Executing a Vision

For the last four years I have photographed the formal Prom pictures for Townsend. I do enjoy it, I love seeing all the dresses and helping put together the backdrops. But I've been craving some more creative prom pictures as well. I had an idea and approached Bonnie at Wildflower Designs here in Three Forks about doing a Prom photo shoot to  showcase her beautiful corsage and boutonniere designs!

I immediately knew the boys I wanted to use for the shoot. Whenever I saw Payden and Tyson  dressed for basketball game this season, I loved their style and knew I needed them with their bow ties! I put out a model call for the girls on Facebook.  I had several girls interested, and I hate having to say no to anyone, so I went with the first two who responded and I have to say I am really glad I did because Kaylee and Brittany rocked it!

The Sacajawea Hotel is just such the perfect backdrop and location for what I had in mind. I wanted the beautiful natural light in the upstairs hallways and I also took in my strobes to get some more dramatic light on the stairs in lobby. I also had a car in mind, but wasn't sure if it would work out. I said to my friend Diane "what are you doing at 3pm tomorrow, or more importantly what is your car doing?"  When we were taking just few images on the porch, Diane pulled up in her '76 Cadillac ElDorado. The boys said "we have to take pictures in that!" and the vision I had came to life!

It's hard to put into words that feeling when you know that you are executing that perfect vision in your head! I try not to have too many expectations for shoots, I do always have a couple shots that I want, but because of lighting and weather they don't always work out perfectly. You have to be flexible and creative at every shoot!

Here's some of my favorites for this shoot! Don't forget to order your flowers from Bonnie! And if you'd like to do a more creative/stylized shoot for your prom pictures. I am doing Prom Mini Sessions. I have limited spots so contact me soon to schedule!

Mom's shouldn't always be the ones behind the camera!

We all have cameras at our fingertips today,  and I think it’s safe to say that most of us take advantage of that. Capturing so many everyday moments as we can. But other than the selfies we take with the kids, how many pictures do mom’s have with their children? If you are like me, not many. I’m even sad to say that I didn’t get one picture of myself with my third child, Elle, in the hospital.

I had the idea four years ago to do Mommy and Me portrait sessions. An opportunity for mom’s to get great images with their children. After the first sessions I held, I fell in love with them. It’s such an honor for me to be able to capture mom’s in those sweet moments with their kiddos. To know that both mom and children will forever cherish those images. I wrote a blog after that first year about why you shouldn’t wait.

A little excerpt from that blog:

“So despite the fact that 20 years from now you will all probably be enjoying a good laugh over the hairstyles and awkward phases of life you will also be treasuring these portraits, regardless of how you all looked at the time. Because it was you, then.

I will be blunt, what if something happens to you tomorrow or even a year from now. Your children won't be looking at the portraits thinking "wow, wish mom had lost 20lbs before she got these done". They will be looking at their mom and how they knew her and they'll be so  thankful they have these great images!”

I’ve continued to hold these  sessions every year and last spring just a week before my mom and me sessions were scheduled, the words I wrote in this blog; “I’ll be blunt, what if something happens to you tomorrow or even a year from now” came to a screaming reality. Not exactly how I said it, but in an even more unfathomable way. I watched a dear friend lose her daughter. Just six days before we were to have her mom and me shoot. She is also a photographer so that week we spent at the river, I kept thinking about how glad I was that she has so many pictures of Maddy,  that she had so many memories captured. I was also so thankful that we had done mom and me sessions the two previous years. There were favorite images I have of Laura & Maddy  from each of those sessions. I wish so much that our mom and me session had been a week earlier last year, but I'm glad the two previous years she didn’t make excuses, she didn't "wait" that she made sure she had those images from those shoots and I know she agrees.

As this spring has approached and it was time to set up my Mom and Me sessions, I kept putting it off. I wasn’t sure why because they are some of my favorite sessions. I realized that as the anniversary of losing Maddy approaches, it brings back a lot of emotions. The Mom and Me sessions last year were not easy for me, they brought me lots of joy as always but also the sadness of knowing that life is so short and unpredictable.

I started going through last year’s portraits for this year’s ad and the feelings of sadness quickly disappeared as I looked at the smiling faces, the kisses and hugs I captured kids giving their mom. Knowing these clients have these images and they are ones their children and grandchildren will look at years to come. And hopefully not on some digital device, but in prints that are in frames or in photo albums (but that’s whole other blog)!

That being said, take the time and get professional images taken with you and your children. Whether you come to me or another talented photographer, just do it! I promise you, it’s worth it!