Elmira Children's Photographer. mom+camera

Another tip on taking great photos of your children.  If you submit your email address to the right, you are guaranteed to never miss another post again. 

So here is probably one of the easiest, yet hardest things I will ask you to do: Use your camera everyday.  Not your phone camera, but your real, big, bulky camera.  Practice Practice Practice.  Chase your kids around with it for 20 minutes each day.  Become a mama paparazzi.  Try to perfect the tips I set out for you.  It won't be easy and at first you will probably forget, but as you go it will get easier and easier and you will get better and better at capturing your children as they grow.  At the end of the week choose your favourite image and print it.  Small or big, it doesn't matter, but get it printed and share it with your kids.  They will love to see them selves in print.  Also, feel free to tag me in images you post to facebook from challenges or tips I set out for you.  I love to see your progress.

In case you are just joining now, here is what you've missed so far:
Lesson 1 - getting your kids excited about being photographed
Lesson 2 - Focusing tips and tricks

Winterberry's Design & Decor - Elmira. Elmira Photographer

Hey friends, If you need a new place to shop - I've found it. Winterberry's Designs & Decor in Elmira.  It's a beautiful shop with beautiful staff and beautiful products.  I easily wandered through (with Charlie in the stroller) to check out the small furniture pieces, jewellery, home decor items, purses, throw pillows, scarves and my fave item - recycled woven plastic bags.  The price point is reasonable and I didn't feel like my little man was going to pull something off the shelf, or I was going to knock over an expensive item with the stroller. It was airy and fresh and it didn't feel cramped or crowded. What a wonderful gem in downtown Elmira.

Judy, the shop's owner was warm and friendly and her adventures in Vietnam brought back some amazing bags - I couldn't resist buying one.  The bags are handmade in Ho Chi Minh City from reused plastic pieces.  They are a part of everyday life in Vietnam, carrying anything from fresh produce from market to spare motorcycle parts.  Their durability is crucial to their functionality, but their personality and colour is what makes them so wonderful.

I also purchased a beautiful, delicate small scarf which you may very well see wrapped around a snug newborn soon.

If you need some new inspiration for your home or yourself, then this is the place.

Winterberry Design & Decor Inc
5 Church Street East
Elmira
519-210-7770

Elmira Children's Photographer. mom + camera: focus tips and tricks

Focusing can actually be quite difficult to master with little moving people.  For this reason, I recommend that anyone who really loves photography invest in an SLR (single lens reflex) camera.  There is no delay when trying to take an image of your children.  You know, when they finally sit still and you have the camera ready and the moment you push the shutter, they move!  You end up with a blurry mess or a very bizarre facial expression and you end up with something like this pic from my camera phone.

Back to my focusing tips and tricks.
1. Focus on the eye.  
When we look at people we look at their eyes.  If the image doesn't have sharp eyes (in focus), then it just doesn't look right.

2. Focus on the eye that is closest to you.
If your child is slighting turned, then you will want to focus on the eye that is closest to the camera.  Our cameras focus on the point that we tell them to, and then slightly behind.  If you focus on the farther eye, the front one won't be in focus.

3. Use a slightly smaller fstop (larger number).
The best lenses offer apertures of 1.8, 1.4 and even 1.2.  This means that only a small portion of our image is in focus and this is how we get that amazing blurred background.  But when you are first learning to focus, having a smaller aperture allows a greater plain of focus if you kids are moving.  I rarely shoot larger than f3.2 when I'm photographing little people.  If your kids are older and more likely to stay put for longer, then you can practice with a larger aperture.

4. Delete images that aren't in proper focus.
When you get the images onto your computer and the eyes aren't in focus - delete the image.  I know but it was the cutest, most adorable picture ever.  But honestly, you won't get better if you don't force yourself to nail that focus every time.   Ok - so keep it for a bit, but try again to get a similar shot the next day with your focus bang on - you won't regret it.

Here are some images of my 2 boys where their eyes are in sharp focus and it is glorious!

If you are new to your DSLR and don't know what I'm talking about in #3, I do offer limited 1-on-1 mentor sessions for moms who want to take better images.  I also have a group course that I will be offering in the new year (or sooner).  So get a group of your girlfriends together, a bottle of wine and I will come to your place and teach you how to take better images of your little people!

Also, check my facebook page for info on a mom + camera Thursday evening Q&A session.  I will help answer your questions!

Elmira Newborn Photographer - my beautiful niece

It's always an honour to photograph newborns and their families, but it's especially wonderful when it's your own sister and her brand new baby that you are photographing.  Little A was one week old when I arrived for her newborn session.  And it was a dream session.  Even her big sister J cooperated and we got some wonderful images of the two of them together.  I even had some time to snap a few of J while A had a feeding.

Cindy,  Thank you for allowing me to capture such amazing moments for your family.  I'm so excited for you, Joe and your house of girls!  Please enjoy a few of my faves.

Please check out more Elmira newborn session images here!

St. Jacob's Market Fire - Elmira Photographer

I'm sitting here this morning nearly in tears.  As a local business owner it makes me so sad to hear about the fire at the St. Jacob's Farmers Market.  This was a wonderful tourist attraction and meeting place for the community.  Many of my favourite vendors have other retail locations and although the market provided one stop shopping for me every Thursday, I can still visit these amazing people by taking a drive throughout Waterloo Region.

Here is where you can find my favourite vendors.

Brady's Meat and Deli - local, certified organic, natural drug-free and specialty meats,
 8-465 Phillip Street
Waterloo, ON
519-885-3390
http://bradysmeats.com/

Hilltop Acres Poultry- Beautiful free-range poultry
1501 Maple Bend Rd
Bloomingdale, On
519-743-6884
http://www.hilltopacrespoultry.ca/
Caudles Catch Seafood-Amazing, Fresh seafood
Kitchener Market
Bauer Lofts
Seafood Superstore: 60 Otonabee Drive, Kitchener, Ontario
519-894-0442
http://www.caudlescatchseafood.com/home

Nauman's Farm - Fresh fruit & vegetables
3250 Hessen Strasse R.R. #1
St. Clements, Ontario N0B 2M0
519) 699-5524
http://www.naumanfarm.com/

Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes!- making delicious treats!
http://www.marketcupcakes.com/
marketcupcakes@gmail.com

Edgar & Irene Gingerich Maple Syrup products
Drayton, On
669-2084

Kitchen Kuttings - Summer Sausage, Jams and preserves, cheese!
2 Arthur Street South
Elmira, Ont
519-669-8225
http://www.kitchenkuttings.com/ 

Full of Beans Coffee Bar - amazing coffee, tea and atmosphere
NEW LOCATION opening Monday Sept 9th

Victoria St Market Place
1575 Victoria St

Also home to Finest Sausage and Meats & Caudles Catch




If you have a favourite vendor, feel free to add it in the comments - Let's rebuild this amazing community!


The St. Jacob's Market posted this to their facebook page on September 2, 2013:

We lost the main food building at the Market to a fire early Labour Day morning. Thanks to all the firefighters who came out to help us. They did a great job in making sure the fire didn’t spread to other buildings on the property. We are very grateful that no one was hurt.

Our hearts go out to all of the great vendors in that building. Many of them were there since the building opened back in the late 1980’s. There is a long road ahead, but we will build a new home for your businesses.

We have a huge outdoor market, and another indoor food and flea market building, and our hope is to keep it open this week. At this very early stage, we can’t give a definite answer on that, but please stay tuned for further updates.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has reached out to us this morning. We have always said that the market is not the buildings. It’s the people – the vendors, customers, the whole community. We’re very humbled by the sense of ownership and pride that so many people have for this market. We will bring it back!

Photo by Rob Brady

Elmira Family Photographer. Aren't prints obsolete?

I recently had a conversation with my sister after photographing her newborn daughter.  We did her follow up sales session where she chose 3 amazing canvas gallery wraps.  I'm so excited to see them on her wall!  But she also expressed an interest in getting more images.  She mentioned the digital files and I no longer offer the digital files as a stand alone product.  I have very, very good reasons for this.  Most my clients want the digital files for 2 reasons. 1-so that they can post them online or share/email them.  2-to make prints (for gifts or for their walls/albums).  But aside from posting them to facebook they NEVER do anything with the files.  They rarely find the time to get them printed, they find it difficult to even choose their favourites and now except a nearly obsolete disk of files, they don't have anything to show for it.  Most don't even have their images backed up.  They spent time and energy shopping for clothing, fixing hair and stressing over how everyone looked.  They worried whether the children would behave and hoped no one would have a temper tantrum during the session - and they have nothing to show for it!  No portrait hanging on their wall, no lovely image of their kids in their wallet, and not a single image their children will see everyday.  This is the biggest reason to have actual hold-in-your-hand photographs. Our kids need to see themselves belonging!  We, the parents, get to see it everyday.  Our background image on our phone, our cover photo on our facebook page or our profile image.   But our kids aren't on the computer and they don't do social media.  Where would they see these images?  Really think about this - our kids just don't get the opportunity to see these photographs!

I recently had my own family portraits done and it was hard - hard to get it all together and hard to even choose my faves - but it was so worth it!  Afterward, I let my kids choose an image to put in their rooms.  They didn't pick the adorable shot of them alone - they picked a picture of the whole family or one with their siblings.  This was really shocking to me but that was their favourite!

And so continues my mission to get your photos off of your hard-drive and facebook pages and onto the walls in your home.

family photograph by Jennifer Son

Elmira Children's Photographer. mom+camera

Welcome to my newest blog series called mom+camera.  This is for all the moms out there who love taking photographs of their children, but want to learn more.  If you want to understand your camera more, are looking for a few "posing" tips or want to learn a little about getting the final image to look how you want it to.  Check here for a new post every couple of weeks.  All the images I show in this series will be images of my own children - so you can see that it can be done!

This week, I want to talk about where to begin.  If you children are much like mine, when you mention the idea of taking photos, they groan, or whine, or run the other way. So what should you do?  Every child is different, but what I've found is that making a game out of it is fun for everyone.  Let them be kids, let them play, run, stick their tongue out.  The reason we photograph them is because we want to stop time.  We want to remember them the way they are right now.  Also, don't expect much.  I usually get less than 10 images if I'm doing individual portraits.  But if I'm attempting a shot of all 3, I'm lucky to get 1 that I love.

If you have older children, the attention span will be better, but the attitude might be different.  It might be easier for them to pretend you are someone else.  But then don't act like mom - act like somebody else and you might have more success.  That's why your children will behave entirely differently if you hire a pro for portraits.

This image was purely an accident - in fact, I didn't even know I had gotten it until I was reviewing them on my computer.

Check back in a couple weeks for another mom+camera post.  Next installment: focusing tips and tricks.