To all my past and future clients – thanks for your support and for trusting me with your precious photos!  Looking forward to the New Year!

- Crystal

You’ve met my gorgeous friend Amy, right? 

Amy loves photography as much as I do so I’ve had the chance to shoot her and her family a couple of times.  Most recently, her equally gorgeous sisters.  Who I love.  They’re a ton of fun and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them over the last couple of years.

They’re a lucky family, to be so close.  It never fails; whenever I get together with them I think about my own sister.  What we would have had as adults.  It’s a joy to get together with these guys for just that reason – they share a great friendship and closeness among each other that I can relate to. 

Thanks for a great session, girls!

… when photographers try to get pictures of their own kids for holiday cards. Notice how happy the toddler is.

This family drove all the way from Virginia to have their pictures taken with me – what an honor!  Of course, they are also family.  But I like to think they really wanted ME to do their pictures.

Crazy weather and hectic schedules meant several re-schedules but we finally bit the bullet and went for it one morning.  They had to get up at 4 a.m. to arrive in time for my preferred lighting, but I think the results are totally worth it.

The whole family took direction well, staying relaxed and happy and generally stepping back so I could do my thing.  I even roped the dad into being my assistant several times.   Thanks, Laura, for trusting me with your pictures.  And for just trusting me.

Aren’t they adorable?  That’s what I thought the minute I met them, anyway.

See how they’re all looking at the camera?  I know some of you with young children worry you won’t get a picture with everyone looking at the camera.  This all depends on a few things: 1) how many young children are at the shoot, 2) what mood they’re in, and 3) keeping a handy trick in mind: Mom and Dad– keep your “face” on until the photographer tells you to let go.  At some point the sun and moon will align and the child will look at the camera; if you’re busy telling him/her to look at the camera when that happens, you’ll miss your shot.

Bring on the Holiday Mini Event (and toddlers who could care less about getting in the family picture).

[Reprinted from a post I published on my personal blog a year ago...but a good reminder to myself and to current and future clients...]

If you’re like me, you have hundreds of pictures of your children, of your children with your husband, of your children with your parents, of your children with the neighbor - with the neighbor’s dog – but only about four of you with your children.

You say it’s because you’re the family photographer and historian – no one ever thinks to take the camera out of your hands and take a picture.  But if you are, in fact, like me, the real reason is you hate your profile:

My dad always told me I had a ski slope for a nose (which, by the way, is totally HIS nose).

Or maybe you dread the obligatory double, sometimes triple, chin (does anyone see a neck in this picture?):

Or – Or - you have some physical defect you stay blissfully unaware of until you see pictures of yourself.  I have one that is actually literally exacerbated by pictures.  I was born with several unrelated defects in my right eye (a congenital eyelid ptosis and Duane’s Syndrome) and between the surgery for the ptosis and the syndrome itself, and depending on camera flash or the direction I am looking in, it’s phenomenally worse:

You can see it a little bit here.  I only recently learned the name for it (Duane’s Syndrome); it’s supposedly rare.  A good half of every picture I take, if at the wrong angle, highlights the disparity between my eyes, and sometimes looks ghoul-ish.  So I tend to avoid being photographed.

But I’ve recently realized I need to get in the picture already.

On this day, the light was good.  And I had bothered to put on a little makeup for dinner out with friends.  And so I begrudgingly gave up creative control and handed over the camera to my husband.  Yeah, there were some blurry shots.  And fakey smiles.  And a bunch where one of us wasn’t looking at the camera.

But there were also those precious few.

The ones I’ll look back and love not because they’re picture-perfect and frame-ready.  But because they remind me of the way we were.

See how the baby almost looks like an afterthought in the above picture?  Like I’m barely hanging on to her? Oh well.  At least we have one of the three of us.

Evyn turned four last weekend and we went to a pumpkin farm (pics to come).  I gave the camera to James.  See my Special Occasion Pimple?  Back in the day I called it The Wedding Zit because it always, without fail, showed up when I was in a wedding.  Right there.  In the middle of my forehead.  What’s that?  You don’t see it?  Trust me, it’s there.  (which brings up another point: sometimes no one notices all that stuff but you)

My solution to those kind of days?  Turn to the side and do a kissy face.

Or just play.

There’s that nose.  Grr.  Oh well.  I look like I’m having fun with my baby, don’t I?  That’s what I’ll remember when I revisit these pictures the day Ashlyn leaves for college…

I wanted one with Evyn, too.  I have a number of pictures like this:

But I eventually got this:

So here’s your challenge this week. Take advantage of a day when you’ve bothered to put on some blush, and go outside or get near a window and hand someone the camera.  Tell the picture-taker to just snap away while you fart around with the kids and try not to worry too much about your hair and your chin(s) and the fat roll.  You’ll look better if you just relax a little.  Yes, it’s kind of a hassle.  It takes a few minutes that you’d rather be putting toward the dishes or dinner or a phone call.  And you’ll have to take thirty pictures to get three you love.  But you’ll have them.  And your kids will have them. And if you’re a blogger, your readers will get to take a look at ya once in a while (if you dare to post them).

I had enough interest in Christmas cards this year that I thought it would be a good idea to include a more contemporary set of cards as well! Happy window-shopping!

Merry & Bright 1:

Merry & Bright 2:

Merry & Bright 3:

Merry & Bright 4:

Merry & Bright 5:

Merry & Bright 6:

If you signed up for the Holiday Mini Event – thank you!  I’m looking forward to your session.  Here are the templates available:

34th Street 1

34th Street 2:

34th Street 3:

34th Street 4:

34th Street 5:

34th Street 6:

34th Street 7:

34th Street 8:

I typically don’t shoot weddings.  Actually, I never shoot weddings.  Mostly because I’m afraid I will get a bride like me.  I could never work with someone like me.

Thankfully, Stephanie and her crew are not at all like me.  Last weekend I got a chance to second-shoot with a wonderfully laid-back photographer, on a gorgeous day, against the backdrop of North Carolina farmland – for a beautiful couple.

These were a few favorites I picked off of my smallest memory card.  I’m looking forward to see what bits and goodies I find on my other card…stay tuned!