Preparing for your portrait session

How to prepare

Seniors

Senior pictures are a lasting memento for your parents and you. It's a glimpse of who you are at the beginning of adulthood. It's not about the pose. It's not about the lighting. It's not about the clothes. It's not about the location. It's about YOU.


Whether you feel really confident about what you want and are ready to go, or feel shy and don't know what to do, we'll work to make your portrait be what you want it to be.

Your best preparation is to think about how you see yourself, who you are you at 18, and what you want to say about yourself in a portrait.

Senior pictures should reveal your individual style. We'll work on-site, we'll try things and we'll try some more things. Your pictures won't be like anybody else's pictures because these are yours and they are about you.

Engagements / Weddings

Your engagement / wedding is about you, not about your photographer. I want to photograph your engagement, bridal portraits, and wedding so that if someone wasn't there, they can look at your album and feel as if they spent the day with you. They'll know how you looked... and even better, they'll know how you felt...

The details of photographing a wedding are customized to you. Your wedding photography will reflect your individual plans and your individual style. We'll talk about it at length before the day and make detailed plans about your wishes. My main task will be to take that discussion and create your story so that anyone can read it... especially you, 50, 75, or 100 years from now.

I also highly recommend pre-wedding pictures. No matter what photographer you choose, please have engagement and bridal pictures taken. Pre-wedding portraits provide a study of how you will look on your wedding day, your hairstyle, the details of your dress, hair, and make-up. Although you are photographed on your wedding day, the relaxed atmosphere of the pre-wedding sessions allows for capturing the fine details of you on your special day. This allows the wedding day to become about capturing your expressions, your relationship with your fiancé, and your relationship with your friends, and family.

You need to find a photographer that you feel comfortable with so you won't look fake or stressed in your pictures. You need to be able to make your photographer really understand what you want. We specialize in listening first and photographing you with your desires in mind. We'll do our best to make your wedding portraits match your vision and your needs.

 

Children

Your goal for your professional portraiture session for your child may be to show your child's individual personality, a reserved study, the relationship between you and your child or between siblings, or, simply, capturing an intangible quality of that child's age and interests. Dressing up as a princess or a cowboy, playing with Mommy's jewelry, engaging others through a particular expression or activity, capturing your child painting (the painting and portrait look amazing side by side) and much more are all fleeting moments that we can help you capture forever.

We treat children as capable individuals, with respect, and honor their requests and wishes. In our experience, we find children do better when their parents are relaxed. Our technique is to interact with children and, with their feedback, decide how to best photograph each child. We wait for the unguarded moment and until they are relaxed, then take the picture.

It is a joy to photograph children because they are innocent, wonder-filled and, because they haven't become self-conscious, it is possible to capture their individuality. This means that their entire sitting becomes a true reflection of your child's spirit and personality.

Families

We understand that getting a family together, large or small, is difficult. Some family members never want their pictures taken. Some insist they need to lose weight, to postpone a session because there are more important things to attend to, or that it isn't really important.  However, it's important to remember that family photographs are some of the most treasured pictures you'll ever own, and if you wait too long it may never happen.

Families change all the time. Relationships between grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, parents and children, and new additions to the family need to be recognized. Families are extraordinarily dynamic and it's essential to capture moments in time that will never be repeated.

Think about scheduling a themed session such as inviting your family for a BBQ, picnic, or a sports match up. Or schedule us to come and capture your family reunion so you can enjoy the day while we capture the memories. These events will create some awesome memories and you will have great portraits to remind you of the fun day.

Our advice is to allow us to help you organize and expedite your family portraits in a low-key, relaxed, and enjoyable setting so that your family's moments will never be lost. Your whole family will be glad you did.

Steps to a Happy Life (part 2)

Steps to a Happy Life with Positive Attitude

Step 2: Rid Your Life of Negativity

If you want to live a positive, joyful and happy life, you cannot –- absolutely CANNOT -– be surrounded by negative people who are not encouraging your happiness. Negative people attract other negative people.

When I decided to make the change to live a more positive life, I had to rid my life of all of the negative people in it. This, as you can imagine, wasn’t easy. Getting rid of people hurts -– even when you know they aren’t good for you or your current lifestyle.

Not only did I have to get rid of the negative people, but I also had to get rid of the negative things too. I had to stop doing certain things that were causing negativity in my life. I had to take a step back and examine which behaviors were good for me and which were not.

I learned to focus on the positive things I was doing and let go of the negative ones. This process was not easy and to be honest, is still ongoing, but I know this: having negativity in your life prevents you from living a truly positive existence and from being truly happy.

Steps to a Happy Life (part 1)

Steps to a Happy Life with Positive Attitude

 

Step 1: Believe Happiness is a Choice

For me, this was a hard one at first. I thought that people were either unhappy or happy (and I was one of the unhappy ones). I used to blame this on all kinds of outside forces –- fate, experiences, parents, relationships –- but never really stopped to think that I could choose to be happy.

Sure, this isn’t always easy, but it is always, always an option. Teaching myself to see that happiness is a choice has been one of the greatest things I’ve ever done for myself.

Now when I find myself in a bad situation, I know that it’s up to me to find the good, to be happy regardless of what’s happening around me. I am no longer pointing fingers, placing blame. I realize that everything happens how it happens and it’s up to me to choose how I want to feel about it. I am in control of my happiness level and no one can take that away from me.

Life

LIFE

1. the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally. 
2. the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, especially metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment. 
3. the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual: to risk one's life; a short life and a merry one. 
4. a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul: eternal life. 
5. the general or universal condition of human existence: Too bad, but life is like that.

We all want a happy life, and we all know that having a positive attitude feels better than a negative one. But for some reason, we are all attracted to and can be easily drawn to the negative side. How do we go about to establish a more positive attitude as a daily habit?

Even for someone like me, a naturally positive person, having a positive attitude is not always easy.

I still sometimes see the world through a negative perspective, focusing on the bad and ignoring the good — especially when things aren’t going the way I had hoped. As I’ve been struggling with this lately, I’ve been reminding myself that it really is possible to change my perspective.

About a year ago, I decided I was going to make a change in my life. I was going to start looking for the good, seeking the positive, and striving to make every day a joyful experience.

This was something I would have never imagined myself doing, but it’s something that has impacted my life every single day since then. I’ve had to do a lot to get to where I am right now, and I still believe I have a long way to go.

I’m not searching for any particular end point, however. All I want is to be happy, to live a life that focuses more on the good than the bad (though I do believe you need both to have a happy life).

On this road — this twisting, turning road to happiness — there have been many ups and downs. There have been challenges — cancer, my daughter's thyroidism, my husband's diabetes, etc. There have been inspirations — beauty around us, music, art, my daughters, good friends, etc. There have been many amazing experiences that I never would have had if I had not made the choice to live a positive and happy life.

Recently, as I struggle to be positive about certain challenging situations in my life, I’ve been giving some serious thought to how I transformed my outlook from negative-focused to a more positive-focused one. (Note: I don’t always see the good. Like everyone, I have good days and bad days, but, for the most part, there has been a BIG shift in my attitude over the past year or so).

Though I have to admit that there are many, many factors involved in my personal development — such as my business, the countless books and blogs I read, creating my blogs, and surrounding myself with happy, supportive people — I can say that, at the most basic level, choosing to be positive has helped me the most in terms of becoming the person I want to be.

When I think back on my transformation now, I recognize that there are certain steps that lead to the best ways to begin stumbling down that path to happiness by establishing a habit of positive attitude.

Over the next few days, I will expand on my journey and talk about those steps — and the impact on my photography and craft business. Join me on my journey.

The Perception of Beauty

You can read the entire Washington Post article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Picturing "You"

“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” – Paul Caponigro

When it comes down to who you choose to professionally photograph you or your family, it's important to find someone that captures "you".

Thank you for considering Dawn Michelle Creations! I realize that your choice in a photographer is personal and I would consider it an honor to capture the important moments in your life.

We translate our passion for storytelling into images destined to last you a lifetime. Since you’ll probably want fitting ways to show them off, we offer an endless array of eye-catching options for hanging, decorating, sending, and sharing – all available the same day you receive your prints.

Once we capture your story, you get to choose how it gets displayed. We give you options – from archive-quality canvas hanging on your wall to photo cards you drop in the mail to grandparents. We offer a variety of print sizes for you, from a large 30x40 down to mini wallet-sized gems your kids can share with their friends. Best of all, choose one of our package sets and you can do all of the above!