A client told me this week that her husband practically gift-wrapped his own Father's Day gift idea by repeatedly saying, " I really need a more updated picture of my family for my desk at work considering my little boy isn't even in it." Talk about an impromptu mini-mini-session for a deserving, devoted father.
Yesterday afternoon we literally did a half of a mini-sesh at the park behind the house. What a fun 30 minutes of silly siblings performing for Daddy's Picture! God bless their wonderful Momma and my good friend, Sarah, while her daughter orchestrated the whole shoot from who sits on a stool, how to lay on the blanket, and how close together they could be?!? She even proudly came up with wonderful original posing ideas. I had such a great afternoon with this energetic family and I'm sure that Daddy will love his Father's Day surprise.
Speaking of which; for all those of you who are blessed enough to be fathers, here's to a Happy Father's Day filled with lots of love, family, BBQs, tool usage, (insert all manly cliches here) and perhaps a little smidge of quiet time.
After unloading Gabriel from my brand new humungo LL Bean tote & filling it with freshly laundered blankets & wrap fabrics, I was on my way to my first newborn session at a clients' house. My oldest son is already nine and my little baby two & a half, so my first glimpse of 15 day old sweet Gavin was an awe-inspiring moment at the pure freshness of God's perfectly created truly little human. He made Gabriel look like a giant! Seeing the purplish hue on his long toes, almost translucent belly, and red fingers clamped in fists a testament to his newness, I knew I wanted to focus on these details rather than edit more "creamier" baby skin.
And so our couple hour flexible and fun session unfolds. No matter how warm the room nor how unbelievably full wee lil man was, once he locked eyes on the contrasted black camera in a light room and the shiny reflector, he didn't want to miss a thing. This meant no "cutesy artsy fartsy poses" (no offense i do love them). Fully awake he strongly pushed off from all of them but was a blessing as I became completely mesmerized by his changing baby blues the rest of our shoot. You can see that in the perspectives of his photos. Beautiful & attentive Mom enjoyed tending to her little bundle interacting with him as he remained awake. As time marched on and the light rose overhead, I found myself having to willfully stop taking pictures as I could stare at that precious face all day. A glimpse at the camera counter startled me seeing hundreds of images awaiting my latter perusal. I'll tell you what; I certainly need to ward my mind from the jedi-mind-tricks a delectable lil newborn like Gavin pulls to keep my shutter constantly open!?! What an amazing and fun client! Here's a sneak peek variety show of the little guy...
Taking a longtime passion of mine to "the next level" is quite frankly, intimidating. All these amazing photographers' websites, Facebook pages, and blogs I love to fill my precious freetime perusing and inadvertently yearning to be "as good as". What I'm constantly being reminded of by my supportive husband & many of my happy newest clients, is that I am. Simply that, I am. And each photo session I improve in some area whether it's getting the best from my camera lenses, artistic frame composition, background & prop choices, poses that work/don't ever do again, lighting or Elements editing techniques.
Why start a business? The main reason is that I love to watch my children grow, capturing both the amazing & everyday moments with my camera and I want to share that with all the mothers & fathers out there. Every shoot I give my 100% to capture each child's disarming expressions (focusing on the eyes as the very window to the soul), ease of pose that happens so effortlessly telling a story, the priceless interactions among siblings or with parents, WITHIN the camera lens always following the light. I strive to get it all in the lens doing very little after-processing & editing resulting in a professional yet very real life moment.
I'm also motivated to share my craft affordably so that everyone should have wonderful photographs to cherish up on their wall! As a mother of two boys, I am constantly reminded as I look back at my wealth of photos & videos just how quickly time passes and am so glad that I've always been "that" mom taking pictures. (Yes; I come out from behind the lens often and play with my kids so life is not passing me by, ya'll know me.) I feel empathy for those parents who can not afford to freeze these precious moments in their children's lives to have to look back on fondly & often. Being a military wife & stay-at-home mom, I'm blessed that we can currently live comfortably on a single income but the mobility factor makes it difficult for me to find suitable full or part time supplemental work. Out of my desire to give children's portraits to others while making a small contribution to my household; my new photography business is born; LWH Portraits. Last names change over the years as many still refer to me as "Costanzo" usually said in a raucous New York accent. The initials are short and sweet representing my name; Leigh Walston-Hamamgian.
I started my facebook page (www.facebook.com/lwh.portraits) last month and started booking mini-sessions. Head over, browse my work, and if you like it help me build my business and audience by LIKING my page; SUBSCRIBE & stay tuned here on my blog. What's a photography blog post without a picture? Here's one of my most recent faves that I just keep going back to for reassurance that I'm "doing good Mommy", "thumbs up" from my youngest ray of sunshine can't help but make me smile!
