Saturday, April 28, 2012

Pug Portrait Shoot - Cecil County, Maryland Pet Photographer

I had such fun working with the most adorable little five month old pug this week! Libby has only been in her new home a short time, but you can tell she has just settled right in to a routine of cuddles and kisses. She really wanted to hop down and play with her boy, but she's so good and patient that she let me shoot an entire half hour session instead.

Taking a moment to enjoy her very loud squeaky toy.
Sweet pug puppy portrait
Capturing a dogs personality is important to me when I am doing a pet portrait session.



As someone who has a few beat up little snapshots of her favorite childhood dogs, I know the importance of a nice pet portrait. My guys have new portraits done at least once a year so I know I will always have beautiful memories of when they were rambunctious puppies or energetic young dogs to look back on. Schedule a session for your pet so you can create lasting memories of those times with your beloved fur baby, too.

New puppy? Consider a fun Watch Me Grow puppy package. Three sessions at  8-10 weeks, 4-6 months and one year, a 5x7 print from each session and  a 10x20 collage portrait that includes an image from each session at the end of the program for only $200.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Pamper Yourself With a Beauty/Fashion Session - Cecil County Glamour Photography

When you're doing the car pool, activities, homework routine, it is easy to forget that you are a woman as well as a mom. Pampering yourself with a beauty session can be a fun way to remind yourself (and your partner) that you are still that woman.

Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

To set up your session, call me at 410-378-4521, e-mail me or message me on Katelyn Thomas Photography's facebook page. Want to really pamper yourself? Add one of the excellent make up artists I've used for past sessions to your session package.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Fun Cecil County Family Portrait Session

I like to make taking portraits at least a little fun after the kids got all dressed up and agreed to do a family photo session to make their mom happy. So, we started out pretty traditional. We got the standard family portrait shots and the nice head shots of these absolute cuties and their lovely mom.






Then, their mom mentioned wanting something silly, so I invited them to goof off. It started with the standard little things we do when people take our photos. But I just knew they could have a little more fun than that.

 


  And I was right! How cute and happy are they? Seriously. Like they just took everything great about childhood and stuffed it in a single image. 


Spring is a really great time to get your on location family portraits done. There are plenty of opportunities for fantastic light and everything is so green and fresh. The weather is nice, but not too hot. And everyone is feeling, well, springy. Book your session now to create some beautiful images of your family and get your Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts covered, too.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Civil War Encampment - Cecil County Event Photographer

I do love re-enactments. There is really no better way to learn history. Take this Civil War encampment in Perryville, Maryland I got to shoot over the weekend. I learned that a good re-enactor will know how to stack his rifle in this teepee style fashion. Soldiers did this to keep their guns out of the mud and close at hand. How cool is that?
Stacking rifles appears to be quite an art. (Taken with my new, fun micro 4/3 camera and a quirky art filter.)



I also learned that the Union soldiers abandoned a lot of gear, like their incredibly heavy greatcoats, along the side of the road in the summer months. And food? Hard tack is something you chew and chew and...chew. So thankful for the nice soft dinner roll I enjoyed with my polenta a few hours later!

In between learning all the cool, historical tidbits, I had fun shooting the actual event. The men were learning to march in step, present arms and load their rifles. (And that is NOT easy. percussion caps and tearing powder packets open with their teeth...I was glad I was firing cameras and not rifles!)
The two sides were drilling together in the morning in perfect harmony. All that, of course, would change during an actual battle re-enactment.

A Confederate cap sits abandoned on a twig. The owner says all that wool gets mighty hot during summer re-enactments.

The Union soldiers review the loading procedures for their muskets. 
If you get a chance to visit one of these wonderfully educational events with your family, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I had such fun!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Welcome Them Home - Giving Back to Our Military Families in Cecil County

I am very proud and exited to announce that I am a photographer for Welcome Them Home, an organization that connects photographers with families that would like to document their loved one's homecoming. It is truly an honor to give back in this small way to the men and women who put their lives at home on hold and sacrificed so much to fight for my freedom. 

If you are in Cecil County and have a service man or woman returning home, please contact me about a free Welcome Home session and 8x10 photograph. Not in the Cecil County area? Check the Welcome Them Home website to find a photographer in your area who participates.



Thursday, April 12, 2012

C Photo Shoot - Dance Portraits Cecil County, Maryland

A lovely dancer wanting some high school portraits and photos of her costumes, a talented make up artist and some fun backdrops. Talk about an easy and fun session to shoot! We had so much fun and her images turned out absolutely gorgeous. Dancers seem to instinctively have graceful hands, so I only had to suggest minor adjustments to create poses that did justice to these beautiful costumes.

The weather was pretty chilly, so we stayed in the studio for the whole session. Since we didn't have the option of splitting the session and getting some dramatic outdoor shots, I used my beauty dish for lighting. This allowed me to create a bit of a shadow and give the photos a more high fashion look.

High school dancer wearing a blue and black princess costume
Dancer in princess costume - Port Deposit High School Portrait - Cecil County, Maryland

Dancer with a red fan wearing a flamenco costume
High school photography session - dancer in flamenco costume with fan - Cecil County, Maryland

Head shot with make up
Make up is not just for fashion/glamour sessions. Cecil County high school photography
(Liz Hernandez, the make up artist who did this session, does a fantastic job with senior portrait make up. She enhances natural beauty so that you look awesome in your photos while still making you look like yourself. Let me know if you'd like to book a make up artist for your senior session.)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Five Reasons to Get Your Family's Portrait Done in 2012

No way are you setting up a portrait session for your family in 2012. Why? Well, the economy is tough. You're busy. You hate getting your picture taken. Getting the kids dressed takes too long. I know. But I'm asking you to do it anyway. I promise, you'll be glad you did. Really. Not convinced?

Before you decide that  a new portrait of your family doesn't belong on your bucket list for this year, I'd like to share five reasons that you should make sure that it absolutely is one of the things right at the top of your list:

* You'll have a family photo to look back on after everyone is grown - When my youngest brother was a baby, my mom realized that we didn't have a family portrait with all of us together. She packed up all five children, headed to the studio and had the portrait done. Do you know, that is the only complete family portrait we have from our childhood? We are wearing what we had on that day, so it isn't coordinated and amazing, but it is a precious image because it is the only one. We can laugh over the crazy clothes and ooh over how little my tall, strong baby brother was because my mom made sure she got that session done.

* Have one photo session done and you can cross a lot of gifts off of your list this year - Grandparents, aunts and uncles, mommies and daddies...They all will appreciate getting a nice 8x10 framed portrait of their favorite little guys and gals. There are also a lot of fun portrait gifts your photographer can help you choose from, such as photo ornaments, coffee mugs, mouse pads, calendars, bookmarks and notepads.

* You'll leave behind a memory for others to cherish - My grandfather HATED to have his photo taken. Still, he went with my grandma and had one formal portrait taken. I do believe it was the first (and last) since his youngest child's wedding day. All of his grandchildren are so thankful that he agreed to get his picture taken one last time.

* You don't have to fear portrait sessions - Remember those stiff visits to the photo studio that you remember from your childhood? No way! A portrait session in today's more relaxed, photo journalistic world is not about someone snapping photos of kids sitting in a little room in a perfect pose with perfect smiles. It is about capturing who they really are, often right in the same locations where they live and play. The kids are making silly faces, showing off a new skill, or blowing bubbles at each other. They're being themselves and no one is fussing at them to sit straight and behave the entire time. Sure, you're going to want some nice formal poses, but the times in between, where Billy yanks Suzie's pigtail and Brian picks his nose? Well, that happens to all the other families, too. And that is okay with today's family photographers, or at least all the ones I know. Really. I promise.

* You can create new memories - This goes hand in hand with not fearing today's portrait sessions. I personally love to brainstorm with kids and their parents to come up with a photo shoot that actually creates new memories. I love it when the kids say, "Ooh, look! That's the day we dressed up like fairies and you took our picture," or, "Remember the day I pretended I could fix cars?" I've done a silly shoot for a little boy who went through a growth spurt that left him a bit accident prone and had his mom wishing she could bubble wrap him to keep him safe, a shoot with two fairies, fashion shoots with tons of scarves, hats and beads to choose from and rock star shoots. They're as much fun for the child living out a dream as they are for me and create some really fun photos for parents to cherish.

So, now that you have a list of reasons to reconsider getting your family's portraits done, I'm going to ask you...No. I'm going to beg you. If you don't do anything else this year, make that family photo a priority.

Of course, I'd like you to call a photographer in your area to schedule a session so you can have some beautiful images that will last a lifetime and beyond. However, if you can't, don't let that stop you from at least getting one image of your family. Go get your point and shoot camera out and ask a neighbor to snap a shot or two off for you. And don't just leave them on the camera or your computer's hard drive. Have them printed and framed. The point of a family photo is to make a memory to look back on in years to come. You can't do that if your hard drive fails!