These are a series of mini photo shoots, both planned and impromptu, that I have done for my family members over the years. I was first introduced to the world of photography when I assisted an editorial photographer in 2013. I picked up a few camera techniques from working with various photographers and I learned about posing and time management techniques after working for retail portrait studios, but at the moment I don’t have any plans of pursuing it full time. My main goal with photography is to be able to capture quality portraits for my immediate family.
Portrait sessions are can be very emotional experiences that can either leave clients filled with joy or traumatized for years. Good quality portrait photographers, in my opinion, have a thorough understanding of how important it is to make their clients feel confident and comfortable in their own skin. After all, it directly impacts their work. When it comes to portrait photography, the experience of the session is just as significant as the final products.
When I worked at a retail portrait studio, I had quite a few friends and family members come by. Associates were expected to only spend a total of 30 minutes with the clients with 15 minutes shooting and 15 minutes selling. Although it’s fairly doable, moods and situations can change at the drop of a dime so sessions can quickly get stressful even for experienced photographers. It’s imperative that photographers know how to:
Problem solve efficiently and effectively
Demonstrate attention to detail practice (This can save a lot of time in post production)
Listen and provide quality customer service
And most of all, think ahead and try to predict any potential disruptions
To try and help my clients be as prepared as possible, I created the following guide and shared it with them prior to their shoot
Photo shoot preparation guide
September 2019
I did a multiple shoot session for my inlaws and it was an all-hands-on-deck adventure. We had a lot of great energy on set and needed every hand we could afford. The main event was a series of fall-themed portraits. In an addition to fall portraits, we did a baby announcement and some cultural birthday portraits.
Being that I don’t photograph very often and that I don’t always have an assistant with a photo knowledge base available, I try to plan ahead as much as possible. I create a shot list of basic poses, so that I can cover all my bases and get some addition creative shots. This both gives me peace of mind and allows me to be fully present in the moment since I know that if things ever get too stressful or if we get sidetracked, I have a printed guide of logistics already outlined. Like I mentioned, I don’t shoot often so I’ll even print out a few inspiration poses to help job my memory.
September 2018
My husband and I got engaged in Dec 2017 and wanted to have a meet and greet party for our families. We also set up a mini photoshoot in my brother’s living room because I wanted to get headshots of everyone so I could make family trees to share with our guests and wedding vendors so they would know who was who.
At that time I didn’t have appropriate modifiers of my own to use for portrait photos. I used a clam shell set up because I was aiming to take individual headshots, but then we started to take a few group family photos. The images came out sharp, but would have been a lot better if I had a modifier to soften the light.
July 2018
My nephew Roman’s birthday was coming up and my husband and I were babysitting him and his sister on and off that summer. We decided to do a mini photoshoot in their living room so Roman could have some portraits to use for cards or invitations. We also ended up creating a few games and decorations for his fishing themed birthday party.
December 2016
This was one of those shoot where the experience was more valuable than the final products. Not everyone was thrilled about their final looks so I ended up doing some heavy handed editing and the images ended up having that blurry “glamour” shots feel. We still got some great shots in.
November 2016
One of the first shoots we ever did was in 2015 with my nieces and their sports equipment. We decided to give it another shot, but this time with them in full uniform.
August 2016
2016 was the first year that any of my mom’s grandkids had gotten the chance to meet their great grandmother, Gregoria Ramos. It had been quite some time since my aunts and uncles had a family portrait and I didn’t have any lighting equipment so I shot in natural light. I had a lightweight travel tripod we set up on my grandmother’s patio where we were luckily able to take advantage of the green landscaping.
I can’t remember who came up the idea, but my mom told me that the theme was going to be red. As you go through the album you’ll see that we had a few outfit changes. That’s because we ended up taking more photos each time new cousins stopped by the house haha.
July 2016
I used a 3 light set up for the images on the white backdrop and a clamshell setup for the close ups. I used a one light set up with a large octobox modifier for the images on the grey background and a clam shell setup for the close ups.
My sister, MJ, and her daughters brought a few outfits for the girls try out. I don’t remember if we were shooting for a specific occasion or just so I could practice. Either way, we had a lot of fun and the images turned out great. I remember my youngest niece (at the time) was just dropping by the studio at the end of our session to say hi. We asked her to stand in for a photo and used a ladder to get her level with the clam shell setup. I got her posed and ask her not to smile for the first photo and she unknowingly delivered an astounding performance lol.
October 2015
I want to say these photos were taken in Charlottesville, VA at an apple orchard. We met up with my brother’s family for my sister in-law’s birthday.
September 2015
This shoot was for my nephew’s first birthday. It was entirely too bright the first day we did the shoot, which is the second batch of images shared. It never hurts to redo a project you’re not satisfied with.
The first batch of images shared below is from a reshoot we did in our own backyard. He always has a great smile to share with the camera so I wanted to take the time to capture that and it was well worth it.
I did end up designing a thank you card for his birthday party with an image from the first shoot.
April 2015
My husband’s, at the time boyfriend, family had not taken a family portrait in quite some years. At the time I was working at a retail portrait studio and invited them in to come get a session in. We had a lot of different combinations of shots to get in order to fill up the printed family album. It all ran very smoothly and we got some great images that will last for years.
January 2015
I believe this was one of the first times we used my DSLR camera and we just grabbed some shots in my sisters backyard. Any photos that I’m in were more than likely shot by my husband. I didn’t (and still don’t) have much experience with natural light photography, but I did know that we needed to try and go out around golden hour.
I think we decided to take these photos just so I could get some practice. My nieces played softball for many years so we decided to grab some shots of them with their equipment.
