Austin Family Photographer – Things in Motion a.k.a Toddlers

09.25.2014

A great family photographer knows that a shoot involving a toddler requires “the three ps” – preparation, patience & prayer:

austin family portraits | austin photographers

A toddler mama herself, Ziem offers a consultation to all family clients, helping with location selection & wardrobe as well as getting to know the family’s children. She knows one essential to working with a kid is to know what (if anything) will distract that particular child from the dread Toddler Tantrum. Ziem has worked with longtime clients Dana & Jay here since their little boy Matthew was in utero, so she knew just the right airplanes, cars, and books to keep Matthew smiling through his second birthday shoot:

austin family portraits | austin photographers

One other toddler trick Ziem employs is keeping her young clients – and, yes, their poor parents – in motion. You can’t always outrun a tantrum, but between some quick thinking and even quicker feet, Ziem snapped some fabulous, fuss-free action shots in the fading light, complete with nearly-fall foliage (and a lot of alliteration, apparently):

austin family portraits | austin photographers

Not a tantrum in sight, wow! Think we could ask (beg) Ziem the secret to that for non-photo situations too?

Shooting for Success, Part 2: Holiday Card Trends & FREE Templates

09.22.2014

Today’s post is the second in our ongoing “Shooting for Success” series, intended to help you get the most fabulous Austin family photos possible. Check out our first installment on holiday card fashion here.

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Now that we’ve got your holiday card fashions sorted out, it’s time to start thinking about the perfect “frame” for the picture of your unusually good looking & well-dressed family – the holiday card. With SO many options out there, however, how do you narrow it down to one card to show your friends and loved ones just how happy / successful / important / etc. your gifted & talented family is?

Lucky for us, our Photographer-in-Chief Ziem not only identifies this year’s holiday card trends here, she’s come up with not one, not two, but THREE FREE CARD TEMPLATES CAPS LOCK!!! for you to download. How easy is that?

TREND THE FIRST (This being Monday, it’s a CAPS LOCK, high caffeine sort of day): Use fashion’s trendy black & white or metallics for your card – or better yet, all three! – to punctuate a neutral wardrobe:

holiday photo card | austin photographers DOWNLOAD your free “nifty neutrals” card here

TREND THE SECOND: Let the photo be the star of your card, with minimal font & no border:

holiday photo card | austin photographers DOWNLOAD your “stunning simplicity” card here.

TREND THE THIRD: Incorporate of-the-moment fashion florals in updated holiday colors – instead of the traditional Christmas-y green & red, think mint & mauve:

holiday photo card | austin photographers DOWNLOAD your “hint of mint” card here.

Three free cards – it’s like Christmas/or-fill-in-the-holiday-of-your-religious-choice in September! Now that you have these perfect “frames” for your holiday card photos, and your wardrobe set for the photos, all that remains is to actually book your photo session, right? *shameless plug alert* Contact Ziem to book one of her TWO last remaining holiday mini-session spots!

Austin Family Photographer – A Special (and Speedy!) Moment for a Special Dad

09.18.2014

“Hire Ziem Photography. She is the best in town. The best in the world! She made my daughter’s beautiful blue eyes just pop through the lens.” ~client BS

It is a truth universally acknowledged that parents are thrilled to get a photo of their kids not taken on an iPhone. Just one would be nice, wouldn’t it, let alone a number of stunning ones featuring the entire family?

Of course, even with our favorite professional photographer Ziem at the helm, kids will be kids, meaning that they are, well, unlikely to patiently pose through an hour long session. With a single dad who works as an athletic director, how could these two kids be anything but energetic (read: VERY unlikely to pose through an average session)?

As a mama herself, Ziem thrives on the high energy of such a shoot & was able to catch some gorgeous close-ups in between the sprints (hers & the kids):

Sometime the shortest shoots can be the best ones. While this brief one may have set Ziem’s personal record, it also resulted in perhaps her favorite child portrait to date. Clearly someone loves a camera, and the camera loves her!

Ziem won’t ever mention how generous she is, so I’ll do it for her – she enjoyed this shoot so much that she gave the dad a few prints as a thank you for being such a terrific father and asset to the Austin community. That is, after she caught her breath from sprinting through the shoot itself . . .

Austin Family Photography – Shooting for Success, Part One: How to Dress for Holiday Card Photos

09.15.2014

Today is the first post in an ongoing tutorial series we call “Shooting for Success”, intended to help you get the most fabulous Austin family photos possible. We’ll kick out some ideas to get things started but would love your feedback too on any burning photography questions you have.

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Wouldn’t it be lovely if the answer to all of life’s big questions, such as “How the heck do I dress my family for a holiday card shoot?”, was as simple as black & white?

We’ll show just you how black & white is a major, blissfully making-life-easier trend for holiday card fashion this season, but first, here’s a few general tips from Ziem, our Photographer-in-Chief, on how to dress for a shoot:

Most importantly, try to pick outfits that everyone is comfortable in. OK, OK – as comfortable in as possible, that is . . . if your darling children are anything like my wildebeests, for example, the wearing of a dressy collared shirt might inspire much wailing. However, I’ve found doing a test run of the outfits does reduce (if not eliminate *sigh*) the day-of-shoot whining.

Remember those black & white, easy-peasy answers we promised you? It’s here in the form of a major 2014 fashion trend. Ziem has pulled some of her favorite new black & white looks for your photo shoot consideration:

To punctuate that wonderful black & white simplicity, consider adding some trendy metallic pieces for that extra holiday glow:

While we’re on the subject of holiday card photos, don’t forget that Ziem is giving away ONE free holiday mini-session! Details here.

Stay tuned for next Monday’s “Shooting for Success” installment, where Ziem will share with us this year’s best holiday cards, including one FREE template!

Austin Family Photography – A Texan is Born

09.11.2014

What do you think of when you think of Texas? A good ol’ pair of cowboy boots often springs to mind:

The Winslow family, recent California, asked Austin family photographer Ziem to create an authentically Texan photo shoot. They wanted something symbolic of their move to the Great State without resorting to too many props – we can agree that boots don’t equal props but necessary Texas accessories, of course.

This sunrise shoot was also in celebration of a certain little miss’s first birthday:

And while we’re on the subject of authentically Texan, we can agree that everything is bigger in Texas, right? And I mean that in the most-family friendly way possible . . . Ziem captured a shot of the kids just perfect for a large gallery canvas to hang in the Winslows’ gorgeous new Texas home:

Ziem & the Winslows immediately established a connection, that magical photographer-client something that turns into friendship. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does it’s a lifelong connection – and I speak from experience here as both client and friend (but not as president of Hair Club for Men.) (Terrible, I know.)

A family photographer should work with clients to carefully coordinate wardrobe & location, something that makes all the difference in a final shot:

And on that note – check back here next Monday, where we’ll be kicking off our first “Shooting for Success” series, this one on how to coordinate wardrobe for a family shoot. We’ll be posting a new how-to every Monday featuring different tips on how to get your newborn & family photos just right, so stay tuned for more & please let us know if there are any topics you’d particularly like to see covered – particularly if they involve cowboy boots . . .

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