4 hours of set up. 6 hours of shooting. 14 families. More than 3000 shutter clicks. Countless smiles and a photographer with a full heart.

It was wonderful to see many returning clients I hadn’t seen and meet a few new ones too. Like I said, my heart is full and I think you can see why from this sampling of images.

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Tip #1 Use as much natural light as possible. Open the windows and let the light in!

Tip #2 Think about a way to capture the same tradition every year 

Tip #3  Take shots from at least 3 different angles 

Tip #4  Don’t forget the details

Tip #5  Live in the moment 

Tip #6  If in doubt, take the photo. Even with your phone. Chances are you won’t regret taking a photo, just wishing you had.  

Tip #7  For Christmas tree photos, turn off all the lights in the house and only use the tree lights. Use a low aperture, meter and focus on the kids’ faces, and have them hold still!  

Tip #8  Bokeh is the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider. And so fun at Christmas time with lights! You can also play with the manual focus ring to create some cool shots.  

Tip #9  Ask other people to take photos with you in it! Or set up a tripod and get to know your camera’s self- timer function. #existinphotos (!!)

And saving the best for last…

Tip #10  Be okay with letting go of perfection. This isn’t just a photo tip, it’s a holiday (and life lol) survival tip! And truthfully, I needed to hear it the other day and wanted to pass it along in case you do too!  

There you have it! If you try any of these tips, let me know how you make out!

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But 4 days after my mom passed away, a bright red cardinal tip-toed up the driveway towards where my son and I were playing as if he wanted to make sure we knew he was there. When I saw him, I almost said “it’s Grammy” but didn’t want to freak out my 3 year old. It was a very weird feeling of having her here with me… We got up and tried to get closer to take a photo (naturally!) but I was too enamored to actually take a picture. It let us get pretty close, relatively speaking, before top-toeing back down the driveway and out of sight.

For the past week or so, we had a nest in the tree outside our front door. This mommy cardinal now has three babies in there.

I’ve been spying on these little ones for a week or so. My human neighbors must be wondering what the heck I’m doing up on a step stool peering into the tree numerous times a day. This would be it…

I love sitting in the kitchen listening to them chirp. That is of course also my cue to go check them out.

This morning, they all flew out of the nest.

It’s not lost on me that today marks one month since my mom earned her angel wings and these little cardinals all flew out of the nest today.

I’ve never been interested in nature photography. It takes too long – waiting for the light to be perfect, and everything to be just right. Wayyyy too boring for this toddler wrangler. But it had this interesting element of peace.

Crazy to think after just a week, these guys are on their own! I flew the nest years ago but even at 37, married, and a mother myself, I still needed my mom. Life without her just isn’t the same.

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This is the last photo I took with my mom. That truly still feels surreal saying it. ? I had a bad feeling our days together were limited, but I had no idea they were what they were. We had four more days together after this. About three weeks ago, we scheduled photos for Aug 8… today. Instead of photos today, we said our final goodbye until we meet again with a beautiful service and burial I know would make her smile. ? My point in sharing this is to tell you: Don’t Wait. Don’t wait to take the photos. Don’t wait to do something you have always wanted to do. Don’t wait to visit a friend you haven’t seen in a while or spend time with family. Don’t wait. In a matter of one month, just four short yet long weeks, our lives were turned upside down with a recurrence of cancer. She was so hopeful and strong through it all. ? I don’t care who takes your photos. My point is don’t wait. Just take them. Take many and often. I’m heart broken I only thought about including my parents in our photo session on what was unknowingly our last family vacation in March and didn’t actually do it. ? I never imagined I could be so thankful for a photo of our callused feet. ? I’m not sure what is in store for my business as I navigate this new world that I still can’t believe I’m in but as I try and figure it out, the activity on here may be less. Please visit my website to get in touch. #dontwait #loveneverdies #justtakethephoto #existinphotos

A post shared by Sarah Pratt Photography (@sarahprattphotography) on Aug 8, 2018 at 4:29pm PDT

Here is another “Don’t Wait” post about the last family photos we had taken >>

Go ahead, don’t wait.

The post Don’t wait. Take the picture. appeared first on Sarah Pratt Photography.

Last year, I held three different Christmas Tree mini sessions at three different Christmas tree farms! This year, I want to focus on one or two locations, which means I need to reserve them now. Yup, reserve them! And I would love your input on location and timing. Please fill out this quick survey if you’re interested in joining the holiday fun this year.

The awesome tree farms we visited last year were Mistletoe in East Bridgewater, MA, Miller’s Family Farm in Attleboro, and Mockingbird Hill Tree Farm in Lakeville, MA. All three have wonderful staff and gorgeous tree farms.

Here is a little Christmas in July for you.

The post I’m going there… Christmas Mini Sessions appeared first on Sarah Pratt Photography.

Enter, the Mommy & Me mini session.

After doing a session with my son last year, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I love when images capture emotion and connection – two things bound to be captured when the subjects are a mother and her babies (no matter how old they are!). And for us moms, we’re usually the ones TAKING the photos so it’s that much more important for us to exist in photos and carve out the time to get in front of the camera ourselves, no matter how much we might not want to.

If you haven’t read the post about my personal family photography session experience, I encourage you to… It details my realization (as a mother myself, not a photographer) that while I may not like everything about myself in photos, NONE of it means anything to my son. I am just going to be so grateful to have these images that transport me back to the day they were taken in 15 years from now when he goes to college (did I really just write that?!), or when he gets married (again, did I really write that?). And he is going to have them forever too. No matter how outdated a USB drive is in 25, 50, 100 years, someone will have the printed images of us.

It fills my heart to have been able to create similar memories and images for these mothers and their children during the Mommy & Me mini session event.

Are these enough to convince you it’s time for a Mommy & Me mini session with your kids? Be sure you’re on the email newsletter list to be the first to find out when they will be held again >> JOIN EMAIL LIST

The post Recap of Mommy & Me mini session event appeared first on Sarah Pratt Photography.

At the end of my web redesign (be sure to check out the new and improved www.sarahprattphotography.com!), I got stuck down a deep rabbit hole I wasn’t expecting while looking for a few images from nearly 10 years ago. My editing has changed since then so I was looking through unedited images and discovered a few that hadn’t quite hit me then how they hit me now…

A little more than two years after these images were taken, photos and memories were all we have to remember her fierce and spunky spirit and beautiful face and heart. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her… as I know goes for many, many others that were blessed as I was to have had our paths cross. [Please check out this post to learn more about this incredible child, Mary.]

Back to my rabbit hole… I was looking for this photo. I have always LOVED it.

The bokeh (the circles in the background) is unreal and the fall colors coupled with her bubbly spirit is captured here. We were just hanging out in the driveway, playing with chalk and twirling; I was playing with my new 85mm 1.8 lens and getting used to the focal length (hello cut off heads).

When I came across this one…

There is just something about it that struck me. I don’t know what it is other than I wonder if this more serious, mature face is anything what she’d look like today.

We talk about Mary in my house a lot. My son is too young to talk about any details, but we talk about our favorite ladybug Mary all the time. He’ll see a ladybug and say Mary. I think about what she’d look like and how much she’d love my little guy and he’d love her…

Sigh… I guess looking at old photos don’t ALWAYS make me happier, but one thing is for sure, they make me smile and so glad we have them.

Here are a few others just for fun:

The post Old photos… and my new website appeared first on Sarah Pratt Photography.

Motherhood is so beautiful and special–every mother deserves special images with her children. Let’s capture the beauty of Motherhood and create images you’ll cherish long after your little ones are grown.

This is a one-day only, rain or shine, mini session event that will take place in a renovated barn with a bed to snuggle and play on, as well as few other options including a mini tea party.

Some of the details:

Sessions will be 15-20 minutes and you’ll receive an online gallery of 10-15 images from which to select FIVE digital negatives & corresponding 4×6 proof prints. Additional images/prints will be available for purchase.

A $25 non-refundable reservation fee holds your time slot and $250 is due day of for the digital images for each reserved session slot.

Sessions are for Mom (and Grandma! sorry Dads!) and up to two children (any age). If you have more than two children, grab back to back time sessions (each require purchase of 5 digitals) so we have plenty of time to capture all the love.

Get all the details and reserve your time at bit.ly/sppmini18.

The post Limited Edition Mommy & Me Mini Sessions appeared first on Sarah Pratt Photography.

Here are some easy wall gallery designs that look great almost anywhere and can be done with frames or canvases.

The post Wall Gallery Designs appeared first on Sarah Pratt Photography.

PRINT YOUR PHOTOS

Because NOTHING is like having a physical photo in your hand, it’s so important to print your photos. While on vacation last year, my husband thought our two year old in the pool was in trouble. Thankfully he wasn’t, unfortunately though, his phone that was in his pocket was not. We can’t trust our precious family memories to our phones and fate, so getting printing them should be the #1 priority, #2 is getting them off your phone to a digital backup. What I use:

Grovebook

I discovered Groovebook (on Sharktank!) right before my son was born and have a book for every month since he arrived. You can’t go wrong for the price: 100 prints shipped for $3.95/month. However, the quality of the image printing isn’t the same you would get if printing 4x6s from a lab. But I like having these as an archive of my snapshots from my phone and still print additional images elsewhere when they are frame or scrapbook (someday!) worthy. And it’s pretty mindless – it takes 5 minutes to select the images you want to add to the book. I have a calendar reminder set so I don’t forget before my monthly cutoff date (if you don’t upload, you’re still charged – I may have just forgotten for the first time in three years upload images this past month – but you don’t get a book). 

Mpix

I’ve tried countless online consumer photo labs to find the best option to recommend clients use. My favorite has changed over the years but Mpix has been my go to for a many years now. I’m picky about color – you can print the same image at 3+ labs and have them all look different than what they looked like with my edits on screen- so finding a lab with the best color match is important.

Albums/books: 

Nowvel

I’ve used Nowvel a few times to make quick post-vacation books with my phone images and they are my favorite for phone images. I enjoy looking at pages that lay flat, so these meet that requirement and are quick and easy. They are press printed on a nice weight paper (that even withstands toddler page bending). I actually need to get on making one from our recent trip!  And I LOVE that they print on the binding. 

Zno

The flush mount albums from Zno are gorgeous! The difference here is the photo paper. I made a 6×6 mini album with the “real camera” photos from a vacation and they printed beautifully. The app wasn’t the most user/design friendly when I did it, but it may have improved. 

Chatbooks

Hmm… I wanted to love them. I’d heard people talking about them, but they just aren’t for me. They’re a book and not an album. I didn’t realize how much I enjoy looking through albums versus books. I will say, these are fine and better than not having the images printed at all — the quality is fine though the pages are paper so they bend easily — they just aren’t for me. 

DIGITAL STORAGE

Dropbox

What I like about Dropbox is the auto-upload for your phone images AND videos. I’m actually uploading right now! You do have to keep the app open while they upload, but that’s easy enough. I use Dropbox for a variety of cloud storage and think it’s pretty easy to use.

Zenfolio

I’ve been using Zenfolio as my digital photo archive since starting my business in 2007. It was my first website actually! Now I use it as my online storage. It makes me feel so much more comfortable about having this backup God forbid something happen to any printed or digital images. At one point I copied all my images to DVDs (that feels so archaic now!) and hard drives (which I do actually still do as part of my editing workflow), but having this online backup beats all methods if somehow the DVDs/hard drives met a physical demise. 

You can also set up an auto upload from your phone to save photos and then order prints directly through Mpix so I don’t have to upload separately to order prints. I did the auto back up for a while before moving to Dropbox because videos uploaded better. But if I want nice prints of phone photos, I still use Zenfolio and Mpix.

A critical thing to look for when deciding on an online photo storage is that you can download the original file. I have years of photos from the early 2000s on Shutterfly, but at the time they didn’t allow you to download a full resolution file; I could only print the image or get a small file. And that wasn’t okay for me. 

So there you have it… how I store and preserve our family memories.

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