Archive for Maternity Portraits

Our annual Fall Mini Portrait Sessions will be taking place again this year with limited morning sessions on two days only! We are offering 20 minute sessions booked on the half hour on Saturday, September 16th and Saturday October 21st only. Sessions will begin at 7am with the last one starting at 11am. The session price is $175.00 and it includes 8 high resolution digital images from the photoshoot. Addtional digital images, prints and holiday cards will also be available to purchase in addition to the included digitals. You may also purchase all of the photos from the session after you view them for $250.00. This year both sessions will be taking place at Majestic View Nature Center – 7030 Garrison St, Arvada, CO 80004. We will be meeting in the parking lot right next to the center (not at the park entrance off 72nd Ave.) The center has restrooms available and some great photo opportunities near by! This is our one and only time a year that we offer short sessions at a discounted rate. The dates, timing and location are all set by our company for this special!

If you have never participated in a mini session before I want to share a little bit about the concept. Mini sessions were developed to give clients with stricter budgets a quick photo-shoot with their family in order to accommodate a large amount of groups in one day! This session is perfect for families with children with short attention spans looking to just capture the growth of their family for holiday cards and the like. These sessions are not intended for groups that may need a bit more time and care with their photos such as large extended family shoots, families with pets or families looking to pick and choose their location and willing to spend more time getting lots of different poses, looks and or clothing changes. A grandparent or two can also tag along with one immediate family, but grandparents with multiple children that have families of their own may need to look at purchasing at least two back to back session spots. We also will not allow pets to be included in these sessions because while we love pets, the sessions are just too short for us to have the time devoted to both getting the the attention of the animals and their family members. These sessions are also more suited for people that can be on time or early. We run a tight ship on mini session day and since sessions are booked back to back photos will start immediately at your contracted start time and end 20 minutes later. Late comers will only get the time-frame we have allowed for them, so once their time is up we’ll be done and moving on to the next group.  All sessions are paid for in full to reserve your time-slot with no refunds unless we have a really bad weather day and have to reschedule. In cases like a bad weather day we will reach out to each family to see if there’s a day we can reschedule the session for and if there isn’t a mutually agreeable day within the next 2 months we will refund your money.

Check out some sample photos from last year’s session at Crown Hill Park –

Each session will include a couple different full family poses, separate groupings such as individual parents with children, children alone, parents alone and individual shots with a few different background options.  Majestic View offers a lot of options in a close proximity while we won’t be moving around the entire park in a 20 minute session some walking will be needed. If anyone has any disabilities or needs special accommodations please let us know.

One thing we can not guarantee is how much the trees will have changed or the weather! I try to set these sessions around the peak of the fall foliage season with weekend dates that we still have open, but it always varies from year to year. This year we only have a couple Saturday mornings open because we are fully booked with event coverage on the weekends until November. I cross my fingers for a beautiful day with abundant color and leaves still on the trees! Be aware that nature is going to do what nature does and we’re just at it’s mercy! If the forecast calls for cloudy and overcast, but not torrential downpours we will still be doing photos! So please dress accordingly.

 

Our mini sessions can also be used for a special occasion, not just for a family portrait. We’ve had people utilize our mini sessions for quick engagement pics, maternity announcements, a 50th wedding anniversary, headshots and more! We’ve even accommodated a quick senior portrait session for a student that hated having his photo taken and was doing just the bare minimum photo in one outfit for a yearbook photo and some pictures for his parents. We will be happy to let you utilize your 20 minutes for any quick small portrait session you may need. If you are needing something other than traditional family photos please let us know when you reach out for booking so we can make sure to focus on what’s important in your photoshoot.

If you are interested in booking a time for one of these sessions please email us – info@crystalinephoto.com
Please include your family’s name, contact numbers for any adult participating, names and ages of everyone and date and preferred time slot. Please include two times in case we book your first choice. All bookings are first come first serve are not guaranteed until a contract and full payment has been received. If you have a larger family and are not sure if you will need extra time or not please give us some details and we’ll let you know if we think you will need two time slots.

Here’s some of my favorite photos from this adorable couple’s maternity session in Eldorado Springs, Colorado. It’s a beautiful spot for taking photos of this gorgeous expecting mother and dad to be! We had to work quickly for this shoot as dark clouds were looming, but I was able to do the entire session in 45 minutes with some amazing shots which is a record for me with a full maternity session. I’m so happy with how these photos turned out and am excited to hear about the arrival of their newborn!

 

People are always asking me what to wear to their photo-shoot, especially if their photo session is going to be more of a specialty shoot like a Maternity Session. I’ve been getting a lot of calls again this Spring for Pregnancy Photos and because of that I thought it would be good to put together a helpful guide to styling your maternity session.

1.) Consider what type of backdrop or theme you would like for your session. Do you want something outdoorsy with a real natural feel or perhaps you’re a city girl at heart that wants to show off the vibrancy of the city you live in? Depending on what type of backgrounds you want in your photos this can help you with choosing your wardrobe selection. An urban shoot maybe would look better with jeans and a t-shirt while a mountain backdrop may call for more of a long flowing dress.

2.) Determine if you want an indoor or an outdoor session. We live in Colorado, a state with so many beautiful locations to take photos at it’s kind of hard to not want to take your photos outside, however I will always recommend an indoor portrait session in the following situations: 1.) If you want any nudity or lingerie shots of any kind because it’s easier and probably more lawful to take these photos in a controlled environment. 2.) If the time of year the weather conditions could make your photo-shoot be a little more challenging, than maybe scheduling something indoors will be a safer bet as well. You can also do more of a lifestyle type shoot and take the photos in the comfort of your own home and/or nursery for an amazing memory of all the hard work you put into designing the baby’s new digs.

3.) Determine who will be in your photos… Will it just be the mother to be or do you want your partner to be in some of the photos with you. If you have other children it’s really cute to incorporate them in the photos. Photos with the kids hugging your belly are always fun! And if you are going to incorporate the rest of the family you might want to have the family in complimentary colors. Everyone in matching outfits is pretty much a thing of the past. When I think of matching Christmas sweaters or everyone wearing a denim shirt in family photos my mind immediately goes to thoughts of the 1980s. Try not to make everyone look exactly the same, but more in outfits that look good together.

4.) If you are doing outside photos consider what the weather will be like during your session. The seasons will give you a pretty good idea on what colors will be available to purcahse and what looks great. Spring and Summer tend to have brighter and lighter feels than Fall and Winter which are more of a Warm and Cozy feel. In the Winter I often see woman in high boots, sweaters, scarves and warmer colors. In the Summer I see sun dresses and light and airy outfits.

5.) Keep from picking out something that’s too trendy. My goal is to always to make your photos look timeless. Twenty years from now I don’t want you to look back at your photos and think what in the heck was I wearing. Solid colors work great. Try to stay away from too much pattern as I always think that distracts form the baby bump. Tight fitting items that accentuate the pregnant belly work the best and minimal jewelry and accessories is also a better idea to keep the focus on your belly.

6.) Plan a couple different outfits so you can get a couple different looks. If you are planning on more than one outfit let your photographer know so that they can schedule in clothing change time and also pick a location near a restroom if you are doing an outdoor site unless you are comfortable with a vehicle change.  Lay everything out and see how your pieces work together and bring a few props that remind you of baby if you have any. Great ideas are his/her first teddy bear, first set of shoes, a book you plan on reading to him, etc.

Here is a list of outfits that work great for maternity photo-shoots:

  • Maxi Dresses
  • Dresses that Tie at The Waist or Have a Slit
  • Sheer/Lacy pieces
  • Long flowy skirt with a crop top or bandeau bra
  • Oversized knit sweaters
  • Jeans and a fitting top

Other prop ideas that are fun:

  • Balloons
  • Sonogram Photo
  • Messages to the Baby (Posters, Signs, Chalkboards, etc)
  • Giftwrap Ribbon with a “Do Not Open Until *insert baby’s due date)
  • Add Humor with Preparing for Parenthood Books or a play on words to make an announcement like in October welcoming our Little Pumpkin and some images taken with a pumpkin.
  • Use holiday elements if you’re due around a holiday like Christmas, Easter or 4th of July
  • If you’ve chosen a Name for baby you can incorporate blocks, letters, etc spelling it out

Always feel free to discuss ideas with us or the photographer you are working with as they are going to be the creative ones full of ideas, locations to suggest and more. If you are looking to do something completely original that signifies your personality that’s even better! Think about a hobby you are into or things that you and your partner like to do together and try to figure out how to bring them into your photos.

I photographed this lovely dusk maternity session with Becky and her family at the end of Summer. She was looking for a location that showed off the entire mountain range along with a lake in the background close to her home. Standley Lake checked all of the boxes for what she wanted. It had been a few years since I’ve taken a portrait session here. It was great getting back to this amazing spot. There had been so much rain over June and July and because of that the lake was so high that there wasn’t a beach that we could do photos on. Even though I was disappointed about a lack of a beach the location itself was still wonderful! It has a beautiful unobstructed view of the full mountain range and says “Colorado” in every sense of the word. We got some amazingly adorable photos with the kids and I was very happy with the results! Stay tuned for when I post some images from the newborn session!