This year’s WPPI was simply inspiring. I feel very fortunate to know some of the best wedding and portrait photographers in the industry. My conversations with my photographer friends gave me some amazing advice that will help my business grow. Not only did I learn a bunch, I was able to just get to know these wonderful people better. Oh, and I got lots of hugs…really good, hold-on-tight, real hugs and that always makes an exhausting week worth it.
My first dose of greatness came on Saturday, a few days before the show. I went with Pictage to host a Lens and Learn day at the Boys and Girls Club. Canon let us borrow dozens of SLR’s to teach the kids some photography basics.
I think the first question of the day summed up what we had in store. “Are you guys paparazzi photographers?” After a few hours had passed I started to see the looks on their faces turn from confusion to pride. I don’t know whose smiles were bigger at that point, theirs or mine. At the end, Jim Collins asked, “Who wants to be a photographer when you grow up?” All but about five raised their hands. Looking at the photographers and other volunteers around the room I realized, we were the ones who benefited the most.
There is a video that I will post soon, but here are a few of the photos I grabbed from the day.


I love when clients want my advice on what to wear to a family photography session. My advice is always the same, chose a color scheme. By color scheme, I don’t mean matching every article of clothing. In fact, I highly discourage that! My example is this: Let’s say you want to choose the color plum. I would suggest the mother wear a shade of plum and an accessory (scarf or shall) that is lilac or light purple. The father could wear a nave blue top to keep it a bit more masculine and the child should wear a top that incorporates similar blues and purples, argyle perhaps? Anyway, that may be a very detailed example, but you get the point.
As I was searching for example to suggest for my spring mini session families, I found a definite trend for children’s clothing this spring. That trend is denim! Of course denim is always the safe choice, but I noticed a theme that in the past was a major faux pas: denim on denim. What I’m seeing is the more denim, the better and I have to say, I love it!
These are some of the cute things I found at H&M, Gap, and Kitson.

These photos were taken from H&M, Kitson, and Gap and are for commentary purposes only.
I had two Valentine’s on Sunday, George and Luis…lots more of these cuties to come!


Sunday, February 14, 2010 Posted in Personal
Yes, I am one of those people. I LOVE Valentine’s Day. It’s a day to celebrate love and to me, that’s an important thing to do. At the least, I hope the day brings you a few extra hugs, smiles, phone calls, kisses, and sweets. Enjoy!

*This photo was taken by my friend Keila the other night when we were painting with light in my living room. Love it!
by Emily
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