My holiday card pictures! Children, Wilton, CT
I have to say that photographing hundreds of other families for their holiday card makes me feel a little preasured to have that perfect image for my own card! I always try to get it done early, this year was no exception. Today was a holiday so the kids were out of school and I did not have any scheduled sessions. I hesitantly placed my own children on my schedule for their holiday photo shoot! Outfits purchased weeks ago, hair cuts too (although they still look messy somehow). The ground was wet so I decided to start in the studio. personally I like both studio and outside so I was happy either way.
Here are a few out takes. These are NOT the good ones, just funny to me! Of course I will not reveal the final images for the card!
I have to admit that I love photographs of my children I just really don't like taking them! Don't get me wrong. I love taking snapshots of them with my little point and shoot mommy camera that I keep in my purse.I also enjoy individual portraits. That is pretty easy! But when it comes to the yearly holiday card session and getting that perfect shot of all three kids! Oh boy! It is not my favorite day! Somehow they must know this is important to me and decide that they are going to give me a hard time!
This days always brings back memories, some fonder than others! My very first holiday session when I just had Olivia was amazing. With just my point and shoot digital camera I made the most adorable portrait. She was about six months old and barely sitting. I propped her up on a chair in front of the tree in a boppy covered with a blanket. One hand reached out in case she fell, and a camera in the other, I somehow got this with nobody helping!
The second year we dressed her up to go see Santa but she was too scared to take a photo wtih him, so I chased her around the mall with my point and shoot camera and go this at build a bear store:
The next year I had another baby AND a new SLR Camera, took about 250 images (no joke) and got this keeper:
That next Spring I started Moments by Andrea and in the Fall I photographed over 120 familes (my first season!) but still managed to have my own photo session with my kids and got this with (believe it or not, with my old point and shoot camera) when we were apple picking. Working endless hours with my professional camera I just didn't have it in me to lug it on our apple picking trip. The light was perfect so the point and shoot worked great!I also used a few other cute shots on the card!
Then the next year we had Derek on December 5th so I used images from a Spring session to send out an early holiday card of just the girls. Not knowing if I would have time to send one after Derek was born, this went out the day after Thanksgiving:
After Derek came I did a holiday themed birth announcement with this image. It arrived at peoples homes the week of Christmas so everyone thought it was my holiday card eventhough I had sent another one out earlier!
Last year I wanted the beach scene for our holiday cards but let's just say with the six month old eating sand the entire session it was less than productive! I did a second session in the early fall in the same white outfits and got more comical candids, more looking down, this time playing with grass. My third session yielded this beauty (after about 150 shots):
So, my advice for other moms! Save your sanity, let a professional photographer create your holiday card images! I do! Sometime I just wish it were a different professional photographer! It is just not the same for me taking pictures of my own kids. It is MUCH HARDER when they are mine! The good news is that I survived another one and I am done! Now I just have to design my card and go through this again with another 150+ families!
Trust me, it is MUCH easier doing this for other people! I have much more patience and I actually enjoy it 95% of the time. Plus, kids usually behave better for "the photographer" when it is not mom or dad! I often have moms ask me how I can be so patient and I say "Easy, they're not my kids"!
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oments by Andrea is a professional portrait studio located in Wilton, CT in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut, near New York. Owned and operated by Andrea Topalian, a professional portrait artist specializing in family photography including maternity portraits, newborn and baby photos, high school senior portraits, as well as candid portraits of children of all ages. Andrea’s Precious Moments Club is a popular baby portrait club that documents the important stages of a baby’s growth: newborn, six months and one year. 