Christmas Card Capers...

This year we had a lot of fun working with clients on creating the perfect photos especially for their Christmas cards. Now anyone who knows Dany and me is well aware that there is no shortage of creative ideas when we are in the room. When we get to collaborate with creative clients, it's even better. 

Our holiday cards range from simple designs utilizing an outdoor family portrait to costumes and client collaboration on a card printed on pearl card stock. We also design cards in various shapes and folding patterns too but for this blog, in particular, we are highlighting two featured cards that I wanted to focus on.


 

The first featured card was an idea our client had that we helped bring to fruition. Getting the entire family to collaborate is the best part. Even young children get excited about a family photo shoot when they get to play a role. It sure beats sitting around smiling, I guess. The idea of this shoot was simple enough but really relied upon family cooperation. We worked in a narrow area where lighting could have presented some challenges but we were ready! Thankfully this client was patient and her family performed well. We can't wait to design next year's card with you, Nik! Oh and good job, Santa and Nick and Lexi! 

To view some of Nik's creative and crafty pursuits, visit her blog: Mom Attempts

The next 2013 featured card started creatively with pairs of hand-crafted angel wings and a pink Christmas tree. Sound unusual? Well, given that this client creates all the unique details in her home, it really isn't all that surprising and makes for wonderfully unique photos. Her children are also absolutely adorable and able to play their roles to perfection. Even the littlest "diva" performed well. Of course these were the same children who did a fabulous job during our tea party shoot at their home last year. We knew there was no way we could go wrong with these kids to work with. Since these cards are about to be sent out by our client

we didn't want to ruin the surprise. But we can show you two photo peeks and tell you that the card design included vintage touches including worn edges around the photos, cream colored accents and vintage text. 

The inside spread from last year's card

Even though every card we created this year was not an entirely custom design, we still had fun with cards for clients who participated in our Holiday Walk-in Portrait Weekend. Each family got their picture emailed to them and for some, we actually created flat 5x7 cards as well. We loved designing our studio set and we've already got ideas for next year. One thing you can always expect from a True Story Photography holiday studio set--it won't be typical of anything you normally see for holiday but the portraits we take in our decorated set will look festive and fabulous. 

Wishing all of our clients and friends a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and successful 2014!

Here are some holiday picture examples from Holiday Studio Set 2013:

Some examples of our basic holiday cards for 2013:

 

Happy Baby!

This little guy is one of the happiest babies we've worked with. He has very nice, relaxed parents who were great to work with too. Enjoy your sneak peek, N family. We are hard at work getting your photos processed and we should be done soon!

One Big Happy Family....

There is nothing more fun than working almost right in our backyard to create fun photos for a very cool family. We recently got to do just that for the A family who live around the corner from our studio. They live in a beautiful old home that has been fully restored complete with the most perfect wrap around porch ever. Once we got a glimpse of the inside of the home, we knew it would make a great backdrop for their portraits too. 

The view from their front porch was also something we wanted to incorporate into their shoot. You can see a replica of the original Union Fire Company building  that was on the site of the Friends Meeting House from their front door. We made sure to include that wonderful, rustic old building as the set for part of their shoot. 

A little bit about the replica building shown in the pictures:
It is located on the grounds of the Friends Meeting House.The first meeting house was built in 1762 in Upper Evesham (now known as Medford). Union Fire Company was constructed on the site in 1821 by Barzilla Braddock and Shinn Oliphant. A 1969 replica built by the Medford Historical Society is actually on the site today.

When we are photographing our Medford clients we love to include little pieces of the town in which they live in their photo shoots. Since True Story has been working in Medford Village for the past four years, we have often incorporated bits of Medford Village in many of our shoots for our clients. 
Sometimes the oddest locations can make wonderful backdrops for a portrait session. 

A great big thank you to the A family for being such good sports, for being flexible about where we shot and for really making it work for the youngest member of their family. Great job!

Come see us at 10 South Main Street in Medford for more information about how to work with us on your family's next portrait session!

A Special Wedding Day...Sneak Peek for Samantha and Matthew

Dany and I spent some time in Mount Holly recently for the wedding of Samantha and Matthew.  

Of course, every wedding day is special. For this couple, their day was marked by the fact that the groom was scheduled to ship out within a few days of his wedding day. That fact didn't stop the love that filled the County Clerk's office the afternoon of their wedding. 

The original plan was to head over to Smithville Mansion after the ceremony to do a portrait session with the newly married couple and their family. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for us. We exited the courthouse to loud thunder, some lightning flashes and some drizzle and, for the sake of everyone's safety, we made a snap decision to shoot the portraits right where we were. It ended up being a good decision because had we headed over to the other location, odds are good it would have down poured on all of us and prevented a lot of

the portraits from happening. The light was perfect where we were and everyone was gathered there that we needed for portraits. The other bonus:  many brick surfaces which made a pleasing backdrop to the bride and groom's attire and skin tone. Success!

Regardless of the weather, there was definitely sunshine in the eyes of these two newlyweds. Can you see it?

Congratulations, Samantha and Matthew...we were honored to be a small part of your special day and we wish you many years of love and happiness!

Pigeons, Chickens and Snakes-Definitely Not Our Average Shoot

True Story had the opportunity recently to meet up with April and Walt at their home for a shoot outdoors. Their property is a large lot dedicated mostly to nature and animals which made for an interesting visit. Walt raises pigeons as one of his many hobbies and April owns Aprils Ark, a pet sitting service. To see more about what April does, visit www.aprilsark.net. 

On this particular day, it was at least 1000 degrees out. Okay, I am exaggerating a little but it certainly was a very warm day. I always feel bad for clients who happen to get the luck of the draw and are scheduled for a hot and humid day. It is hard enough to stay fresh and hydrated when you are shooting. But we don't have to be in any of the pictures! It makes it a lot harder when you want to look your best and Mother Nature has other plans. 

April and Walt were both troopers. I cannot stress enough that it was muggy and hot and they not only were positive and upbeat for their entire shoot, they did not look hot at all. Impressive! 

We got to learn a little bit about how raising pigeons works, got to visit a little with Bella (the dog) and Uno (the cat), shot with a dove and chickens, and even got to see a snake who randomly decided to join us during the shoot. I steered way clear of the snake. I can be such a city person sometimes!

The grounds were impressive with lots of photo opportunities everywhere we turned. And Walt and April were awesome to work with. We hope they enjoyed their session with True Story Photography!

Creating with Courtney...Sneak Peek for the "P" Family

When Courtney P. got in touch with us to book her family portraits we couldn't have been more excited. Not only is she creative and fun, her husband, Nick, and her kids are as well. Being able to consult and create with our clients is really the fun part of our job. They choose us because they know we will approach their shoot with ideas galore and also because we will work with them on their own ideas. The whole point is to reflect the true personality of the people we are working with. The P family was particularly fun to work with because they are full of personality. Nothing staid about this shoot!

Because we have photographed them before, we knew in advance that we had to do some out of the box thinking to keep the youngest member of the P family engaged and active during the shoot. He is three and has a typical three year old attention span. No shocker there. Wandering away during pictures, hiding under the table, and turning his back to us were to be expected. We knew we had to make it work to get him included in the pictures but also to reflect who he is right now. The genius idea that Nick came up with that helped change everything? Cookies! So two cookie monsters joined us and did a great job being engaged for a creative and fun shoot with a 50's/60s style vintage flair. Fun and really quite entertaining for us. 

The style of this shoot was definitely something a little more unusual and anything but formal, just like the P family. We'll be working with Courtney on some additional designs utilizing some photos from her shoot and we can't wait to continue the creative process. For now, here is a sneak peek for the P family as we continue the processing of their photos.



Thanks for a great shoot, P Family!