We wish everyone safe travels, fun times, happy families and full bellies. My personal favorite is the mashed potatoes and gravy…and the cranberries…and the corn … oh just everything … except the sweet potatoes – I do not like sweet potatoes.

Like our clients we have busy personal events today through Friday. While we’ll be in and out and around to get all the orders in we may be hard to reach until Monday.

Amy and Marcy

We are right in the heart of family portrait season. I thought  it would be fun to go to some photographers I know around the country and get tips from them about how they prepare for their own holiday portraits. Enjoy.

Let the Photographer Lead. Preparing for a Family Portrait thanks to Laura of Five Petals Photography in St. Louis.

I let the photographer lead! I try not to say, “Do this, don’t do that.” When I do that, I just end up mad. If dd, who is 3, won’t listen, I’ll take her to the side and tell her, “This is just for a few more minutes. Can you please smile nice for Miss Sara and then we’ll be done quick and we can go for ice cream.” When she calms down, we try again. If she won’t listen, we move on and take pictures without her until she realizes it’s no fun to be excluded. Only lasts a minute or so and then we praise her a lot for being in the pics.

I also make sure I am looking at the camera if I am going for a posed shot and I tell my DH to do the same. You miss so many shots because mom and dad are busy trying to get the kids to look that they never look.

Schedule your portrait in the Summer Preparing for a Family Portrait thanks to Doug of Kdog Photography in Kansas City.  I schedule a family portrait every year with my partners (usually Rachel, because she turns things around faster than Philip!) in the summer. I put it on the calendar, and Rachel says that week, “Oh, I’m shooting your family, huh?”We dress like we usually do – I’m in khakis or shorts, Nancy is in a skirt and Xen wears her favorite dress (sometimes it’s a skirt). We pick a location and go out and have some fun. There is no pressure, because I can always schedule a redo — but there shouldn’t be pressure for our clients, either, as we offer free redos if the kiddos just weren’t feeling it.Here are some pix from our last couple of years:



Dougs Pic

Let the kids have a voice in what they wear. Preparing for a family portrait from Amy Stone of Jady Images. I have one person in my family who cares A LOT about what she wears at all times. I let her set style for the family portrait. She picks what she’s wearing and then I coordinate all the others around this. We even did this when her choice was her Little Mermaid costume because I would rather have had a happy participant with an outfit I didn’t choose than an impossible portrait because one person is really unhappy.

Mix it Up. Preparing for a family portrait from Tom Leininger. I do not do seasonal family portraits. I have been photographing my kids enough in a casual manor that when I try to get them together to do something, it is a major pain in the neck, because they have not done it. My tip would be to not always do the same thing. Four seasons, four different portraits. Mix it up and have fun. Just because everyone does something formal, does not mean I have to. My biggest thing is to be prepared for the weather. If I can get seasonal weather I try and take advantage of it.

Get the kids involved. Preparing for a family portrait from Marcella Pelaez of Jady Images.  We always do a Christmas portrait of the kids. We start planning in November. The girls get really involved in picking both the clothes and the location. One year we did the photos in Yosemite Park. They really get involved which helps make it fun.

So here are five tips from folks who are photographers as well as parents. Okay – two of them are from here at Jady Images. I did intend for more variety but it’s a busy time and not everybody got back to me by my deadline.

Hopefully they are fun and helpful. Watch for more fun collaborative posts here in the future. Of course, if you’re interested in contributing just drop us a line we like to make new friends.

Until next time – Amy