesday provides weekly inspiration for photoshoots of all kinds--from newborn to engagements, we aim to provide variety for our readers!

Ok, now onto my post. This is a revised blog post I did last year for Wardrobe Wednesday, but I thought it would be fantastic to start here with my wardrobe posts!

When planning your shoot, whether you are the photographer or the client, you likely discuss the following: prices, products, location and wardrobe. Am I right? Shake your head yes, please. :D  Location and wardrobe are SO important to a photoshoot. They can both essentially make or break a shoot. I don't care whether the location is a bedroom, the beach or a downtown area...I bet most clients have a specific "look" in mind when booking their session. But sometimes it's difficult to actually coordinate all of that. Enter Wardrobe Wednesday.

I consult with each and every one of my clients before doing a photoshoot because I feel wardrobe is so important to a client's images. I often encourage color, whether it is muted or bright. I feel color brings so much character to an image! When reviewing wardrobe options with a client, one thing I cover is where they plan to hang or display their images. I specialize in wall art, and the majority of my clients purchase wall art for their homes. I am an advocate of getting your photos printed HUGE and hung on your wall. It's all about the wall art, and what better wall art to hang than your beautiful family? I see far too many people purchasing the "disc" and doing nothing with it. Get those gorgeous photos printed and HANG THEM, mkay?!?!?

So now that we've got that settled, think about where you'd like to hang them. Would you prefer a display in your living room? Bedroom? Dining room? Wherever you choose, consider your decor and colors. Is your decor contemporary and colorful? Is it shabby chic? Traditional? You'll want to take these things into account when planning your wardrobe. If your decor is traditional, you'll likely enjoy a more traditional look to your shoot. Chances are you won't choose a colorful and trendy look. Are you following me yet? Ok good.

I do best explaining things while using my hands, but since they are busy typing and you can't see me, I will have to use examples.  Here's a personal story:

I was a client a few years ago, when I booked the lovely and talented Jean Smith of Jean Smith Photography.  I was going to be on the other side of the lens and I was FREAKING.OUT. What should we wear? Where should we do our shoot? I decided to start with location first. I had seen Jean's work time and time again, and I really enjoyed a combo of some urban/downtown shots and some grassy areas. So Jean suggested a downtown location. Phew. Now that was out of the way. Next up? Wardrobe of course!

I viewed some samples of where we'd be shooting and saw lots of greens, red brick, grays and blacks and other splashes of color.  So...where to start? First, I thought about where we'd proudly be displaying the art of US. We have high ceilings and lots of wall space so we would be hanging HUGE enlargements, of course. I looked around my house. I LOVE lots of color (as if you can't tell in the following photos) and therefore have several different colors throughout my open floor plan. If you stand in the living room, you can see the kitchen, breakfast nook and dining room. One thing that is consistent is RED. I have pops of red everywhere. I heart it, as you can see.

I KNEW somewhere in our clothing choices for our shoot I would incorporate red. I always tell clients to start your choices with the girl in your family. IF you have a daughter, start with her outfit, then branch out from there (if not, start with the mom) . I decided to take my own advice. One day I walked past The Gap. I saw an adorable little girl's dress in the window. The colors were different shades of blue with a bit of rust in it. It totally reminded me of fireworks. Our session was in the summer, a few weeks before the 4th of July. How appropriate! I thought HEY, I can pair up something RED with this dress. And so I did. I found a red dress for myself but it was sleeveless. GASP! Did I really want to see my flabby arms in every photo? NOPE. So I thought and OOOH, solution! I had a jean jacket to go over the dress. I finished it off with a cute necklace with pops of color in it and neutral colored shoes. I dressed my little guy in red, blue and khaki and my big guy in blue and khaki. VOILA! We were coordinated, but not too "matchy-matchy". AND when I hung Jean's art of US, it would coordinate with our home as well.

Here is the final wardrobe compilation!

Aaaaand the art on our wall!!

Let's review:

1. When booking your custom photography session, think about where you'd like your session to be held.

2. When compiling wardrobe ideas, make sure it goes with the location AND your home decor. If you are hanging your photos in your bedroom, perhaps you'd like a "soft" look? Light blues and whites at the beach perhaps?

3. Get those gorgeous photos ON YOUR WALLS! You've invested time and money in the photoshoot...what good is it doing you to keep them on a disc? :)

We'd love to hear from you...has this post helped you at all? Would you like to see more of this in the future? Please feel free to post on the Wardrobe Wednesday {where fashion meets photography} wall on Facebook!

One more thing: I mentioned before how important I believe wall art is. For all of my clients, I take photos of the walls in question, so that they can preview their "art" using the handy dandy app,  Shoot & Sell. I can't tell you how valuable a tool this app has been to me and my clients! It will show them how fabulous their photos will look hung in a particular room (or not so fabulous, depending on the wardrobe choice! in this case, you can always show them some black and whites, which of course, look great ANYWHERE).

Shoot & Sell has offered to give away ONE FREE SHOOT & SELL APP or ONE FREE SET OF WALL TEMPLATES for Photoshop (if you don't have or use an iPad) to one lucky winner! You'll have plenty of opportunities to enter, and the more you do, the more entries you'll have! So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and enter! 

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image by Aubri Graybeal of Pink Sky Photography

Shannon Dodge is one of Love Photographs Beautifully's contributors. She is a child and family portrait photographer in Southwest Florida whose style is fun, fresh and vibrant! She specializes in natural light and aims to capture moments as they unfold. You can view her work HERE or HERE.

Featured Photographer | Brittney Kluse

This is our first featured photographer and we had to pick a good one!  So we chose Brittney Kluse and asked her too many questions!   Her work is bright, bold and fun!  I know she would kill me, but I would love to give you the link of photographs she sent me to pick from!  Wowza, she is talented!

Tell us a little bit about yourself: First and foremost, I'm a wife to an amazing man, and mommy to two fabulous kiddos - a boy, Braxton (3), and girl, Brynna (20 months). I am lifestyle portrait photographer specializing in natural light photography that brings out the fresh, fun, and colorful side of life. My contemporary and candid style mixed with my signature bold and colorful imagery, have helped set me apart in the industry. I primarily photograph High School seniors, young children, and families.

How did you first get into photography? Since I was a child, I have always loved taking pictures. It wasn't until after I got married that I really dove in and pursued photography in a full-time sense. I have always loved capturing moments in life for family and close friends, and thought that the perfect extension of that would be to have my own business and do it for others the whole year round! At first, I shot anything and everything to figure out what really resonated with me. After my third year in business, I found that the subjects I love the capture the most are young children, High School seniors, and families! Slowly, I started a year-long process of "phasing out" the other areas that I didn't feel as passionate about (i.e.: newborns, weddings, etc.). I am fortunate to have a close network of very talented photographers in my region and have friendships with photographers that specialize in areas outside of my interest. This allowed me the chance to refer clients to them when I would receive an inquiry in an area I wasn't focusing on any more!

Formal education or are you self taught? I didn't go to school for Photography! In 2003, I graduated from Washington State University with a degree in Business & Marketing. I worked for a national laboratory doing marketing and project management. I started to formally pursue photography in 2007. From then until late 2008, I was soaking up everything I could about the technical aspects of photography. From buying my first DSLR, to attending one-on-one workshops with photographers around the country, to watching YouTube tutorials about the exposure triangle, reading books, and more! In late 2008, Brittney Kluse Photography was born after a year-long learning endeavor.

 What kind of photographs are you best known for? I am best known for my bright, bold, and colorful style of photography, as well as the emotion in my photographs. In my client follow-up surveys, I consistently hear how "genuinely happy" the subjects in my photographs appear.

Do you have any personal projects going on? Side projects? It is challenging to keep yourself ahead of the curve. I truly believe I'm meant to do this because I can just think up a million scenarios I'd like to photograph. Maybe a girl in a funky red prom dress and custom crown sitting on scaffolding in a downtown ally way. Or a little red-head girl in a field of yellow tulips blowing a giant pink bubble of gum. I never have a problem coming up with ideas to shoot --- it's finding the time to fit it all in!

I also have found a recent niche in mentoring! Each mentoree's agenda is customized around what they want to learn, so I have to be able to pull together unique photo shoots, seasoned business management advice and so on to ensure they are getting valuable advice. I'm proud that I've built I have an established reputation in the photography community and well-known. I'm one of the few "Celebrity Photographers" with the Chic Critique Forum and also a "Pro" within the Clickin' Moms photography organization. I've done top-rated interviews for the industry-respected, Photography Business Toolsand my images have been published in leading photography magazines like, "Click" and "Mozi Magazine" and featured on blogs such as "Seniorologie," and "Lemonade and Lenses." Getting my work published in these places is inspiring (and flattering) and makes me WANT to keep growing as an artist!

What is the one thing you would like others to know about you? Well, I despise laundry so much, I only do it on an every-other-month basis! And, if I weren't a photographer, my secret dream would be to work for E! News or US Weekly as a writer!! Shhhhhhh, it's my dirty little secret!

If you had a time machine what would you tell your beginner photographer self? That you will never have it all together!!!! Every day when I started this business I would think to myself: If I just do X,Y, Z then I will be "caught up." HA. I don't think "caught up" is even in my dictionary anymore! Every single day is a struggle to find the right work/life balance. Sometimes I wish I had a normal 8-4 job that allowed me to "check out" when I left. My phone always has voicemails, I constantly have e-mail in my inbox that I need to get to, client meetings are always stacked up, location scouting needs to be done, editing ... and so forth. Sometimes it's hard to just turn those things off, but it's also necessary. I don't want my husband and children to feel like they have a wife/mom who works all the time, so setting boundaries was important to me. I have office hours Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am-1pm and hold photo shoots on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The rest of the time is dedicated to my family! The first piece of advice I offer to "newbie" photographers (and to my "beginner self") is to SET A SCHEDULE - and stick to it! It was the best thing I ever did for my business and family.

Tell us more Tell us More

What do you love to indulge in? Celebrity magazines! They are my guilty pleasure: US Weekly, Life&Style, InTouch, etc.

Your favorite film of all time? Sleepless in Seattle

Three words that describe you? Loud, Energetic, Happy

A inspirational website and/or blog you visit often? I'm a contributor to Galler.ee (https://galler.ee) and I love jump on and see what great design products are out there to help market my business in fresh and fun ways!

Where our readers can find out more about you: All these places:

My website - www.brittneykluse.com

My blog - www.brittneykluse.com/blog

My facebook - www.facebook.com/brittneykluse

My instagram - www.instagram.com/brittneykluse

Weekly Challenge | Pink Winners

This week's guest judge was the lovely Heather of Heather Milano Photography.  She had a difficult decision with the pink theme, over 200 entries!

What Heather said about our winner - "Her perspective in her imagery pulls me into the moment. I loved seeing how she first envisioned and ultimately created this perfected portrait"

 Congrats to Kansas Pitts Photography

and our top ten in alphabetical order.

 Beck McCormick Photography

DSisk Photography

 Hulahoop Photography

Jessica Downey Photography

 Meg Bitton Photography

Michelle L. Morris Photography 

 Photography By Linsday

Renee Laurin

 Rose Lema Photography

Sondra Hill Photography

Winners grab your badges (.png file) to display on your websites, blogs or fb pages.  

And now for our next theme, Heather chose Pairs!  Post your pairs photos on our wall by next Saturday night and check back Sunday to see if you were chosen.  www.facebook.com/lovephotographsbeautifully

Pairs by Heather Milano Photography