Archive for the ‘projects’ Category

“A house is made of walls and beams;
a home is built with love and dreams.”

This is somewhat of a personal post for me.  I have had these on my walls for a few months and I want to share what I have done (plus, my good friend in Portugal has asked to see them!).

My house is  very simple. Sometimes I wish I lots of walls with lots of wall space for photo displays, but this is what works for us right now. And, as you can see, I can still have large wall prints on my walls and make it work. It’s all about doing what you love with what you’ve got.

This is my front room, large window and front door to camera right, kitchen/eating area to camera left.


The square prints of each child are display wraps in 16×16 size (I love the display wraps because they come ready to hang and they look very clean in design).  They are headshots and larger than real life but I like close ups a lot. I wish I could have gone larger but we really don’t have more space. The Salt Lake Temple framed canvas is roughly 34.5×17.5. I know you’re probably thinking it doesn’t really go with my kids’ headshots but religion is important to our family and we like to display prints and objects that are dear to us.

The display ledge houses my collection of Willow Tree figurines but I placed these prints there for a reason. They are mounted 8×10 prints on easels- do you see how small those look in comparison to the 16×16 ones? I know most people think 8×10 prints are wall portraits but you can really see how puny they look; in fact, they would be quite ridiculous if hung on that wall.

Truth be told, I really love this wall, it’s my favorite in the house, I love looking at these sweet faces everyday. The kids love them too. I plan to update these every 2-3 years or as my fancy strikes.

This is like my personal reminder of why I started this journey in photography. I wanted to take better pictures of my children and here they are- my favorite pictures of them as personal and meaningful art on the walls of our home.

And this is what custom photography should be all about, beautiful displays of art featuring those you love the most. The wall prints, display wraps and gallery wrap canvases that I offer are professionally printed and archival, the quality is the best available in the market nowadays. They will literally last for generations. So don’t be afraid to go large and choose your favorites to go on the walls of your home, it will be the best investment you make in the memories of your family.

And since I’m sharing this much, I might as well give you a tour of my front room (the following ones were taken on another day, hence the difference in light and color):

This another view of the front room. On either side of door are 2 more 16×16 display wraps, ones is a collage of my favorite macro shots and the other is a collage of my trip to Portugal last Summer.

You can see the same easels with the mounted 8×10 prints- each easel has 3 different prints and I just rotate them for display. The frame in the middle is a Philips digital frame and the kids love watching the slideshow.

You can see down the hallway- the framed print is roughly 23×20.5 and the family collage display wrap is 20×16. We are due for family portraits, I must confess those were taken over 2 years ago.

These displays are a work in progress and will change as I take new photos and have new favorites.

And since I love large prints so much, here’s a little incentive for you- if you have had a session with me in the past year,  I’ll offer a 20% discount on any wall prints, display wraps and canvases 16×16 and larger. Just send me an e-mail and I will be happy to help you choose your favorite in the size that works better for your wall. I can even help you design a wall display when you order more that one.  I’ll extend the same offer to any new clients who book sessions for their children in in the next few months.

And then I want to see the pictures of your home with your favorites on the walls. :)

This is my personal collection of Nativity sets. I found some time to photograph these with my macro lens and it proved to be a fun project!

This is my oldest set, sent to me by my mother right after I got married. This is the set my family had when I was growing up and I believe it may be older than me. In fact, the baby Jesus figure doesn’t even match the Mary and Joseph figures, but I still love it, it’s my favorite. The making is traditional Portuguese folk lore painted clay.

This one was also sent by my mother. It’s newer and I believe of Italian making, painted fine clay or rough porcelain, whichever you prefer :) .

This is a Willow Tree, I love the texture on it and the closeness of the figures.

This is my newest set. It’s probably made of painted polymer and might even come from China, noting fancy for sure- I just like the details and the expressions.

Here’s the close up of baby Jesus from the above set.

Merry Christmas!

“Photography takes an instant out of time,

altering life by holding it still.”

- Dorothea Lange

This is a ‘Thank You’ post- a sincere thank you to all my clients for inviting me into their lives to capture their precious children. I love meeting new children and I always love capturing their personalities, taking that little bit of time and freezing it for posterity. They will never be like that again, at whatever stage they are,  and I hope that the images I took are able to bring joy every single time they are looked at.

Here is a collage of each child and/or each session I had in 2009- hope these little faces will bring some joy to your heart this Christmas season:

Thank you for such a wonderful year in 2009! Here’s to all the best in 2010!

Words
Utah Child Photography

December 8, 2009

“One of the hardest things in life
is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”
- James Earl Jones


Just like an image is a powerful way to convey emotion and character, a deliberate word is worth it’s weight in gold. Before I delved into photography, I loved words and their meaning, and playing with both. I actually have a Master’s degree in English and Portuguese and I loved writing and reading (still do!).

I came across this idea on another photographer’s blog a while back, and fell in love with it:

salt lake city child photographyI made this one with words that relate to my photography business and used my business colors as well. It does not have all the words, I quickly realized I’d need twice the space in order to include all the words that I wanted.  And then I suspect new ones would be emerging all the time. Still, it’s partly like the word version of all my photography work, I love it.

Now I’m working on a personal version that will include the names of everyone in my family and words that have special meaning to us, that will describe who we are as individual and as a family. When I’m done, I plan on getting it printed as a large gallery wrap canvas so I can hang it up next to our family portraits. It will be a project for 2010.


indian summer web

“To everything there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”- Ecclesiastes 3:1

I am behind on proofing some sessions but I had to post this series that has been in the making for one year.

There is a lady in my church who has the best yard. Her house sits on a lot that is almost 3 times bigger than most. What I like about her yard is how random it is. She doesn’t use a landscape designer and she plants where she wants. She has been living there for over 30 years and it looks very natural.

Last year I approached her about bringing my kids over sometimes for a quick session. She was very gracious and gave me permission to do so. As a little thank you, I had the idea of photographing some snipets of her yard and make a collage for her. After the 1st one was made, I liked it so much that I decided to come back each season.

Yesterday was her birthday and I visited her and presented her with the last collage in the series.

I tried to be true to each season in photographing something that would represent its colors and spirit to the best: the garnet leaf in the crisp Autumn, the quiet serenity of a snow-covered bird bath in Winter, a group of red tulips swaying to the Spring breeze, an angel garden statue sitting in the languid Summer evening.

I can’t say I have a favorite, each one has its own magic and appeal.

Another year has come and gone, each season bringing something different.

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