Five Reasons for Planning Winter Portraits
Everyone is familiar with the two most popular times for planning portraits: autumn, and the weeks leading up to Christmas!
The emphasis on fall foliage is understandable of course! Who doesn’t dream of those warm rich colors when it comes to family portraits, senior portraits, and the many other types of sessions one can plan!
In addition, when the fall school semester begins this is usually the first time high school seniors and their families start to think about senior portraits-so scheduling an autumn session is typically what follows in the race to capture images with glowing autumn leaves!
Around Thanksgiving, is also when we typically see families rushing to capture family images for Christmas cards, or, they choose to have portraits made around the holiday season because that is when most of their family members have come home and there’s a great opportunity to capture photographs of extended family members all together.
Here at Lamoureux Images, we love to embrace each of the seasons, but often we like to give attention to the times of year that people are not generally thinking about portraits.
You’ve heard me mention how fun summer photos can be especially when you are able to get creative and think outside the box a little. I’ve been lucky in the past to join families on summertime horseback rides, trips to the river, as well as summer picnics, and we have really made the most of capturing unique moments during a time of year people are not often planning portraits!
Today, I want to emphasize one of the most unique times of year in my opinion, to get great photos made, and that’s wintertime-after the holiday hustle has come and gone!
Before we dive in, I want to be clear that cold temperatures are not always ideal for small children and the elderly, so when planning such sessions, it’s important to keep in mind what everyone in the group can handle and what is age appropriate. However, bundling up your family in cute wintertime wardrobes can be fun and doable for teens and adult children. Getting cozy with quilts, or planning a bon fire on your property, or sharing hot cocoa together, can make for a fun time of engaging lifestyle themed portraits (bringing hand warmers to have just in case the temps get a little too frigid for some, is a great idea as well!).
When it is appropriate and doable wintertime images can be dreamy, and they will definitely stand out regardless of if you are in a snowy climate or find yourself in a milder wintry region. Here are some of my favorite reasons for planning winter portraits:
You can really accessorize!
No doubt about it, if you love to accessorize, winter is for you. Scarves, boots, hats, fur…this is the time of year you have every excuse to make a statement with your wardrobe planning and stand out, and it’s so much fun!
You can enjoy your portrait time without the holiday rush, and also make your back-to-school season less stressful!
This rings especially true for senior portraits. Jumping back into the school season as a high school senior can be hectic, so why add fall portraits to the mix? Planning wintertime portraits after you have found your new rhythm can be a great way to ensure you enjoy yourself and senior portraits will feel less like a chore you need to check off a growing to-do list.
You’ll be booking a photographer at a time when they don’t feel as overwhelmed with the holiday workload.
Autumn and holiday portrait season is a fantastic time of year, and I personally always look forward to it! Yet, with it comes stress for everyone. I sincerely love the magical winter portraits I have been able to spend time taking when I am not managing multiple deadlines and carrying on 15-20 conversations daily with different clients. I love it, and it’s simply part of the job, yet the photo sessions that come after the busy season often are some of the most rewarding for both the client and the person taking the photos.
Waiting to book last minute in the peak of autumn, or a few weeks before graduation is never a good idea!
Booking far enough in advance to ensure your photographer has had time to connect with you and understand your portrait needs is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Last minute sessions can work, but in the hustle they can feel frantic.
If your goal is autumn, make sure you’ve connected with a photographer months beforehand so you both can plan accordingly and ensure deadlines are met and the experience is an enjoyable one. This also ensures you are on their radar well in advance rather than being a last-minute booking they are willing to make in the middle of a very tight schedule.
Taking wintertime photos also allows seniors extra time for choosing the photos that will mean the most to them and finds everyone less rushed to make something happen because of fast approaching yearbook and graduation deadlines. Avoiding this is a better way to honor your senior and really make this special time more about celebrating who they are and less of a chore that simply accompanies high school graduation.
Ok, this is my favorite…
WINTER LIGHT IS THE BEST
As a photographer, I am simply in love with winter light. The crisp air and lack of humidity creates clean imagery that really makes me giddy inside. I love the tones one finds during winter especially in urban areas and cities. It’s just classic, and the lack of overpowering greens from summer or the reds and oranges of fall, flatter skin tones in such a beautiful way! Frankly, everyone looks absolutely stunning in crisp winter light and it’s a timeless look that I will always be enamored with.
Conclusion
Wintertime simply provides more opportunities for creativity. Often, warm lights and the remaining Christmas décor that’s left up after the holidays will be present to add fun elements to your images, and of course winter wardrobes provide endless possibilities.
Lack of mosquitos (for southerners) and crisp humidity free air, along with the opportunity plan styled shoots that center around family activities like campfires, snowshoeing together, cuddling in grandma’s quilts, and cocoa drinking, provide endless material to really make your session special!
I hope this article has helped you think a little more outside of the box when it comes to the dates you consider for your upcoming portraits. Winter portraits should be on everyone’s radar, and if you think planning a winter session sounds perfect for your personality, let’s start making a plan together!
Community Over Content with Lamoureux Images
Being a photographer provides constant insight into what it takes to create a special place for those I want to work with. I’m challenged every day to be more than someone who desires a fully booked calendar and successful business. I’m an artist with a vision, and that vision involves making people feel valued as well as helping them value their lives more with timeless imagery!
How I execute this vision extends beyond my camera knowledge and the creation of beautiful photographs. It extends into my people skills, being able to correct website glitches, communicating concisely, and simply making sure my interactions with others are genuine, helpful, and positive. Every day, I'm challenged to take this further and constantly refine the portrait experience for others. Sometimes it seems like a never-ending process, but the process itself ultimately gives me insight into the behind-the-scenes value that needs to back up every good photograph and marketing concept!
Creating content for business owners and leaders so they can represent themselves in the best way possible, is something I thrive on. This often involves taking headshots, team photos, images of products, and branding photography.
It's exciting to get down to the heart of what people are all about and help them get their message across in a well-represented way using great imagery.
Good ideas are exciting, and new horizons even more so. When entrepreneurs, business owners, or leaders of organizations catch wind of a new direction to pursue it’s easy to jump ahead into talk about how exactly they wish to present their concept to the world. Yet, in the usual excitement that surrounds change and growth, there is something important that almost always gets overlooked. Nearly all of us (me included) have been guilty of overlooking this to some degree when we are fixated on growth regardless if the growth we desire is more sales, employee recruitment, business expansion, or interest in a particular cause.
What we often miss is...COMMUNITY!
As human beings we are community driven, and if we want our ideas and dreams to see success, we need to be able to slow down and value what community already exists within our reach that will serve as the launching pad for the next exciting venture we look forward to.
The value of community needs to be so great that when our sights are set on change and expansion, we are first prompted to look at those nearest us and ask them if they have what they need to do what they need to do, and really listen to where they are coming from. Are they equipped? Do they feel valued? Are their voices heard? Are they on board with our new vision? Does the new vision involve making the lives of those already around you, better? Is the community environment one that is so great that the existing participants will be your greatest asset when it comes to getting attention from your target audience? Let’s back up for just a minute and think about that last phrase, shall we?
Target Audience
Business owners and community leaders put A LOT of time and energy in determining target audiences and capturing the attention of those they wish to be within their circle of influence, yet it would serve us all well to turn around and look at how we are improving the experiences of those who are already alongside us.
We cannot treat past clients or employees who signed on years ago like old news. If we would only slow down and invest in these people first, whatever marketing campaign we decide to take on will gain an extremely solid foundation.
I’ve worked for companies in the past that had awesome marketing campaigns for employee recruitment yet did not provide their existing employees the resources they needed to do basic jobs efficiently. I’ve also worked for companies whose marketing completely matched
the environment and family atmosphere they fostered among their employees and because of this, growth was inevitable. I have also watched impressive social media accounts and websites boast top-of-the-line graphics and content while being absolutely void of any real depth or meaning. Similarly, I’ve been a customer who can tell when the person I am doing business with doesn’t care about my needs or retaining my respect any longer and has moved on to other endeavors.
If you wish to elicit a genuine response from people you need to figure out why it’s so great to be a part of the vision you have, or own the products you're offering, or have the service experience you provide.
Put a voice behind what you're doing, use that voice to enrich others, then, show the world what you are doing and how it improves the lives of those already around you!
Do some serious soul searching here and get to the heart behind what you want to accomplish. Don't create hype around something you wish to see take off overnight and essentially be unapproachable or act like you are running a one man show.
Ask yourself why people should join up with your cause, product line, vision, or company, or pay for your services. Help them to be excited about choosing you and let them be a part of what you are doing. We must give people more than empty social media posts or cool merchandise. Ask yourself if you are giving your existing clients, coworkers and peers, the best experience you can provide, then figure out where you can do better!
Marketing needs to be about what you are doing to improve the lives of those already with you as well as those you want on board moving forward, otherwise you’re just another meaningless commercial begging for attention.
We cannot merely toss content out there
(no matter how good it is) and expect people to get excited about what we are doing. We all can do better than this! Your marketing needs to match the level of care and sincerity that you are investing into those you wish to reach. High-end imagery might as well be a homemade flyer typed up one a word document with a bit of free clip art scattered across it, if you aren't ready to really put some heart and soul into all that you are bringing to the table.
If you're after content, branding, design and campaigning, make sure the community you've created is the loudest part of the message you are conveying. Then and only then, go out and hire a great photographer and content creator who will do justice to the value you've invested into your work and will help you share it with others in a genuine way!
If you know me, you know I’m a poet at heart. I often feel this helps give my photographs meaning-as I’m always looking to take a photograph that in many ways is a poem about those in front of my camera.
Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I thought I’d sit down and write a poem to honor the photographer poets out there who know their passion goes beyond social media likes, being entrepreneurs, and making photography their career. They are artists, and will remain so forever.
Enjoy, and happy New Year, everyone!
Here’s to the camera nerd.
The histogram checker,
and kelvin enthusiast.
The quirky,
awkward,
artist.
The poet heart-
who sees with their soul
and frames with their mind.
The user of antiquated gear.
The eyes of whom
sees unfolding moments
frozen in time,
forever.
Seeing the world in black and white,
and simultaneous bursts of color.
The seeker of light
and fantastic dreams;
mesmerized
by dust,
dancing in attic windows.
The discoverer of beauty
among the mundane.
The celebrator of wrinkled brows
and graying heads.
No influencers here;
these are the quiet and patient
enthusiasts of life great and small.
No preset can add meaning
quite like the heart of one
who pauses
to watch laughter rise and fall.
Who knows how to use both
shadows and light,
wonder and grief,
the refined and the rough,
to tell a story worth sharing.
Here’s to the camera nerd-
smeared makeup
and crazy hair-
who lost her shoes in the crowd
because the people
were dancing;
and the photographs
yet to be made
called from the memories
yet to be cherished.
-C.L. 2022
During a photoshoot, we usually feel our most vulnerable and concerned about doing something wrong or looking awkward, and often the entire experience is a task we regard with dread!
“What do I do with my hands?”
“Where do I look?”
“Does this look ok?”
These are questions we all wrestle with during portrait time and are natural to feel unsure about. When it comes to the type of photos I capture and the style that Lamoureux Images goes for, I let you ask these questions in the beginning and then do my best to steer you away from being overly concerned about them as the session moves along.
Mindset & trust: a perfect recipe!
If we really want to get to the heart of what makes a successful portrait shoot come together with Lamoureux Images, it’s going to be your mindset as a family going into the session, and the trust you place in your photographer. In this article, we are going to cover the important aspects of your mindset that will help calm your nerves and reset your expectations.
Mindset Tip #1: The adults take the lead, and the kids follow suit.
Parents, how comfortable you are will directly impact the mood of your children. Lamoureux Images families are all about smiling at their kiddos and taking a deep breath and relaxing while letting the moments unfold naturally with indirect guidance from me.
All that said, if you are super stressed as parents with high expectations for perfection, it’s going to impact your children’s moods in a negative way and as a photographer I have zero control over this. For my particular style, I try to emphasize continually that the session focus needs to be about having a good time and enjoying and interacting with your family while letting your photographer be there to capture those interactions.
Loving your family will always be photogenic, you just can’t ever go wrong there! So, if that is your focus during portrait time, then we will already be starting off on the right foot!
(As an unspoken rule, if your portrait vision involves rigid, structured poses and angelically portrayed children, Lamoureux Images probably isn't right for you, but don't fret, there are plenty of photographers out there who thrive in this genre of portraiture!)
Mindset Tip #2: Pretend you are celebrities
Have you ever watched when the Royal Family allows the press to photograph them on an outing? They aren’t looking for direction, they are being themselves and they have no doubt in their mind that the photographers are taking cues from THEM, not the other way around.
They know exactly who they are, what makes them special, and they exhibit a strong lack of self-consciousness (whoa!). They know the photographers are indeed lucky to get to photograph them!
You can adopt this mentality also, because Lamoureux Images is SO LUCKY to get to photograph the amazing individuals who book with us! I think it’s important for all my clients to remember that they are the ones gracing the camera like no one else can.
When you are being yourself like no one else can and loving like no one else can, it’s a beautiful thing that translates perfectly in camera.
Mindset Tip #3: Destroy your natural tendency to be hard on yourself
We photograph real people here. No supermodels, no Instagram influencers that need to nail the perfect and most flattering angle every time.
Lamoureux Images captures life at all angles and wants to give our clients a glimpse into the beauty of movement and laughter and reality (something social media finds us more and more out of touch with). We make your portrait experience a celebration of life in all its many facets!
The bar right now is so very high when it comes to client expectations regarding how they will look in their photos, and social media has literally torn apart the smallest ounce of the self-confidence we might have had because we are constantly comparing ourselves to what others are doing and how they look.
Perfectly curated Instagram feeds are in no way a true reflection of what really takes place or is feasible during a portrait session, and photographers everywhere are running in droves to private forums crying:
“Help! I took these beautiful photographs, and my client is in tears because she hates herself and the way her kids acted and look in these! What on earth do I do?!”
We need to do better all-around when it comes to how we regard ourselves, and the pressure we place on the shoulders of photographers, even!
We have to remind ourselves that others are not inclined to pick apart our photos like we are, and that these images are also about memory making and giving our families a gift and a glimpse into seeing how wonderful and loving and perfect, the unique dynamic they all have together truly is!
Let’s try our best not to allow our insecurities to overshadow the perfect beauty that children and spouses will see in these precious moments.
Being willing to be seen and celebrated as we are, is the only way forward in a world that emphasizes unrealistic perfection, and breaking this cycle is the best gift we can give the future generations.
Summary...
Repeatedly, the best sessions I walk away from are sessions with people who have a deep value of who they are and understand the unique and authentic love they have for their family members. These are the kind of people that are most satisfied with the work we do here at LI.
So…channel that inner celebrity, tell yourself you are your own royal family, cherish your unique beauty, and make a statement with the way you love and interact with those around you and let’s take some amazing photographs together, shall we?!
Stay tuned next week for part two, where we will dive in to the second part of the recipe, that involves trusting your photographer!
Here we find ourselves on the brink of July 2022, and I am just now sitting down to write what I would normally call a HAPPY NEW YEAR article. Where has the time gone, friends?!
I serve many people who have been with me through the earliest days of my portrait journey and have given me so many wonderful opportunities to create portraits that only get better each and every year. I am so thankful for my irreplaceable, longtime clients! Seriously, some of you have had me take your senior pictures, then your wedding photos, and maternity, and now, family photos! I cannot say enough how much this kind of trust and loyalty means to me, to truly be YOUR family photographer.
Throughout the years we have captured some wonderful memories, and Lamoureux Images has grown into a dream come true, full-time business, thanks to all of you. Because of this growth, we have implemented better ways of running this wonderful portrait service and if you are a returner, I want to take a moment to acquaint you with a few updates to how we will ensure your experience with Lamoureux Images is worthwhile.
We highly encourage booking in advance...
This isn't anything too crazy. Many of you know that we travel often, and this makes it difficult to plan last minute sessions for our families. My favorite thing is to start the conversation as early as possible, so you and I can be on the same page. When booking, we set up your desired portrait date, and then a rain date to fall back on, in the event of poor weather.
We ask all clients to sign an agreement at the time of booking...
Oh, the formality! In recent years, I have made the mistake of not requiring friends or acquaintances to sign an agreement out of mutual trust for people I know well. However, this is a disservice to my clients who I do hold to this standard and it is a disservice to my friends, because an agreement paints a broad picture of everything you can expect from Lamoureux Images, and how we operate. As of July 2022, every client who books with Lamoureux Images will be required to sign an agreement before your portrait session will be confirmed.
We require a retainer at the time of booking...
A retainer is a portion of your session fee that is due the moment you book with Lamoureux Images and wish to secure a date. The retainer is subtracted from the total cost of your session, and you pay the remaining balance the day of your portrait session. Retainers are non-refundable, and cover the time I spend working with you, providing material, and the planning leading up to your session date. Retainers can be applied to a new session date in the event you need to reschedule for any reason.
Prices have gone up along with the quality of our work...
Running a portrait business is expensive. In order to offer better service to our faithful customers, we have to cover expenses just like any other professional. Insurance, taxes, gear, software, website management, prints, books, marketing, education, travel, props, supplies, the list goes on!
I sometimes miss the simple days gone by where you paid me $80 and within 5 business days received a gallery of 100 photos from your session, but that was when I knew very little about quality, editing, and the value of up-to-date equipment.
Our editing process is more thorough than it has ever been, and we treat each image you purchase from us with the honor it deserves, like a work of art. This sets us apart from what is typically known as a 'shoot and burn photographer'.
We have a style closet...
You heard me! I am so excited to announce our collection of clothing that is available to any woman who books with us at no additional cost. These pieces are available on loan and must be returned after your session. We have accumulated a variety of styles and sizes for ladies to choose from and offer maternity gowns as well. Just one last thing for mom (who often is the portrait coordinator), to have to think about when it comes to the portrait experience.
We reward our raving fans...
If you have ever booked with Lamoureux Images in the past, you automatically receive $50 off mini sessions, and $75 off our 1–2-hour sessions. This is a way of saying thank you for your wonderful loyalty throughout the years.
We have this thing we call a "Legacy Session"...
Potentially a new favorite! I give families who book a 1–2-hour session, the option to book a mini at half price, at a later date, in order to include extended family and get that quintessential family shot that Grandma and Grandpa want of all their children and grandchildren. This enables you to have your own personal and intimate portrait experience with just your immediate family, and then schedule a separate time to get everyone else involved to get that specific image Grandma is sure to be placing on the mantle for cherishing and enjoying.
I designed this after recognizing that families need lots of time, and large groups can quickly become weary especially with children involved. A 1–2-hour portrait session is something I will let families include a grandparent or two in, but when extended family members also want to be present, it's time to schedule a separate date. When it is all about that wonderful group shot, I let you book a mini at a discount and everyone wins!
Lamoureux Images truly would not be what it is without you. Thank you for recognizing the value of my work and inviting me to preserve your memories. If you would like to receive my complete Portrait Guide for Lamoureux Images, simply send an email to [email protected] and we will start the planning process for a wonderful portrait experience.
-Caitlin