Inspired Portrait Photography

This couple was featured a few weeks ago with their maternity photos, now there are shown here with their precious new baby girl. The couple drives up from Iowa to doctor here in Mankato, and to be photographed now as well. It was been great getting to know the parents,  here they are with their new baby girl.

Sometimes we can’t always see the plan in motion…This sweet family and I have been trying to connect for the past two months. They purchased a gift certificate last year and wanted to redeem it for family photos. We both had to cancel on each other on various days for various reasons, illness, bumps and bruises, scheduling  conflicts etc. We finally got together this past week, and the wait paid off. I took advantage of the glorious November weather and took them for a walk in our yard.

We recently feature this little man in his two year old portraits, and then he returned with his new baby sister and parents for a holiday photo. Welcome sweet little girl

Awkward Family Portraits

A phrase I often hear while photographing families is “we’d like something different” or  “we are hoping for something more fun hearted & not too awkward”…and just for the fun of it I did some research to see what is “standard” so I know what to avoid while wanting to be “different”. Here are some crazy images I found…

Awkward Family Portraits, all through the years

1. start with a positive group, people that have great big hearts- MOPS Mankato
2. find a need to fill in the community-affordable “anything” during the recession-in this case professional portraits
3. locate a business willing to give back-Inspired Portrait Photography
4. collect donations in exchange for quick take professional portraits
5. toss in a few giggles, funny sounds, and beautiful smiles from everyone

and TA-DA one successful fundraiser, totalling over $450, so far in donations

This past October for one week from Saturday to Saturday, we invited families into the studio for the $13 donation to the MOPS group.  Their time spent here was a mere 20(or less) minutes in the camera room. Following the session each family received a slide show showcasing the images we created, as well as a complimentary 8×10 portrait.

I had a great time seeing familiar faces as well as meeting new ones. Here is a collection of the families we photographed…some of my favorites as well as theirs (more images to come on a post next week)

Artist Choice:
It’s not fair to pick a favorite, so I picked four favorites…

Do you have a favorite??