I just love this week’s post from Rebecca of Rebecca Keeling Studios.  Not only is it full of great information about what we as custom photographers strive to do for our clients, but it’s full of great pictures too!   Most people don’t think about bringing things like this to a session, but really, it’s your things (not ours) that will have the most sentimental value!  And we don’t get our great props from some super-secret super-special photographer’s prop closet, we get them from Hobby Lobby, antique stores, even the grocery store (shoot, I picked up something really cute at Staples today!).  Chances are your house is full of really awesome stuff to use in a photo shoot, you’ve just never looked at it in that light before.  So, here’s your mission.  Read this post and go look around – what wonderful things are hiding in your house?!?

“We’ve all been brainstorming lately about the direction our Wardrobe Wednesday posts will take now that we’ve covered pretty much every type of session we can imagine in the MOST fashionable and fabulous summer outfits.  And we’ve all agreed that Fall will be a great transition time for even more amazing clothing finds, steals, and deals.  But what to do with the “inbetween” time where it’s just too darn hot to start talking about your Fall wardrobe??  Well, hopefully our next few posts will spark your interest with things a little outside the wardrobe realm but still incredibly relevant to having a most incredible photo session…which, after all, is why you are here…right??!! 
Today’s post is all about the props.  Theatrical presentations all have at least one thing in common…they all use props to tell a story…to draw you in…to peak your interest…to hold your attention.  As a photographer, I like to think of myself as a storyteller.  It’s not good enough just to take a random snapshot with no context, no story, no purpose.  Our job as custom photographers is to get to know our clients, what they like, how they live, how they love, what makes them different.  Props play a big role in this storytelling process.  For babies, it might be an antique family heirloom carriage; for children, it could be their love of bubbles, flowers, trucks, bugs; for families, you may have a chair or setee with sentimental value; for seniors, they all have hobbies; and for couples, you have romance!  Everyone has a story to tell and we love to help you tell that story by using props.  So let’s get creative, and let’s get started telling YOUR story today!”

Pictures courtesy of your Wardrobe Wednesday Team! 

Have I mentioned lately how big my little baby is getting?  It’s killing me!  We came back from an out-of-town wedding over the weekend, and I swear she grew 2 inches.  She runs all over the house, tells us “No” when we ask for kisses (lots of the time), eats like a 5 year old, and loves to color with her crayons.  She can climb on one of our couches now with the assistance of the ottoman, and I caught her trying to put a Veggie Tales DVD (that she had gotten out of the case) under our DVD player.  She was close!    She says “Mommy Daddy” and it just melts us, and she loves her “puppies” more than anything.  She goes from room to room yelling “Puupppppeeeyyyy!” until she can locate one that will sit still (normally Rocky), and then she proceeds to bear-hug him (knocking him to the ground) and tickle his feet (“tickletickletickletickle”).  Sometimes she looks and acts so big it makes my heart hurt, and other times she cries and wants to be cuddled just like a little baby (and it makes me happy).   Here are some shots I took of her while we were location-scouting last week.  After I took these (at a nature preserve right around sunset), I proceeded to lock my keys in the car while putting away my camera.  Thank goodness my grandparents only live a few miles away, because my husband was still downtown at work and it took him about 45 minutes to get to us.  We weren’t really dressed for a night trip in the park, so luckily my grandpa came by and let us warm up in his car.  It’s always an adventure around here … enjoy!