Lorena & Mark

Lorena & Mark came out for some engagement shots on a great early spring day in April. We walked around the park and were able to get some great moments captured of them. These two have fun together and it's easy to see how in love they are. Best of luck to Lorena & Mark and thanks for letting me share in capturing the memories!

Aubrey & Andrew

Well, since I'm am still fairly new to the blog world and have tons of sessions and events Joe and I need to add from months back... felt it would be best to start now and work backwards.

On Thursday I had the pleasure of photographing Aubrey & Andrew's engagement session. It was a beautiful, warm spring day. They are a great couple who are getting married in June and we are looking forward to photographing that as well! Here are some sneak peaks from their session:

Pictures at the Park 2010

In celebration of our first year we have started 'Pictures at the Park.' Each year we will have a weekend where we offer 50% off sessions and packages. We want to help those who want awesome pictures and custom design, but have a hard time getting it in this economy.

Our first 'Pictures at the Park' was last weekend and we had a blast! The weather cooperated for the most part and we had a beautiful location at Cox Arboretum (http://www.metroparks.org/Parks/CoxArboretum/Home.aspx) in Dayton. We had a good response from people and turn out of kids and families for our first year, I can't imagine how many would turn out if we had more time to plan it. We thought of the idea just a few weeks before hand and ran with it. I am so glad we did because we had fun, and more importantly the kids had fun... best of all we got some fabulous images that these families can enjoy for a lifetime.

Lily, 6 months

Dana & Lily


Dezerai & Colton


Dezerai, Colton & Madison


Ursula, 1 year old


Ashley & Ursula


Ursula

Zachary


Zachary

Benny, 5 years old


Benny

My daughter Kailyn, 2 years old

We have also enjoyed the response from people with new ideas for events. We have had people suggest a day at the park with your pet and a day for couples to get those romantic shots they have always wanted but just haven't had the chance.

We will be doing the couples promotion for KimberlyElaine. If you know anyone who has been married for years and the last good picture they have is from their wedding, that is exactly who we are looking for. Send them our way (kimberlyelaine.com) and we will send them back with beautiful images that capture their love as it is today.

The end of our first year and Mason's First Birthday!

Mason is a handsome, energetic spirit that I have loved photographing the past year. He is my little model. When realizing Mason's birthday was approaching I began looking back through some of the images from the last year. I made a storyboard of his 6 week and his 1 year portrait. My how he has changed, but he is just as handsome as ever with those beautiful eyes. Here are some images from our first birthday session last weekend...


Mason sure loved his cake! There were so many awesome images it was hard to narrow it down. But it's safe to say, I think he had a blast!

What a journey the last year has been for our family, for our business. It has had ups and downs but no matter what- we always make it through. We have made it the first official year. I have always done freelance, and photographed for my personal business, now called KimberlyElaine but it was one year ago that we shot baby Mason's hospital session. It was our first real out of studio on-location session for Mommy & Daddy Studios. I had been photographing co-workers kids, friends & family for awhile but my husband and I decided it was time to branch out and broaden our vision. We started Mommy & Daddy Studios, a husband and wife (Mommy & Daddy) team that would specialize in capturing candid, raw images of children and families.

We have been so lucky to meet some amazing photographers and clients along the way and we appreciate all the support they have given us. It's the support you receive that pushes you through to achieve greater heights and make more dreams come true. We love what we do and hope we are still writing about how much we love it at 10 years and then 20...

baby madison

A journey through 9 months of change to the arrival of a beautiful bundle of joy.

As a mother, it was such an incredible journey to blossom into a mommy and I love that as people in general we have changed to begin to embrace what a beautiful process it is. Women used to hide their bellies and now we show them proudly. There is nothing quite as beautiful as a pregnant mom-to-be or the sight of a new life.

Please enjoy this beautiful process which Leslie so kindly allowed me to document.

First Birthday Sessions- have we reached a new era?

Whether you are an avid professional photographer or a parent at home with your child, you will probably come across a time when you want to take first birthday photos. It is a special, momentous occasion and you want to make absolute sure that everything turns out perfect.

From my own experience with photographing a lot of babies with Mommy & Daddy Studios, it is crucial to have a warm-up period with baby. Talk to them, interact, even play a game to get baby to understand that your presence is okay. Come down to the child's level, as adults we ofter forget how large we are from the perspective of a baby.

Ever since I have learned and embraced these tools it has been easier to capture natural images. Too often we settle for images that the one hour photo studio down the street will produce rather than breaking free from standard traditional portraits. I also fell victim to this as a brand new mom, still adjusting to everything. It was so easy to take my daughter down the street to have an image of her captured forever in time. But where is that image now? Honestly, I believe it is in a box somewhere. It was not special to me, not as special as the 2 week portrait session I had done with Darrin Ballman (http://www.darrinballman.com/#/pg1/).


Darrin is an amazing photographer, and I thank him for giving me a wealth of knowledge and inspiring me to finally start realizing that my dream of being a full-time photographer could be true. I also thank Darrin for giving me the most gorgeous 2 week old images of my daughter that I could dream of, not to mention the beautiful maternity images he did of me and my husband.

There are ways to push ourselves to new levels and set new trends. The photography industry is one like no other that I have seen. Photographer's go out of their way to help each other out and drive each other to set these new trends and advance our industry together. There is something magical that happens when a parent sees your images of their child. It is that moment; whether it be parents or a new bride and groom, that many of us photographer's live for... the gift of memories and pure joy.

First Birthday Sessions can be unique and non-traditional, as photographer's we have the power to set new trends and to take back our industry from the standardized shoot 3 images and push it out in an hour world.

Today I will conducting an experiment to see the differences behind traditional vs. non-traditional and more importantly, figure out what it is that the parent's react to. Do they favor the standard poses or do they appreciate a new approach to their session?

Shoot Suites Freebies

Those freebie templates I was talking about before. Shoot Suites is here to provide help for photographer's of all areas. We strive to make it easier for you to have access to cool actions and templates and find the latest information and trends. We will have some freebie actions sets available soon.

http://shootsuites.wordpress.com/