You probably saw the behind-the-scenes post for Lauren Rothman’s photoshoot. Lauren has just finished her first book : Style Bible: What to Wear to Work . It is on pre-order now to be published and shipped later this year.

Here are some of the photographs we made that day. 4 outfit changes, inside and outside the studio.

A big shout out to Envee for Hair and Makeup and my client and friend Sarah Boyd for helping make the shoot a success.

Wishing you all the success in the world Lauren!

Lauren’s website : http://styleauteur.com/

Lauren’s facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/Styleauteur

Lauren’s twitter :  @styleauteur

Lauren’s instagram :  @styleauteur http://instagram.com/styleauteur/

Lauren’s author profile on Bibliomotion : https://bibliomotion.com/authors/lauren-a-rothman

xo, Rashmi

You know how I am always encouraging you to print your photographs, get them up on your walls and console tables and get albums made.. well, I thought I would show you what an album looks like. I have been meaning to do it for a while now and am finally getting around to it.

Your family session includes an album. These are hand made, one of a kind, gorgeous albums… family heirlooms and something I think you will look through over and over again. As much as I love sliding through photos on my phone, there is nothing quite like flipping through a real album. I design the layout of all the albums, I like them to tell a story of our time together and I take a lot of time planning it out just right. Some might say borderline obsessive compulsive and this is why I have not been able to outsource this, even though there are so many people who just design albums!

One of my clients asked if they get an input in the layouts and the photos selected. Well… the short answer is not really. I want it to be one big, fat, amazing, massive surprise. And did I mention I am a bit of a control freak? It’s about the story people!

Oh, my albums are made by the fabulous people at Madera Books.  Go check them out.

Here are the layouts for Baby Drew’s album. I just love how it turned out. Just like with my photography, I like to keep things simple. Simple is not simple to achieve but in photographs keeping it simple really showcases relationships, and in albums it showcases the story. I am one of those people who is wary of too much show. If the first thing you notice in a family photograph is an outfit or location and not the people.. then boo! If the first thing you notice in an album is that is is too fussy.. then super boo. The story is the detail. The relationship is the detail. If you capture that, you don’t need the frills.

Anyway.. back to the layouts.. here they are. Also, please excuse the above photos. I am not a product photographer. But I am going to be a great one by the end of the year (personal mission).

Can’t wait to design your album!

xo,

Rashmi

You are the sunlight in my day,
You are the moon I see far away.
You are the tree I lean upon,
You are the one that makes troubles be gone.
You are the one who taught me life,
How not to fight, and what is right.
You are the words inside my song,
You are my love, my life, my mom.
You are the one who cares for me,
You are the eyes that help me see.
You are the one who knows me best,
When it’s time to have fun and time to rest.
You are the one who has helped me to dream,
You hear my heart and you hear my screams.
Afraid of life but looking for love,
I’m blessed for God sent you from above.
You are my friend, my heart, and my soul
You are the greatest friend I know.
You are the words inside my song,
You are my love, my life, my Mom.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Please accept my sincere apologies if I missed you in the slideshow. I am at home and don’t have access to all my sessions here!

xo, Rashmi

The ever fabulous styleauteur, Lauren Rothman, has just finished her first book : Style Bible: What to Wear to Work . It is on pre-order now to be published and shipped later this year. I am pretty sure I nabbed the very first two pre-orders because I am just so proud of Lauren.

Let me back up a little bit. Lauren and I met the first time a few years ago (2009 to be precise) for her maternity photos as well Judah’s baby photographs. Lauren is amongst most fabulous, stylish, confident, sassy and hard working women I know. When she told me she needed new photographs for marketing and promos for her book and asked if I would do them for her, of course I said Yes. What I love about Lauren is she trusted me and said as long as she got a headshot or two, I could do whatever else I wanted to do creatively.

Lauren’s logo is a lime green hanger, and the first idea I had was to somehow have a wire hanger backdrop. My friend Malina (who helped me decorate the studio), even drew it out for me. My client Sarah, who I met because of Lauren (they were friends in college) was so generous with her time and said she would do whatever is required to make Lauren’s shoot a success. She even finangled with the hangers. Sadly they are not as bendy as one would assume so the backdrop idea was quickly replaced. I think that ended up being a good decision because already it was bordering between cool and cheesy.. and well Lauren’s brand is a billion miles away from cheesy.

My uber fantastic neighbours at the studio, Alex of Tchoupitoulas (formerly known as Decor Decorum), generously gave us carte blanche to borrow anything we needed from the store for the shoot. Have you been inside Tchoupitoulas? It is the poshest furnishings store in Old Town Alexandria. Alex and Carlee have such a great eye and what I absolutely adore about the store is how skilled they are at editing it down so the entire store is a feast for the eyes. I cannot tell you how many stores (that I will not name!) I go into and there is just so much stuff. Less is more is my personal philosophy in life and they know this so well too. I could buy one of each thing in the store. Thank you so much Alex for helping us pick out a table and a rug and that gorgeous Hermes side/coffee table. Lauren, I think you need it for your home.

Once we got the things we needed, it was time to set it up. Here is Sarah helping set things up. Also you get a view of the HVAC unit thingy outside that I have to try and avoid in every photograph I take!

After set up, I knew we would be tight on time and we had a few particular shots that we had to get, so I listed and sketched them out in my notebook. Around noon Lauren came in with her rack full of clothes and her talented makeup artist, Envee Yaneek . Here is a before shot of Lauren.

The talented Yaneek laid out all her brushes and magic potions and got to work.

Once makeup was done, it was time to pick the first dress and start shooting! I stole this photo from Yaneek’s instagram. I just used the bank of windows and a reflector, Nikon D700 and either the 50mm 1.4 or the 24-70 2.8.

We had a ton of fun! Too many ideas, too little time. The truth is that Lauren could have picked any team in the tri-state area, but she wanted to be at ease and be around people she was comfortable with and trusted, so she chose us. I felt flattered and a tiny (huge!) bit nervous.. but like with everything else, I just had to walk through the fear and know that I had it in me to do this.

The photos that we made are coming up in tomorrows blog post… so hold tight but in the meantime, more details about the book!

Lauren’s book is going to be a huge success, I just know it. There is no other book out there that is like it and frankly I think it is required reading for all graduating college students and everyone who already has a job. I am not sure Lauren approves of my Toms, jeans and tee look for work and after seeing her dress so fantastically, I am inspired to try a little harder.

I hope you enjoyed a behind-the-scenes peek. Thank you to the team of women who made this happen for Lauren. Muchas gracias.

xo, Rashmi

PS : You can pre-order the book by clicking on the book cover below:

I was driving to school to pick up the kids this afternoon and this most wonderful fragrance was in the air. The side of this home in Old Town was covered with wisteria and the fragrance made me stop the car, put on the hazard lights and jump out to just breathe it in.

After picking up the kids, I took them back to the wisteria. There was a little old lady there with her grand daughter. She said she had to stop her car, park it and show her grand daughter the wisteria. I said yes, I did too because they reminded me so much of my grandmother, she used to love flowers and pointed them out to us all the time. The old lady teared up and said yes, that is why she had stopped too… wisteria were her grandmother’s favourite flower and she wanted to share their beauty with her grand daughter.

She grew up in the south and I grew up half a world away.. and yet we had this in common. It really made my heart smile.

xo, Rashmi