January's Steal

It's mid-month, time to announce January's Steal!  All sessions booked for January will receive FREE accordion mini book calendars, a $50 value!  Yes, I said books, as in they come in a pack of 3.  So, one for you and two to gift, a great way to celebrate the New Year!  These are one of my favorite press-printed products that I offer, and they're a perfect way to carry around and show off several images from your session.  So if the holidays were too hectic to fit in family portraits, get them done in January (and show off all of those new clothes!)

Little Girl, Big Brown Eyes

What photographer (or any person for that matter) isn't a sucker for the big, innocent eyes that only small children have??  I love eyes.  In a portrait, I really feel that it's the eyes that speak to the viewer and set the tone of the image.  I named my business for the reflected highlight seen in the eye, I decked my daughter's room out in owls, I'm smitten with the gorgeous gray eyes and long lashes my children have....  So, it goes without saying that I drooled over this little girl's big coffee-brown eyes.  Oh, and let's not forget those curls.  I'm also a sucker for curls.

This shoot took place on a windy Sunday, in the lazy, late afternoon light.  The client requested we take the pictures in their backyard, and so it was a very relaxed shoot.  This quiet little girl didn't mind myself or my camera one tiny bit.  She smiled and laughed the ENTIRE time.  If was a lot of fun.  And I got a lot of gorgeous close-ups of her happy, sincere face.

Since it's fall, and there's a pretty park right up the road, we took an excursion to play in the leaves and get a few shots with the fall colors and Sandia Mountains in the background.  We played peek-a-boo, rolled around in the leaves, and just hung out.  And she got to finish the shoot with some one-on-one play time with Mom and Dad.   You know, it's hard to call it work when you're getting to do what you love and your clients are enjoying themselves, too.

A very special thanks to this family for trusting their daughter's 3-year portraits to me and my style of photography!

Autumn at the Academy

I can't say it enough:  I love taking pictures in the fall!  Albuquerque is especially gorgeous this time of year, even with the leaves a little past their prime and the winds starting to kick up.  And one of the prettiest spots in town is the campus of the Albuquerque Academy.  So I was super excited when this family opted for the Academy for their family photo shoot.

This family is also a close personal friend, and it made for an interesting dynamic for the shoot.  While I knew that they'd be very comfortable with me, I was more nervous of them than I would be for a brand new client.  I felt my responsibility as their photographer, and hence, the weight of their trust in me, keenly. 

We were shooting kind of late in the day, light-wise.  Since it was a Friday, the campus was active and we timed the shoot for after school let out.  So, it was a race against the setting sun.  I've recently done portraits of the kids, but this was my first time to photograph all five of them.  They are a super fun family.  The kids are energetic, to say the least  :-)   My plan was to start the shoot at the far end of the campus, so we would  A) be traveling against the exodus of students, B) get the mountain shots in before the foreground was "dark" and I'd have to use fill-flash, and C) the mileage would wear out those kids! 

Despite the time crunch, we were able to take group shots at 5 or 6 diverse locations on campus.  Mixed in there, we got some beautiful portraits of the parents, and individuals of the kids. 

For families with more than one child, I prefer to do posed portraits.  It's more economical time-wise, and it's still an honest portrait.  However, I really love candids.  I love images of people interacting with one another.  But with a group this size, you have to be very, very patient to catch a frame where everyone is in sync. 

Here's my favorite candid, and possibly my favorite image, from the afternoon.  True to form, it was one of the last ones I took.  The light was fading really fast, it had been a long, productive shoot, and we were all headed back to the cars. 

To me, this image says "We ROCKED that photo session!  Let's go enjoy our Friday night together."

Monthly Steals

Everyone likes a bargain, right?  I know I do.  And I like it when it's a true deal, not some offer that's meaningless (like "save the sales tax" deals...what's the point??  It's like $7 off). 

So I'm happy to announce Monthly Steals from CatchLight Photography.  Every month, around mid-month, I'll post next month's promotion.  Want to keep abreast?  Follow the blog or become a fan of CatchLight's facebook page to see updates.

December's Steal!

Gift Certificates!  Looking for a thoughtful Holiday gift that's not just more STUFF?  Something your recipient would truly appreciate?  Something they'll actually use??  How about a portrait gift certificate?  Better yet, how about a portrait gift certificate where the photographer matches your donation? 

For the month of December I'm offering CatchLight Gift Certificates where I'll match up to $100.  Gift certificates can be used to cover any of my products, including the session fee, and make great gifts for the holidays, baby showers, birthdays, anniversaries, you name it.  And with sessions at $125 and 8x10's starting at $20, your double-downed gift can go a long way, especially if your recipient is a member of one of my Communities (Communities listed to the left).  So if you're ready to simplify your holiday shopping, simply contact me by commenting on the blog, messaging via facebook, or the old fashioned way - 505.306.9555.

Bosque Beauty

Fall is hands down my favorite time to take portraits.  I love fall colors, fall clothes, fall afternoon light....  The timing is great for capturing updated portraits for Christmas cards, and I haven't yet put on the inevitable 5 pounds I gain from holiday cooking!  Here are some portraits of my family we captured along the beautiful Rio Grande Bosque.  The color in these images is untouched.  It really was that luscious and golden.  You can view the full gallery at: http://catchlightgalleries.smugmug.com/Families/Bosque-Beauty/14585975_PjAx3#1084509500_fpaWg

  

Portraits in Mass

I recently shot the school portraits for a preschool and private kindergarten.  That, my friends, is a whole different experience.  If a portrait session is a long jog through the park, then school photos are a run-for-your-life sprint.  :-)  It's fun to run fast.  It also knocks me out.  Running analogies too cheesy?  I'll blame it on my husband's influence.

Every shoot has it's challenge.  With school portraits it's time.  Er, lack of time.  You have less than a minute per child to nail the photo (budget your time for the class photo...you're gonna need it).  Child won't smile?  Then you best get creative and make a fool of yourself to get the child to laugh.  I don't know too many parents who want school portraits of an unhappy face, closed eyes, or the Lost in Space look.  I know I don't.

It was fun to exercise different muscles.  It was a lot of fun to edit through so many different, precious faces.  Even in a simple school portrait, there's a lot of the child's personality that comes through to the viewer.  It never ceases to amaze me how honest and open the face is a child gives to the camera.

Park Playtime

One of my more recent photo shoots was at one of the city's newest, fanciest parks: North Domingo Baca.  Albuquerque truly has a lot to be proud of with its parks, and this park is especially awesome.  I was excited to take pictures there.  Excited about the beautiful Sandia backdrop, the manicured grass (this is the desert, folks), the view of the city....  I was less excited when I saw how BUSY it was: busy as in lots of people and dogs, and lots of background noise that would have to be edited out during proofing.  But these things are all easily worked around, and we all quickly settled into the shoot.

This client is a fun-loving, active family of five, and my job this day was to photograph the three children.  These kids are pros.  They've had portraits done before.  They're relaxed in front of the camera, they're goofing off with each other, smiling, having fun.  They're AWESOME.

I always want to come away with great "solo" shots of each person at the shoot.  I'll usually take individuals, but I'll also take shots with the group in the image but have the focus centered on a specific person.  For this shoot, I did both, and while the images of the kids on their own were great, the images of them hanging out with their siblings were really special.  They are a Threesome.  Here are two of my favorite images.

And since they are a threesome, I worked on getting shots of them all together, and specifically shots that speak to their sibling bond.  I try to provide several diverse viewpoints of the group portrait, and my clients like images that are different from the expected. 

These guys are a creative bunch.  The last 30 minutes or so of the shoot, they were firing ideas at me: "Let's try this! Ooh, look at this!  How about this??"  Some of their poses (like pony rides).... not so hot.  But some were simply great, like this one, which turned out to be both the mom's, and my, favorite of the day.

Sessions like this one reaffirm several things for me.  First, it helps me when the client collaborates on the shoot.  They are vested in the session, they are the show, they are not props.  Second, kids are creative to their core, and that creativity can be a huge asset to the photog.  And third, photographing kids is FUN!

A Summer Evening on Campus

For the location photographer, the UNM campus is an Albuquerque treasure.  There are rolling green hills, areas of full shade, a pond complete with small footbridge and waterfall, and gorgeous, lush foliage everywhere.  In the summer, it's a very accessible spot for taking family portraits.  And kids love it!

One evening this summer I took family portraits for a client there.  I love shooting in places where there's very diverse scenery and plenty of space for us to spread out and let the kids run around.  UNM has that.  For this shoot, the kids bee-lined for the duck pond upon arrival.  We let them run around, and got some great shots of them chasing each other.  I love this one of the little brother chasing his older sister.  Such is the life of little brothers!  I shot this two ways: one where the focus is on him, one with the focus on her.   The client ordered both.

On shoots, I like to let the kids lead the way, because then they'll focus on the place, and not on the photographer.  And I usually come away with great shots that I hadn't planned.  Here, they found a turtle pond, and started naming the turtles.  I think they were enjoying the shoot :-)

One of my favorite shots of the afternoon was of the little boy wandering off to explore on his own.  With my own children, I'll often see them doing something that makes me close my eyes and mentally chant "remember this. remember this."  This image felt like one of those memories to me, and so I chose post-processing that matched that feeling: hazy, with lost details, but the essence of the image still intact.

Eventually, kids start to wear out, and it's time to wrap it up.  That's when I like to grab the candid family photos.  The kids are usually ready to rest and have a snuggle with their parents.  And as a parent, I believe the most precious portraits you have are those of your babies interacting with you.  Those are the images you willingly pay a photographer to take.  They're special, they're true to life, and they're impossible to capture without a 3rd party taking the shot.  So here are my two favorites from the end of the session. I hope you enjoyed this beautiful family!

A Monster Find

I've been spending a lot of time shopping around for templates to use for marketing literature, album design, press-printed cards, you name it.  And sometimes I get a little sidetracked.  As in, I start shopping for ME, not for CatchLight. 

My most recent find under this category is a Party Monster clip art set by Babystar Design.  My son will be turning 1 all too soon, and his Birthday is right around Halloween.  So, the party theme this year is monsters, and they're not all that easy to find in the stores.  But I found a set of 8 monsters on Etsy, and for $5... Sold.  They are the perfect addition to the 5x7 cards I designed to send out to family and friends.

Welcome

Welcome to the CatchLight Photography blog!  CatchLight Photography is an on-location portrait studio based in Albuquerque, NM, specializing in natural light family portraiture.  This site will feature:

- Recent portrait shoots: the backstory of the client, my three favorite pictures from the shoot and why I love them so, and information about the shooting location and set-up.
- Personal musings on my experiences as a photographer and business owner.
- Information on upcoming events and promotions!