I recently had the privilege of creating beautiful portraits for the Dressler family! Great Grandma and Grandma were visiting to spend some time with the newest baby in the family and it was beautiful! He was SUCH a happy little guy and I got that pure laughter from Great Grandma that one can only hope to capture. Thank you, Dressler family, for the honor of capturing a special time in your lives! I look forward to working with you in the future… when that little guy is chasing me down the beach, giggling, and distracted by every laughing gull that flies by. I had the opportunity to interview a fellow photographer, Radhika Palwai, about her recent trip to India. I have been following Radhika’s work for a couple of years now and I want to share a bit of her with you all because I find her photography to be soulful and moving. She is very talented and loves to share her work! You can follow her on FACEBOOK, as well as her BLOG. If you enjoy reading and learning about other cultures, or you simply love travel photography, you're going to want to check her out! How long have you been a photographer? I always loved art and especially photography. When my twins were born I bought my first DSLR. I was taking lots of pictures, but I was frustrated with the quality of pictures taken in auto mode. In the fall of 201,2 I told myself I would set the camera to manual and never go back. I read lots of free tutorials and took pictures almost every day until I figured out the basics. I never set the camera back on auto again. What draws you to street photography? I like to travel and I love to capture emotions of people. I don’t usually get a chance to travel much, but when I do, I enjoy taking pictures of people. I am still a little shy approaching people to take their pictures. I need to get over that fear. What was the purpose of your recent trip to India? I visited India to meet up with my parents. They live in the South Indian city of Hyderabad. When I was there, I was able to visit my grandparents’ village where they do farming. I also visited Goa, a beautiful state on the western coast of India. How long were you there? My vacation was 3 weeks long. What did you see that impacted you the most? I noticed that people living in the villages had so little facilities compared to the cities, but they were much happier. We don’t need brand name bags and shoes to make us happy. The people are very friendly and always ready to help others. Our car got stuck in mud when we were returning from the farm and it was getting dark. People from the neighborhood came and helped pull it out. What are you hoping to show with the images you took while you were there? I want the viewers to see and feel the beauty and emotion I felt when I visited. When you are approaching subjects to shoot, how do you set about it? Do you chat and explain what you’re doing? Or shoot first, ask questions later? If I am taking a close up picture, I chat with them a little bit and then ask them if I can take their pictures. I also show them the pictures I took on the back of the camera. If I am taking the picture from afar, I don’t ask. What would you like everyone to know about India? India is a country with people speaking more than 30 different languages. The majority are Hindus but there are Muslims, Jains, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, and Jews. It has rich ancient culture. Culture differs from state to state and region to region. You will see more in my blog posts. To check out Radhika’s blog, click HERE. To can also follow Radhika on FACEBOOK. Enjoy! I recently had the opportunity to create beautiful beach portraits for the Fuentes family. Karen was laid back and excited to get images of her parents together, as well as multi-generational portraits. Her daughter was an absolute doll to work with – she oftentimes rocked her own perfect little poses. And it was an honor to capture her parents, Corpus Christi natives, who have been married for 63 years. That is such an amazing thing… 63 years! Watching the family interact, helping each other, leaning on each other, I realized that a marriage like that sets the standard for the family. It promises a lifetime. It provides the assurance that this family doesn’t give up on each other… they stay together. You can see it when you watch Karen with her parents. She is their caregiver, as well as their daughter. The conversations during their session revealed strong ties between the siblings (Karen is one of five, if my memory serves me correctly). They all work together to make sure that the mom and dad, who took care of them, are now cared for and loved. Everything about the family conveyed support, respect, and love. I was honored to be a part of their day. And I was blessed to hear their stories. An amazing and successful family, built on a strong foundation of love, togetherness, and foreverness. That moment when you didn’t hire models, but this family shows up for portraits. Yes, that moment. When I met Edna, I was not only taken away by how stunningly gorgeous she was, but how warm and vibrant she is as a person. She, her husband, and their two sons arrived perfectly coordinated on a windy fall day at the beach, ready for some fun family portraits. Her oldest son was energetic and eager to explore! Her youngest was much milder, watching, playing, and studying everything. And hubby was agreeable to every suggestion. I always find family dynamics fascinating. I love lifestyle portraits… those images that feel natural, unposed, and emotive. Whether in home, at a park, or at the beach, I believe movement and naturalness conveys so much about the people in the portraits. And as I presented Edna her finished images, she was captivated by the emotion in the images, too. Imagine being a child and looking up to see a gorgeous image of you and your family, all together, happy and relaxed. What contentment that brings to a child! What assurance! It whispers, “You are loved. We are a family. We are all here together and it’s wonderful…” I really do find some amazing clients - or maybe they find me! But I love hearing their stories and creating images that capture who they are together.
Erica contacted me for a family portrait session and listened as I explained the process. She was excited about the session and about updating their family pictures. You see, she truly values portraits - she has them all throughout her home and gets excited about new ones. After the session, she shared with me that as much as she loves her kids, she knows her family is not complete. She was on bedrest with her daughter and can't take a chance with another pregnancy. But that's okay... she has always had it in her heart to adopt. Yes, she is creating a home filled with love and children and all around her home you see how much she cherishes her family. But what impressed me the most was her desire to be a part of a foster to adopt program. She wants to bring home another child - not a baby (babies are in high demand), but a child. A child who may not otherwise find a home. I was very touched by this. The thing is, I connect with the people whose images I capture. I am a storyteller, but I'm also a listener. I love learning about the people behind the smiles. And I'm fascinated by the fact that some of the most amazing people seek me out for their portraits. I look forward to creating more gorgeous heirloom images for this family when they have brought a new member into their family. And I look forward to sharing that story... If you are ready to have YOUR story told, please contact me to book your session. This couple is a playful personality match and it shows in every one of their interactions. When Sheena found out she was pregnant, she wanted to wait to tell their families. She scheduled a portrait session and had very specific ideas about what she wanted. I love it when a client trusts me to create images that align with their personal vision! Sheena explained that she wanted a portrait of her and Martin standing together... that she wasn't showing much yet, but wanted the shadow to be very pregnant. She asked if I could make that happen... Well, of course I can! I was so excited to bring her vision to life! We decided on downtown at the Watergardens for our location. I went a few days before and scouted good areas for creating the shadow image. We were ready! The morning of the portrait session, the sky was covered in clouds. While that can create some dynamic portraits, it isn't exactly ideal for shadows. We continued with the session, constantly surveying the sky. When the sun would peek out, we would race for our "shadow location," only to have the sun disappear as we got there. Martin and Sheena were such good sports the whole time! No one got frustrated or upset. We realized that it might not happen that morning, but just as we were getting ready to pack it in, the sun came out! We literally had about two minutes of sunshine, but it was enough! Sheena and Martin made their announcement over Thanksgiving week and gave me the go ahead to share their story on my blog. This week they will do their gender reveal... I'll put it here now: I think it's a girl!
Congratulations to both of you! Dear reader, your life is your story. Call me when you are ready to share your story with a customized portrait session! What a beautiful family! Seriously, I can’t take all the credit for the images… when you show up perfectly coordinated and ready to go, followed by a toddler who cannot stop smiling and just LOVES to interact, it simply doesn’t require a lot of effort. The only thing I could really offer was my technical expertise behind the camera. The smiles were all theirs and that child… oh, that sweet baby girl! I wanted to keep her! One of the most fun aspects of portraiture is the part where you get to know your clients. You talk with them, you share a bit of yourselves, and you get comfortable. I’m a people watcher… I love seeing the way people engage each other. I love seeing family dynamics. I love figuring out what draws people together in the first place. Now, I could be off base, because I sometimes spin fairytales in my head around people as I’m creating their images. My imagination can get pretty fantastical! But the beautiful lady in the images is a school teacher. She works with teens, day in and day out – no easy task! But you can see that her heart is in it and what a beautiful thing! And he is in residency, in the ICU, I believe (my memory may falter a bit… see the paragraph above concerning my fantastical imagination). He is on his feet all day, working, helping, giving. For those of you who know me well, I understand these types of people. I taught middle school for six years and poured my heart into it. It is a LOT of work with MUCH longer hours than anyone could imagine. You have a full time job teaching, followed by a full time job of meetings and paperwork… those extra 40 hours a week... that second full time job... it's on your own time. Yeah… it’s like that. I kid you not. Point is, both of these individuals maintain such positive outlooks. They are happy and working toward common goals. They are growing a family and still pouring so much of themselves into helping others. And here they are, with this doll baby of a daughter, and they’re doing all they can to make sure she knows she is loved and cherished. Yes, they are definitely the ones who will put those images on the walls where they will be enjoyed. If you missed this article about a child’s self-esteem and the importance of displaying pictures, here is an excerpt: A revealing study was conducted in 1975 with a group of fourth graders at a Tennessee school by Tulane University. During a five week period, the children took Polaroid instant photos of themselves with provided cameras in a variety of assigned poses, compositions and expressing various emotions. The children worked with the printed images of themselves and created scrapbooks once a week over those five weeks. Testing of the students and teachers at the conclusion of study revealed a significant increase of 37 percent in the students’ average self-esteem behaviors. This Murfreesboro Study shows some evidence personal photography of children seen and enjoyed in a specific way can help boost a child’s self-esteem. The whole article can be found HERE. I am very proud of those families who take time to do what matters, who value their families, who have priorities that involve making the world a better place or helping others towards a brighter future. I see the struggle, the determination, and the power inside them. And I love it! I would love to hear your thoughts about this beautiful family, if you know them. If you don’t know them, I’d love to hear from you anyway! If this blog post reaches over 30 comments, I will be gifting this couple an 11x14 mounted print. I see the stats… that means that if just a fraction of my readers will comment, this family gets a gift! I read the following blog on a post from my absolute favorite blogger: Missy MWAC. She is hilarious, insightful, and always a pleasure to read. Anyway, this post is something that, as a photographer, I would like to share. It is something that, as a mother, it impacted me and made me take a good, hard look at my own shortcomings. Without further ado, and with permission, here it is… When I was a little girl, we would eat dinner as a family every night at five o’clock. My dad was in the Air Force and when he arrived home, dinner was on the table. And, before eating, we would always say a blessing over the food. Most of the time, my parents said grace, but now and then, the responsibility would fall upon my two older brothers or myself to offer up the prayer and it was always the same: I recently had the honor of capturing some beautiful ladies in a series of fashion portraits for a Mary Kay event here in Corpus Christi. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew where to be and what time to be there. I set up a backdrop and some lights and wasn’t sure who I would be meeting or what they would be like.
The “face models” for Mary Kay were stunning! A beautiful array of women, all there to enjoy an evening together and learn a little something along the way. And I had the best role of all: creating glamourous images of these ladies! Eventually it was time to pack up the studio as the main event had begun. I was very impressed that the whole room began by bowing their heads to pray and give thanks for the time together and the comradery – for the blessing in their lives. It was beautiful! I’m very excited to be returning to work with them again in January! Honestly, I had not seen the latest products that Mary Kay offers and was surprised by how they have completely kept up with the times. It was nice to have a chance to keep rounding out my skills – I love setting up for a fashion shoot and I had forgotten how much fun it is to be in a room full of women! If you’re interested in attending Mary Kay event or checking out their latest products, please contact Vicki and she will assist you. If you’re wanting some gorgeous images of YOURSELF, you know where to find me ;) You’ve been preparing for months! You booked a portrait session, you planned the outfits for your entire family, you had your portrait session and now you are super excited about seeing your images! Now what? What is your plan for those images? If you’re like many people, you know it’s time for updated pictures of you and your family. You don’t want to miss those milestones and you value portraits – you love having professional images taken that wow you every time you look at them. But in this modern age, what do you do with the images? Many people hire a photographer and just want digitals. But why? So they can sit in a drawer or a safe on a USB? What’s the point of that? The purpose of an image is to view it – to look at it and remember, to feel, to enjoy. When I was a child, we had so many picture albums! My siblings and I used to sit together, looking through them, asking our parents about people in the pictures, listening to the stories of those people, or the stories of us. Those pictures opened the door for those stories. How many of you are giving your own children that experience? In the days of film, there was only one way to see your pictures: you printed them. And once printed, they needed to be stored. Hence, the album. But folks, it’s not too late! And albums have come a long way! Albums are but one of the many ways of seeing your images. My favorite way to view images is by making them into wall art. I LOVE providing my clients with beautifully matted, framed images of their families. I love knowing that they will see that image every time they walk into the room. As your children grow older, you will see them as they were in that moment. And you’ll have memories. And you’ll share those memories as they occur. “You see that picture, Sarah? You used to love it when Daddy and I would swing you by the arms! You used to laugh so hard and we couldn’t get you put your feet down…” “Do you see that picture, Justin? You used to run so hard into my arms that it would knock the wind out of my chest! I can’t believe you are bigger than me now…” Yes, memories. Frame your memories. Store them in plain sight. Enjoy them again, and again, and again… |
"Lori is an exceptional photographer, and was my first choice for capturing images of my son for his senior pictures!! She made him feel at ease immediately, traveled to the locations he was interested in, and captured who he is perfectly!" ~ Tonia R.
AuthorLori Stead is a fine art portrait photographer in Corpus Christi, TX. She enjoys creating maternity, newborn, seniors, couples, family, children, and boudoir portraits. She is also a wife, mother of four, and adventurer. Archives
February 2024
Category
All
|