From the day I met you, I’ve watched you grow more beautiful every day, both inside and out. Since our daughter came into our lives, you’ve carried her with a strength and grace that I never could have had.

I look ahead with with both excitement and trepidation as we enter parenthood. I know that God will strengthen us and bring us closer as we wrestle through the challenges and revel in the joys.

Most of all, I am thankful that I will be sharing these coming times with you. You have been a source of inspiration, encouragement, and strength to me. Because of you, I’ve become more than I ever could have been on my own. We were made for each other; artists, explorers, lovers, and best friends.

Thank You.

Love,
Daniel

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At first the kids were a little shy, but once we started playing hide-and-seek games, they were all grins and giggles! Joshua has the cutest little smile and Olivia just LOVED striking poses for the camera! We’re convinced she’s done modeling before!

Watching the kids play together on that warm summer evening brings back sweet memories of when we were children! Oh to be young again, play until sunset, and not have a care in the world (except for when the ice cream truck was coming). Now that’s living!

A big thank you to Grace and Peter for inviting us to take your family portraits! You guys are beautiful!

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Rosanna suggested shooting their engagement session at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, NJ which turned out to be the perfect location for these nature lovers! The arboretum is filled with walking paths, open fields, rose gardens, water fountains, and cute little benches. All it needed was a little Rosanna and Greg to make the whole place magical!

A big thank you to the soon-to-be bride and groom for allowing us to be a part of your afternoon! We can’t wait to see you guys dressed to the nines on your wedding day!

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Happy first birthday to Baby Daniel and a big thank you to our friends Abe and Janice for allowing us to be a part of his celebration!

A big thank you to Caroline, Jeremy, and their wonderful families for allowing us to document such a beautiful wedding at The Pridwin Hotel on Shelter Island, NY! Congratulations on your marriage you guys! You two are amazing!

Location – The Pridwin Hotel
Floral design – Hamptons Weddings & Events

Now before you throw in the towel and rush off to invest in a fancy new DSLR and lenses, let’s take a step back! After all, no matter how top of the line your new camera is, you’ll still end up with the same kind of images (just in higher resolution and a little better in image quality). Remember, photographers make photos, not cameras!

Whether you own the latest and greatest SLR or a cute little point-and-shoot, the following tips can be applied to anyone with a camera, a set of eyes, and a passion to shoot! Let’s get crackin!

1. Get Personal

Getting down to eye level with your child will allow your camera to peak into the world from your little one’s perspective. Don’t be afraid to get as close as possible to your child when shooting. This allows your camera lens to “frame” your little one closely, which avoids distracting background details.

Also, you don’t always have to make sure your child’s entire body fits in the frame. Try cropping into only their hands, their feet, portions of their face, or a close up of their eyes. You’ll be surprised at all the compelling compositions you can come up with by looking more closely!

2. Let there be Light!

One of the biggest mistakes to make when taking photos of your kiddo is using the on-camera flash. Not only can this create harsh shadows and highlights, it makes the skin of your baby appear waxy and discolored instead of soft and natural. Instead, turn off the flash and start using the world’s best light source available to you – good ol’ natural lighting!

If shooting outside, the best times to shoot are 1 hour after sunrise and 1 hour before sunset. Avoid at all costs to shoot during high noon when the sun is the strongest, which will leave you with pictures of squinty-eyed kiddies and harsh shadows and highlights on their faces. Shooting on cloudy days are an exception and can actually provide soft, beautiful light to work with. In fact, our favorite times to shoot are on days with overcast since the clouds act as a giant diffuser for the sun’s rays.

If shooting inside, choose a window that is bright but doesn’t have direct, harsh lighting pouring through. For example, a west-facing window during the morning works beautifully. If none of your windows provide soft lighting, use a sheer white curtain over your window which will diffuse the sun’s rays and give you much softer lighting for your photos.

3. Eye Candy

One of the most important rules of portrait photography is to focus on the eyes (especially when it comes to photographing children). A lot of personality and expression comes from the eyes alone, and when you focus on those pretty peepers, your photos will become that much more compelling.

We know it’s easier said than done since kids don’t seem to sit still for very long, but if you can keep at least this one golden rule in mind, you will have more success when trying to captivate the true personality of your child on camera.

4. Less is More

Study your surroundings when choosing the location to shoot and remove any type of object that might be a distraction in your picture. Solid colored walls, sofas, and bedding offer wonderful, simple backdrops to work with. Also try to keep your child in solid colored or lightly patterned clothing, minus any outfits with big distracting logos or goofy cartoons.

Sometimes a chubby naked baby in just a colorful knit hat and diapers can make for the best wardrobe! Remember- the more simple you keep the photograph, the more your child will be the focus.

5. Little People, Little Spaces

One of our favorite things to do when photographing little ones is to position them in the nooks and crannies of slightly larger objects. Not only can this be gosh darn adorable, but emphasizing the tiny scale of your child in comparison to the environment around them can make for some interesting and humorous photos!

Think dresser drawers, baskets, small suitcases, and buckets and get a little creative with the potential props around you!

Photographing children is no easy task, but with consistent practice and being mindful of the simple guidelines mentioned above, you’ll be well on your way to capturing gorgeous images of your kids!

We can certainly get into more depth with posing, types of lenses to use, technical details, and so on, so if you have any questions, we welcome you to ask away! In the meantime, grab your kids, grab your camera, and go snap happy! Cheers!

With that being said, we finally had an opportunity to do a little leisurely shooting yesterday when we joined our friends Emerson and Elena at the New York Botanical Garden. On top of that, we even had a chance to give them both a mini photo class on how to shoot a camera in manual mode. Needless to say, the two of them picked up our teachings fast and came back with some pretty sweet images!

Here are some of our captures from the garden using our 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. This bad boy allows you to shoot so close, you can smell the flowers while you’re taking photos. Yum!

We certainly had a wonderful time chasing these little buggers around with our cameras a few weekends ago and found the backyard to be the best place to shoot the majority of the session. It was a joy to watch big sister Johanna interact with her little brother Christopher, and even though she poked and smothered him with aggressive hugs most of the time, you can definitely feel the sibling love between the two! So cute!

A very special birthday shout out to baby Christopher on his one year old birthday and a big thank you to our friends Tae and Yujin for inviting us to join them for the afternoon! You guys are such a beautiful family!

Happy birthday Amelie! Your smile brings so much joy to your family and to all those around you!