What to wear to a family photoshoot :: Lithonia Photographer

I know the feeling. You've made up your mind to do a family photo session. You've selected the photographer --- maybe it's me. :) But now you have to dress everyone....and since you're emotionally and financially invested.... you want to look like a really super awesome crew. You could wear jeans and a white or black shirt but you don't have to, you can do something much more awesome and authentic and something that shows your personality. Here are some tips.

Tip number 1: Wear neutral colors. Neutral tones like beige, a neutral blue or gray looks good on almost every skin tone.

Tip Number 2: Choose a color scheme. Choose three colors and a pop. This allows the entire family to coordinate, instead of being 'too matchy.' Here's an example. Blue, green, gray and yellow. If the whole family wears something in those colors it looks awesome for group pictures.

Tip Number 3: Add a pop of color, but only for an accessory, maybe a jacket, maybe shoes. This pop of color adds personality to a group picture.

Tip Number 4: Break the rules. It's more important to be comfortable. Too tight clothes, or too short shirts can mess up the best photograph. It's more important to show up for the photo shoot feeling confident and comfortable.

Tip Number 5: When in doubt, wear gray, then build your favorite colors from there. Gray goes with EVERYTHING!

Tip Number 6: Don't over complicate it. Easy to say. Harder to do. But it's better to show up and to be photographed than not to be photographed at all.

We're On Instagram.....

Did you know that Photos by Pru is on Instagram. Yup! Sure thing!

Take a moment to follow along. I promise to post cool stuff.

Username: Photos By Pru

Preserve Your Sexy :: Why Boudoir? :: Atlanta Boudoir Photography :: Photos by Pru

Ordinary women do boudoir because.

1. You want to feel beautiful
2. You are unsure if you are really beautiful
3. Your body may never be this good again, ever
4. Your body isn’t what it used to be
5. You didn’t do it last year and now you’re 10 pounds heavier.
6. Your mom did it, then so can you.
7. 10 years from now you’ll be happy you did.
8. 20 years from now you’ll be even happier
9. You’re sexy and you know it
10. Once in a while a woman needs to stop and OWN her beauty.

My happiest clients

1. Wear clothing in the double digits, as in a 1 or 2 before another number.
2. Cry when they see their pictures
3. Never felt this beautiful, ever
4. Are happy that they stepped outside the box
5. Have husbands that are grateful for this gift.

Firstlook vs Traditional

There is something beautiful about seeing your bride for the first time as she walks down the aisle knowing that at the end of the walk you'll pledge 'till death do us part.' You'll enter the church separately as Ms. and Mr. and you'll leave as Mr. & Mrs. The wait, while she walks down the long aisle, is breathtaking. The joy and excitement of the family and friends is palpable. The smiling (or crying) groom is almost always a given. You'll meet each other at the altar and somehow you'll gather yourself and remain poised for the ceremony.

Alternatively, the first look allows you to see each other before the wedding, in private. You can see, feel, touch, embrace, cry and bond in a way that is authentic to the two of you. This may be the only opportunity to have a private moment for the entire wedding day....until that night, of course. It's intimate and comforting. Tears, laughs or both are shared. You'll have ample time for bride and groom portraits, then separate again to refresh and get ready for the walk down the aisle, which is always just as exciting. 


A few bonus' with the first look.

• You'll never be late for the wedding because the entire bridal party will be ready long before it's time to say 'I do.' 

• The time between the ceremony and the reception can be more relaxing. By then, only a few images need to be captured. You'll likely get a chance to eat before the wedding, freshen up and enjoy each other before the reception begins. 

I will honor which ever option a couple chooses and will create equally stunning images. 

A few months ago I created a video on this very topic. It's only 4 minutes but you may find some value in watching it.

Fun and Romantic Family Photo Session at Stone Mountain Park

It was a beautiful evening. The light was just right, the weather was perfect. My friend of 20 years wanted a photo session with her lovely girls and her loving husband. The girls aren't babies anymore, they're brilliant and brave teenagers. They're womanly and stately. My friend, the woman who hasn't aged in the 20 years I've known her, and her wonderful husband wanted to go back to the very spot where they were married -- for better, for worse, in sickness and in health. 

It was such fun to go to Stone Mountain Park and take amazing pictures of this beautiful Muslim family. It was incredibly romantic to see a man and woman show such care for each other. I loved the way he would gently adjust her hijab, hold her hand and kiss her so freely.

Marriage is awesome. Family is beautiful. Photography captures it all.

 

Wedding Day Tips :: Atlanta Wedding Photographer

Press Play to hear the audio of this post. It's your wedding day.....or maybe you're a bridesmaid, or a good friend. Here are 10 things you can do to to make the wedding day awesome.

1. Plan 30 minutes per girl for makeup....45 minutes for the bride.



Weddings are often late. The 10 minutes before the bride leaves the suite and walks down the aisle are sometime the most rushed and stressful. But if you plan adequate time for each person's makeup, you're more likely to be on time.....or at least less rushed.


2. Schedule your most important photos around the best time for lighting.

• The best time for pictures are right after sunrise or right before sunset. That may not always be possible but the couple can always sneak off during the wedding to snap a few lovely photos. If that is completely impossible, there are other options.
3. Do a first look.



You get to see, feel, touch and bond with your hunny when your makeup is fresh, in private before the ceremony. I've found that it calms nerves and all the hustle and frenzy before the wedding just goes away. Besides, if you plan for a first look, you won't be late and your wedding will absolutely start on time.

Check back tomorrow for more ways to make your wedding day amazing.

Our whole lives are relationships....

I get Danielle LaPorte's newsletters and this one almost had me in tears.

Our whole lives are relationships. Belly laughs — the ones you remember years afterwards when you’re driving down a quiet road by yourself or comparing your dim day to the shine of your past — those belly laughs only happen with friends. No one laughs that deep, long, and hard by themselves. That riot of joy takes relating.

The surest soothing of your despair… relationships. How your friend reframed your neuroses to show you that you’re not crazy, you’ve got survival instincts. How they pretend not to notice your inner ugliness — and heal you in the pretending. How they stay so steady with their gaze that the illusions you’ve been nursing dry up and float away.

Our whole lives are relationships. Emergency texting. Solutions that were designed just for you in the bowl of someone else’s heart. The 200 bucks before rent day that saved it all. Persistent love over years that one day melts you into your true self. Relationships.

Helping you pack up your life. On speed dial. Bottomless encouragement. There when you expected them to give up. Taller than your doubts. Seeing what you can’t. Protecting your tenderness. Big enough to fill your abyss. Rescued. Again.

Read the rest of the article.

Oh and Join my mailing list here. 

The True Meaning of Photography

If you thought that this photography thing was only about having fun, clicking away and maybe making some money, then you're right. But you're also VERY wrong. Yes, I have fun. Yes, I love clicking away. Yes, I pay my bills, take care of my family and save a little all by mastering my camera. But this photography thing is so much more than that.

It's about service. It's about curating history. It's about preserving a memory. It's about telling stories. It's sparking conversation. It's answering questions, raising questions. It's truth telling. Like telling a woman that she's beautiful when she think she's not. Or capturing that 5 year old and his dad, because by the time he's six, his dad will be gone....forever. It's about looking back at generations of photographs and realizing that my daughter looks just like my grandmother when she was that age. It's about remembering your wedding day, long after the decorations are trashed, the food is turned to waste and the dress no longer fits. It's about telling your grandchildren all about your ballet teacher or your football games or your graduation party.

Photography is creating your own story.....and preserving it.....for you, for your children, for your legacy.....for your contribution to this world.





























This post was inspired by the Oprah interview with John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods. Also
inspired by Seth's Godin's blog post titled, "It's not about you." This is my favorite quote from the piece.

Do your work, your best work, the work that matters to you. For some people, you can say, "hey, it's not for you." That's okay. If you try to delight the undelightable, you've made yourself miserable for no reason. It's sort of silly to make yourself miserable, but at least you ought to reserve it for times when you have a good reason. -- Seth Godin

Friendship breakup :: A personal dilemna

It's a simple text that I can't respond to immediately. But for her it's an emergency, earth shattering, life changing. She see's my delay as a personal and maybe permanent rejection. So, she ratchets up and calls (all my numbers), texts (IN ALL CAPS) with lots of !!!! asking "Are you ok?" "I'm getting worried." "You haven't replied to me."

Yes, I'm ok. I just didn't feel like engaging you, had other things on my mind, busy running a business, occupied with my children, handling the duties of my home, etc. Bottom-line truth, I just didn't feel like talking.....to HER, the life sucker, the energy drainer, the anxiety bringer....HER.

She's nice, kind, polite, friendly but our lives are very different and understanding the wonderful intensity of mine is beyond her ability to comprehend, relate or empathize. I need distance, lots of it. If we never talk again, I'd be ok. Wouldn't miss her.....one bit. I may call or run into her every couple of years and the high level catch up would be nice. If she's facing a crisis, I won't let her crumble.....I'll be human.

But I know that I cannot be everyday friends with people who don't get my life. I need friends with deep, intricate and busy lives. People with things to do....who value a good catch up conversation. People who understand that sometimes, we can have a good conversation end b/c a child needs attention or you've just made it to work. People who don't need answers to everything....who can live with the unanswered. I need friends who know to come when I holler, then go back to fulfilling their own amazing dreams. I need people who don't take 2 hours to warm up....but give you the important, juicy life details in the first 10 minutes of the conversation. Friends who don't keep important secrets. Friends who can handle important secrets.

I've found that people who don't meet the above criteria tend to cause anxiety for me and for them. My lack of  'shooting the breeze' comes across as insensitive and uncaring, when the reality is that I'm busy and when I'm not busy, I'm decompressing. I have more sh!t to do than I have time or brain space to process it all. I love it. It's the reality of my life. It's my excitement. It's me doing all the things that I love at the same time. People who are not in the same boat are incompatible, at this time.

Friends like that need a divorce or at least a separation. Friendship divorce sucks especially when there's no huge deal-breaker, issue or argument. So, I did what any normal person would do.....I asked my facebook friends for advice....and I googled "How to divorce a friend." I got great advice and found this article, this article and this article. All were helpful. The one thing I know is that a 'hint around' method isn't going to work. My personality is not confrontational. A kind, firm and direct approach is absolutely necessary and perhaps that's exactly what I need to bring my Smart.Bold.Passionate alter ego to the surface.

Wish me luck.

I have an M on my chest! -- MOM!

It's mother's day and I'm completely elated. I love this part of my life. I love the people that call me Mommy.

I remember the day I became a mother. As I laid in that hospital, numb from the waist down, tired from the pushing and hungry because they won't let you eat while laboring, I could only think of two things. 1-I could do this again. 2-I'm a superhero. I finally understood all mothers out there. I finally understood why they wore their title with a badge of honor. I understood the love, the bond, the reason behind the lengths a mother would go to protect her tribe. I got it. I felt powerful and accomplished. I was a mother. I am forever somebody's superhero.

Happy Mother's Day to all of us.

Photo Credit: Sarah Jordan Photography