Memorial Day

Thanks and prayers to those who serve our country.

Senior pictures - Jacob

We started Jacob's session at his high school and it provided lots of possibilities for great backgrounds.

Senior pictures - Jacob, a few more

Beach portraits look great in black and white too.

Jacob was happy to put his jacket on by this time as it was getting chilly. I applied a dreamy, grainy effect to this one.

Loved the texture of this old log on the beach. That great smile is pretty nice too!

This one is perfect with a high contrast sepia look.

Senior Graduation is a perfect time for a family portrait too. Mom did a great job coordinating the sweaters for this.

Senior pictures - Boys of (almost) summer

Had a blast photographing Jacob's second senior portrait session. Some of his buddies met us down at the beach to pose for a few and show off their fine form. These guys have been friends since they were little boys so this will be a memorable keepsake at this turning point in their lives. A lifelong friendship is a rare and wonderful thing, and a portrait together is a great way to honor that friendship. It was a cool day but they braved the weather so we could get the shot. Thanks guys!

Drop and give me 20

Regan shows excellent form doing push-ups in her very fashionable work out attire!All that hard work pays off - she looks fabulous in her pretty pink dress.
I applied a softly hand colored look to this portrait.

Lil cuppa luv

Casey fit perfectly in my new prop for babies, giving us lots of cute expressions as she checked it out.
Love the soft, fuzzy hair and long lashes!

Senior Pictures - Kial, Vintage Hollywood style

Hmm, seem to be having trouble posting to this blog. This was to be with the photos below.

I was thrilled when Kial scheduled her Senior Portraits with me because she wanted to do her entire session in the style of the 40's Hollywood portraits. I've long admired the work of that era by photographers such as George Hurrell and Clarence Bull so was excited to create some images in a similar fashion.

The lighting, wardrobe and styling are key elements to this look. Most photographers today use light modifiers such as softboxes to produce a large, soft, wrapping light that is flattering/forgiving for most subjects.

The studio portrait photographers of the 40's used many precisely placed lights to accent their subject, highlighting features with a more concentrated light source that produced deep shadows. This type of light is also less forgiving in that it revealed texture and imperfections. Thus the need for heavy retouching to the negative using chalk and a magnifying glass, to achieve a flawless complexion on the finished print. Although it's still paramount to capture the image properly in camera, we've come a long way and now the skilled artist can perfect and enhance wondrously with Photoshop.

Kial brought in several fabulous outfits that were perfect for her session and we had a lot of fun channeling Marlene Dietrich!

Senior Pictures - Kial, a few more, Vintage Hollywood style Senior

Happy Easter!

Easter eggs

Thank goodness these eggs are unbreakable because they were certainly "tested" during this session for Genevieve's one year portraits. She gave us happy smiles at the start and we captured wonderful images but after about 20 minutes she was done, which is pretty normal for this age.

Hats are adorable on little girls, but often little girls don't agree - she took that thing off as fast as it was placed on her head! Oh, well, still cute.

3 generations

Regan' s grandma came for a visit with her new granddaughter so this was the perfect opportunity for a 3 generation portrait with baby, mom and grandma. They did a great job coordinating their clothing and I love how it allows the faces and baby to stand out.

A few more from her 3 month session.

Purse stolen

It's been quite a week - my purse was stolen last Sunday while prop shopping at one of my fav stores, Joanne's Fabrics. I stupidly left it sitting in the cart at the end of the aisle while I looked at something for a minute, turned back and it was gone. Didn't hear or see a thing and neither did anyone else, although we're waiting to see what the store cameras might have captured. Of course all the usual important items were in there, but won't do the thief much good as we have closed the accounts and changed the locks. They tried to use two cards within the hour at an ATM but both were declined.

So I just wanted to pass on some advice to prevent this from happening to others. The obvious is don't leave your purse unguarded. I saw another woman doing the same thing in a store this week and she was very appreciative of my warning to be more careful. We all get so busy, with our minds on other things, not noticing others around who may be watching us to see if we might be an easy target. We need to just be "in the moment", taking heed of who and what is going on around us.

I found a website with lots of great tips on being prepared, like make copies of your credit card front and back and store at home, make a list of everything normally carried in your purse/wallet, don't carry your entire checkbook and register, clean those cc and atm receipts out of your wallet/purse, etc. Take a moment to read this and follow through: http://www.whathappensnow.com/sec_item.cfm?sec_uid=c323e6bb-72ce-4c9a-af65-214ea4f241b5&sec=BP&cat=PER&event_id=9

Easter bunny portraits

More new props for Easter portraits. They don't run away and they don't make a mess!

Another cute one of Bennett during his 6 month session.

New props!

I've purchased some new props recently and tried them out during Lillians 9 month session. I had an idea for a portrait so visited Ebay and bought this antique phone, with the metal dialer that makes the distinctive sound. Strange that this phone is considered antique. I thought this portrait would be perfect to use on the contact page of my new website. Thanks Lillian!

Perfectly precious, prettily perched in pink. Here's my new baby bench, from Wicker by Design, perfect for little ones to sit comfortably, with high sides to hold on to if needed.



Doesn't she have the prettiest eyes?

New Website!

Announcing the release of my new website! Check it out and let me know what you think. Same web address as before - www.colleenphoto.com

Acting Headshots

Nathan is a rising star who was in the movie Babel, which recently won the Golden Globe for best drama, and was just nominated for a best picture Academy Award. You may also have seen him last fall in the TV series Runaway. Such a smart, polite, personable young man! He comes from a family of actors and it was a pleasure to photograph him and his sisters for their updated headshots.

Lillian 6 months

Here's new photos of 6 month old Lillian. Giggles, expressions, playing, eyelashes.