Blog
Family Portraits
Successful Pictures for a Family of Eight
— 04/02/2015 by Monika Wertman —
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of capturing images for a family of eight. Mom and Dad plus 6 children. I met the three youngest at our consultation earlier in the day and they were very well behaved. I looked forward to our session and when the time came that evening, I was not disappointed. This lovely family of eight, was well organized and came to the session well prepared and arrived on time, even a bit early.
We got some great shots that night with three clothing changes for all and were done within 1.5 hours, including the clothing changes. You may say, well, that sounds easy. Trust me when I say, it was not. I have had family sessions in which I had to remind them that they only had me for an hour and that we needed to get started. The session that comes to mind took place a few years back with 15 people and was staged at the family’s home. Let’s just say that it did not go smoothly and made me change the way I approach family sessions.
So let’s look at what makes a large family session successful:
- I have a consultation with the respective family before we have our session. This may be over the phone or in person, though I prefer in person.
- One of the first questions I ask is: “How many people are in your family and what are the ages of the children?”
- We discuss how much time I have allotted and what they should expect from me and the session.
- We discuss the color schemes they have in mind and I make recommendations based on the skin tone of my clients.
- I ask if they would like to have different groupings, i.e. the whole group, just the girls, just the boys, the kids by themselves, etc. You get the idea.
- If clothing changes are involved, I show the area they will change in and where they can park purses and bags.
When little ones are in the family, I remain conscious of how rapidly they run out of steam and patience and I work quickly and remind all of the big kids and the parents that they need to remember that they are in the picture as well. It seems obvious , but I often have at least a few shots in which mom is too busy to make the littlest one happy to remember to look up and smile. I catch it and help her remember.
My best advise to you is: Ask me about what to expect, agree to an in person consultation to see the studio and know what space we will be working with both for clothing changes and the session itself. If we meet on location, be prepared to walk a bit, I will find several spots to get pictures at to give you variety.
Wertman Photography Launches New Website & Blog
— 04/01/2015 by Monika Wertman —
It is here! We are so excited to share our new website with you. Wertman Photography has been in business for over 5 years and many exciting things are happening in 2015.
We are growing in many ways including our space at the studio, which doubled in February of this year. We now have three distinct shooting spaces available and a private dressing room to make glamor and boudoir sessions even more fun and private than they were before.
We learned that we would be able to expand our physical space at the end of the summer of 2014 and decided that other changes were also necessary. Our website needed some serious TLC and after seeing work our web designer had done for other photographers, we decided that Visual Lure would be a great fit for us. Justen designed a site that is not only gorgeous but really took our vision and our love for art deco to the next level. If you have not done so yet, please browse the entire site and enjoy not only the richness of the design and the ease of the functionality, but also our portfolios to understand who we are as a photographic studio.
When we opened our doors in 2009 we knew that we would give our clients a great experience during any session and that we would produce imagery that our clients would be proud to hang on their walls. Today, five and a half years into the photography business, we continue to provide you, our clients with a great experience and great images, and we offer products you may have never thought about. We continue to innovate and add more products and specialized services to our studio. You are treated with special care and every session you book with us is tailored to your needs.
This year we have revamped our High School Senior sessions to include up to three locations and clothing changes and hair and make-up for the girls. The offered collections can accommodate any budget and print collections include many exciting products.
Our Glamor and Boudoir sessions are also redesigned to include some great products when purchased as a collection and can also be booked as stand alones you can add to, including make-up and hair.
We love weddings and engagements, as you can see in our wedding portfolio and offer all-inclusive collections with plenty of time and great options built right in.
As our new site highlights, here at Wertman Photography we love timeless design and elegance with a modern twist our clients desire. Please read more on the about us page where you can find some client review and testimonials.
We want to thank Justen at Visual Lure for creating a great new website for us and hope that all of you enjoy it as much as we do.
