by Stacey Wiseman | Jun 28, 2012 | Description, Family Photographs, Inspiration, Photography Tip
One of the essential categories to photograph every year are favorites. Since this can change every year (maybe even every month or week!), I love the idea of photographing your child’s favorite objects in life. Perhaps for most kids, their favorite of their favorites deals with sleeping. This could be their favorite blanket or stuffed animal. This is the thing you are scared to lose…even scared to wash. For any night trip away, you have to make sure you have included their favorite blankey, softie, or whatever terms of affection it goes by in your household.
For my oldest, he never really had one of these objects. The closest thing was a stuffed pillow-like dog that he like to curl up with. But if it happened to not be in the bed, he usually didn’t notice. My youngest on the other hand, has a small softie that she looks for every time. And you can trick her with something that looks and feels like it…she knows which one is hers. This small, pink blanket gets extremely dirty. She loves to chew on the corners and keep it close to her cheek. So it is really important to make sure it is always near by for any nap or bed time!
I wanted to photograph her with her blanket one day during her nap time.
Here are some simple tips for photographing sleeping children:
1. Set my camera to quiet mode (yes! my camera has one of these!).
2. Got my settings close to what I thought would be necessary for a slightly dark room.
3. Snuck in close to the time I thought she would be waking up.
I was hoping to get some of her sleeping but she woke up as soon as I opened the door. How it goes sometimes! Even though I couldn’t capture sleepy, closed-eye photos, this is the perfect time to capture an awesome yawn! Plus her favorite sleep blanket.
Take action! Capture your child’s favorite toy, object, or stuffed animal sometime this weekend. Have a goal, to photograph them while they are interacting with it. But…if not, you can always isolate the object. Your child will love having a photograph of their favorite thing!
Check out the blog on Monday to see how I transform these photos into a design layout!
And with this post, I have marked off two items on my 50 Essential Ways to Photograph your Family in a year. Do you have your copy yet? If not, make sure to sign up for the newsletter by clicking this image:
by Stacey Wiseman | Apr 23, 2012 | Family Photographs, Interview, Photograph, Photography Tip
Hey everyone, time for our next interview! You will love Rhonda McMaster. She is a photographer located in Ottawa and mother to three absolutely beautiful children. I mean, seriously beautiful children. Rhonda’s photographs have amazing color, clarity and light but perhaps what I love the most about her photos is the way she frames an image. She finds a way to make the surroundings tie into and perfectly frame the subject. A perfect example was when she stayed a couple of steps behind her kids going down an empty escalator. The rail of the escalator led perfectly to her children and she got their reflection in the glass sides.
We did not coordinate this in advance…but my favorite photograph of hers is exactly the photograph she selected for #9! I was so happy she included this photograph in the interview. This photograph not only captures light in an amazing way…but the interaction between brother and sister is real and genuine. I feel cold but warmth at the same time. It seems casual but perfectly executed. I long to one day capture an emotion similar to this in my photographs. Right now we are still in the “be gentle, brother” phase; but one day!
To see more of her photography, check out her website and make sure you like her facebook page.
On her website, she has this really cool feature highlighting photographic collages (click the tab “collages” to view). My favorite collage is “girly girl.” What mother of daughters would not love something like this!
[divider]1 | me and my camera:
Hi! My name is Rhonda. I’m a photographer, mother, teacher and life-lover. I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and the 50 mm 1.2L and 24-105 mm 4.0L.
[divider]2 | my family:
This is my busy, young family. 🙂
[divider]3 | my current photography challenge:
My challenge is to let go of expectations. The images I get are not always the ones I *think* I want to get, but like this one, when I saw it, I knew it was the one I was *meant* to get….
[divider]4 | what I have time for now:
Chasing children.
[divider]5 | what I don’t have time for now:
Afternoon naps. Long ago (it’s hard to remember when) afternoon naps turned into afternoon plays.
[divider]6 | my favorite photography subject:
My children (any of them!). I have never met a mother who doesn’t love a photo of her babies.
[divider]7 | my favorite place to photograph inside my home:
I love taking advantage of the beautiful, natural light that pours in through the largest window in my living room.
[divider]8 | my favorite time to photograph:
It’s not the easiest time to photograph and I shoot more frames, but learning how to embrace the midday sun has made me a better photographer. The way the sun lights up my daughter’s already-vibrant hair makes me smile.
[divider]9 | my favorite blog post (or photograph) right now:
My favourite photograph is usually my newest one, but I keep going back to this image from this past winter, which is perfectly imperfect to me, and shows true sibling love.
[divider]10 | what tip, trick or info helped your family photographs the most:
Contrast in an image makes a beautiful black and white. Also, there are many beautiful locations to take a photograph, but wherever you are, when you see something beautiful or inspiring, take a picture. (This image was taken from the front seat of my van on our way to skiing lessons.)
[divider]All photographs are copyright to Rhonda McMaster, Rhonda McMaster Photography. Do not copy, print, or distribute.
Thanks again for sharing! It was fabulous to see your photographs!!!
[divider] Are you interested in being featured? Contact me at info[at]bookthisproject.com
by Stacey Wiseman | Jan 31, 2012 | Description, Interview, Photograph, Photography Tip
As mentioned in this blog post, each month I want to conduct interviews with moms (and dads) who document their everyday lives with photographs. The main goal of each interview is to learn more about who, why and how we photograph our families. I loved the idea of using photographs to illustrate the answers.
For the first interview, I put myself to the challenge.
10 photographs to describe… Stacey R Wiseman
[divider] 1 | me and my camera:
Nikon D7000 and lately my 24-75mm f2.8 lens; 
[divider] 2 | my family:
Even if partially…we are all in the frame!
[divider] 3 | my current photography challenge:
I am trying to find interesting interior light and creative compositions to document potty training.
[divider] 4 | what I have time for now:
Puzzles!
[divider] 5 | what I don’t have time for now:
Reading The New Yorker.
[divider] 6 | my favorite photography subject:
The interaction between my two kids.
[divider] 7 | my favorite place to photograph inside my home:
My bedroom.
[divider] 8 | my favorite time to photograph:
After-work walks in the park.
[divider] 9 | my favorite blog post (or photo) right now:
Baking chocolate chocolate chip cookies.
[divider] 10 | what tip, trick or info helped your family photographs the most:
Besides setting your custom white balance (which can even be done with point and shoot cameras!), I would say, facing subjects towards the light to get catchlights in the eyes. Of course I understood windows = light, but I never maximized the light in my kids’ eyes. As mentioned above, I am still learning about how to use interior light…but I have definitely improved!
2009 Photo
[divider] 2012 Photo
[divider] Are you interested in being featured?
Send me an email at info[at]bookthisproject.com and include your blog link, if you have one. Let me know how long it will take you to photograph your answers. Feel free to be as creative as you like! I will respond with the details!
