Madison Sneak Peek

All that I can say about this little cutie is that I have never seen such a cooperative baby!! Madison was a complete joy to photograph and she only peed on my blanket twice :) I think that she was just trying to get back at me for sticking my camera in her face while she was trying to watch soap operas on the television.

Oh, and be sure to check out the angry cat, Max, in one of the pics. Max was angry that I was not paying enough attention to him so he decided to make sure that he ended up in one of the shots. I had to share it because I think that his little death glare through the door is too funny! I have other shots of Max's tail, from when he would slowly walk back and forth in front of my camera lens while I was trying to photograph Madison, but the tail just looks like a big blur in the image. Really, Max was hilarious at trying to get my attention :)

Thanks again Sarah for giving me the opportunity to photograph Madison and for allowing me to take over your home for a few hours.


















All images © Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics 2008

Newborn and Baby Portrait Session Tips

As a photographer, there are plenty of things that I have to do in preparation for photo sessions. Most people booking sessions do not realize that there are also things that they can and should do in preparation for their upcoming shoot. Whenever someone books a photo session with me, I like to provide them with tips that will help them get the most out of their shoot. I have different tips written up for different types of portrait sessions that I offer. I thought that I would start sharing these tips with everyone here on my blog. Hopefully they'll help anyone who is planning on booking a session and maybe a few other photographers will find these tips useful to share with their clients :)

I thought that I'd start with "Newborn and Baby Portrait Sessions Tips" and over the next few days I will post tips for other types of sessions. If this helps you out in any way or if you have any suggestions please let me know. I always enjoy feedback!!


Milestones to Capture

Newborn - Newborn sessions are typically best when your baby is a few days old right up to 4-6 weeks old. Up to 2 weeks old is the best time to capture those precious sleeping moments, yawning and curled up in the fetal position. This is what they do best at this age! Waiting until your baby is 4-6 weeks of age may give the infant's head time to shapen, and for any bruising from the use of forceps during delivery to go away. Also, some infants have rashy, dry skin that will clear up in the first few weeks.

3 Months - While babies are not sitting up on their own yet this is the perfect opportunity for those "bare bottom" portraits. Expressions are coming out at this age and things are really starting to get fun!

6 Months - Schedule this session when your baby is sitting up well on their own. Most babies are beginning to become more active and moving around at this age. The smiles and laughs are fantastic. Close-ups are great!

9 Months - Schedule this session when your baby is pulling his/her self up. They are generally not quite walking yet but able to stand for short periods of time if holding onto something.

12 Months - Happy Birthday baby! Now that they are starting to walk the options are endless. We can even schedule an outdoor session - weather permitting of course!

24 Months - Sessions at this age really depend on what you want. Whether in the studio, outdoors or in your home you will love the results!


Preparation Tips

• Before your session, be sure to give your baby a bath and bring extra wipes for a last minute nose cleaning. Keep a small towel handy for any burps and the inevitable tears. A touch of Vaseline should also be on hand to moisten dry lips. Be sure to bring a bib or two and a few changes of clothes with you to your session just incase your little one gets messy.

• If your infant has a significant amount of hair, a moist towel can be used to smooth the hair into place. Never make your infant wear an elastic headband. If it shifts or isn't worn throughout the entire session, you will see markings on the infant's head. If you wish to decorate their hair, use tiny clips or tie-in bows.

• Dress your baby in loose fitting clothing for the ride to the studio or up to an hour before your session. If possible, loosen the diaper and remove socks 15-20 minutes before the session. Doing all of this helps reduce or eliminate red marks on the baby’s body.

• Be sure to pick clothes for the session that fit your baby without sagging around the diaper or squeezing the baby too snug around the neck or tummy. Dressing the baby in plain onesies or a diaper cover are the best options.

• For sessions at any age it is recommended to keep clothing simple. Avoid patterns and logos. Neutral, solid colors work best for keeping all the attention on your child and not the clothing.

• Newborns should ideally be photographed in very little or no clothing as this is the most natural. Newborns are sensitive to temperature so a nice warm room temperature is taken into consideration and planned in advance for the comfort of your little baby. Please bring or have available diapers, wipes, and receiving blankets to be prepared for any little "accidents" that your newborn may have.

• Please allow up to 2 hours for newborn sessions. This will allow for feedings, breaks, and sleeping. All the little details of newborn life can be documented if you wish and can include feeding, sleeping, and cuddling along with classic newborn posing.

• Sessions can include the parents as well, so be sure to wear or bring neutral clothing such as black, white or off white. Black clothing works well for black backdrops (although not necessary) and white and other neutral colors look best for styling against a lighter background. Solid monochromatic colours are easiest to coordinate but primary or complementary colours also look great and can bring energy to the photograph. Avoid wearing patterns, prints, stripes and clothing bearing logos. Fine stripes and checks can cause distortion to digital photographs. Dark pants or jeans with dark shoes give texture and visually anchor a portrait. When choosing colour schemes, consider not only what looks best on your family, but also what colours will look best in wall portraits and complement your home’s décor.

• Minor props can add some interest to your infants first portraits. An embroidered blanket, a stuffed teddy bear, oversized gift tags reading "Gift from God" or items of sentimental value can make for cute additions to your portraits. If you have something that you would like included in your images, bring it along and we can discuss it before we start shooting.

• Following the steps above will help ensure that you will enjoy your session by getting off to a good start. The more you are prepared for your session the more you will enjoy the photo shoot process.


What to Expect

• Remember that your baby may not be themselves under bright studio lights. With most infant sessions, the window of opportunity for great moments happens in the first 10-15 minutes. After that they may get nervous about the lights, being away from their parents and aren't sure of what to do with all the attention. Then again, I have photographed some babies that have not been nervous at all, loved all of the attention and were fascinated with the camera and flashing lights! Just remember to give your infant lots of cuddles and reassurance throughout the process and you're bound to have a memorable portrait experience.

• Don't worry if your baby becomes sleepy and falls asleep. This can make for some of the best images from your session! I love it when little ones fall asleep and are oblivious to everything that is going on around them.

• Lots of images of your infants tiny fingers and toes with close-ups of the individual body parts will be taken to document their size in an artistic manner. I even recommend doing a shot of their little toes with your wedding bands or their tiny fingers grasping yours. Having several close-ups of individual areas lends itself to making a fun collage style portrait of your baby!

• The most precious images show the intimacy between parent and newborn. For this reason, and to make the photo session most comfortable for your baby, please come prepared to have your picture taken while holding your baby in some of the shots.

• Since your infant is a new member of the family, I recommend doing some family poses. Traditional full family shots are fine, but at this age, the creative images seem more compelling. One of my favorite poses is having the parent's hands cradle the newborn, showing the sizes of the adult hands against the tiny new baby. This close-up portrait is a fun use of scale to show how small your baby really is, and shows a family connection while giving your baby some posture. I can also do shots of mom and dad individually with baby and recommend having some of these images taken.

• Pictures of mom and baby can be very compelling. I think that mom's delicate hands caressing the tiny infant's hands or feet are adorable! An emotional pose that you can ask for is having the infant sleep on the mothers chest, nuzzling at her neck. The close bond of mother and child is always a touching moment that should be documented.

• Fun poses with dad can include a close-up of the infant grabbing one of dad's big fingers. Or ask to do one of dad's big foot with the infants tiny foot sitting on top. The scale between the two is always dramatic.

• I will work with you to ensure that you receive the best images possible from your session. Before picture taking begins, I will discuss image options and ideas with you. If you have any specific ideas of what you want, bring clipped pictures from magazines or print images from the web. If you don't have specific ideas, don't worry, it is fun to improvise as we go and I always have tons of ideas floating around in my head!

• Most importantly, in this busy time of your life I want you to slow down and relax! For this reason, I do not rush portrait sessions. My goal is to make you as comfortable as possible. Only then will I be able to capture the moments you will fall in love with.

And now, here are a few of my favorite newborn and baby pics taken over the past few months. Enjoy!!

Patricia

All Images © Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics 2008

Recent Maternity Session

I absolutely LOVE doing maternity sessions!!! I love the excitement that the parents have about bringing a little bundle of joy into the world and the excitement is totally contagious :) I will admit that I get a bit of baby fever whenever I do a maternity, new born or child session. When I do decide to have my own, it will be the most photographed child ever! For now, I'll just have to settle for living vicariously through my friend Christina who has a two year old and another on the way....her poor little Grace must be tired of my camera in her face, and I can't wait to photograph Christina's baby belly.

I had a great maternity session the other day with Dixie and Shane. I even got to feel the little one kicking during this session! Here are a few images from the session for your viewing pleasure....I hope that you like them :)

Patricia

All images © Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics 2008

Free Wedding Photography Contest!!!!

Win your wedding photography and more!!

Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics started out as a vision by Patricia Sampson a little over a year ago. Turning this vision into a reality has been Patricia's dream come true and she now wants to give something back to all the of people that she has had the pleasure of meeting through this endeavor and all of the people that she will possibly meet in the years to come. Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics is a Halifax based business that has been offering creative professional photography services for the past year. Check out some of Patricia's photography work at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2382866877 or www.amillionwords.deviantart.com. Patricia is so excited to announce this contest and hopes that you will be excited about it as well!!!

Right now, you're probably asking yourself "Ok, so how do I win?". All you have to do is tell us your story or nominate a couple whose story you think is worthy. The story should include how you/they met, how you/they were proposed to and what makes your/their story special (e.g. Were there great odds to overcome? Were the couple childhood sweethearts? etc.) Tell us why you/they should have Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics capture your/their wedding for FREE!!


Send us an email to patriciasampson@hotmail.com with "Free Wedding Photography Contest" in the subject line and attach a photo of you and your fiance or the happy couple in JPG format. Tell us your/their story and make us fall in love with you/them!! Stories should be no more than 1500 words (well unless it is such an amazing story, and it couldn’t possibly be told in less).

Just when you thought that it couldn't get any better, Patricia Samspon Photo Graphics has teamed up with Endless Beauty Hair Salon's owner, Christina Sands Garagan (check out the salon's website at www.endlessbeauty.ca and their Facebook Group page at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2349473818) who will also be offering some great goodies for the winners!!!

Rules

Who can enter?
The contest is open to anyone getting married in 2008, and they must be getting married in the Halifax Regional Municipality area, Nova Scotia, Canada. Contest winners will be announced April 1st, 2008 so any wedding dates before that will not be accepted.

Who can submit?
Anyone! The wedding couple in mind does not have to submit for themselves, family and friends can write and submit on their behalf.

What do they win?

The 1st place wedding couple will win:

• Free Wedding Consultation with Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics
• Free Wedding Photography with Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics
• 1-Hour outdoor engagement session with Patricia Sampson (from which up to 5 fully edited high resolution digital files (Digital Negatives) of the best images from the session (chosen and edited by Patricia Sampson) are provided on CD.
• 8 hours of coverage on the wedding day with Patricia Sampson and a possible assistant second shooter

• DVD containing up to 100 fully edited high resolution digital files (Digital Negatives) of the best images from the day (chosen and edited by Patricia Sampson)
• PLUS ** Christina Sands Garagan, owner/stylist of Endless Beauty Hair Salon has been kind enough to offer her services to the winning couple!! The lucky bride will receive a free consultation with Christina before the wedding date and on the day of the wedding this bride will receive a free wedding up-do. Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about the groom!! This lucky guy will receive a free hair cut from Christina prior to the special day.

2nd & 3rd place couples will win an engagement shoot with Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics including:

• Free consultation with Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics
• 1-Hour outdoor engagement session with Patricia Sampson

• Up to 5 fully edited high resolution digital files (Digital Negatives) of the best images from the session (chosen and edited by Patricia Sampson) will be provided on CD.
• PLUS ** Christina Sands, owner/stylist of Endless Beauty Hair Salon has been kind enough to offer her services to the runners up!! The brides to be will receive a free cut and style for their engagement photo sessions and the grooms to be will receive a free hair cut.

When does the contest open and close?


Contest opens February 2nd 2008 and closes March 8th 2008 at 12am midnight (Atlantic Standard Time).

When all entries have been made and the contest closes, Patricia Sampson Photo Graphics and a selected panel of judges will choose the winners.


Winners will be announced April 1st 2008

What we are looking for:

• A couple who has a wonderful story

• The couple must be getting married somewhere in the Halifax Regional Municipality area in 2008
• The couple must be willing to allow Patricia to use their wedding images for upcoming promotional and portfolio purposes. They must also be willing to have their names, provided JPG image and story shared online

Where can I sign up?

Just send us an email to patriciasampson@hotmail.com that includes the following:

• "Free Wedding Photography Contest" in the subject line
• First and last names of the bride and groom
• Wedding date and location
• Phone numbers, home addresses and e-mail addresses of the bride and groom and the person submitting on their behalf
• A recent photograph of the bride and groom in JPG format
• Your story of why you think you/they should win this fabulous contest!!

*Note: Entries that fail to produce all the materials above will be automatically disqualified.


The winners will be contacted by phone, where we will decide on a date to meet up and start planning your wedding and engagement photography. The winners will be also announced on this blog page and our Facebook Group page at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2382866877.


** Forward this information along to anyone that you think may be interested!! If you are a business or individual who would like to donate something to the winners of this contest, please contact Patricia ASAP via e-mail. Anything that you can do to help make this contest a success will be greatly appreciated.

Good luck everyone!!!
Patricia Sampson