Whew, picture judging at Chelsea Community Fair was not the ‘piece of cake’ that the judges in the cake decorating committe had!

The photo competition-it took over two hours to judge everything- had at least a dozen different categories, color, bw, animal, people, landscape, collage and more.

My greatest overall impression is that young photographers rock! In the 6-8 year category a photo of a duckling from a very low vantage point was a standout. I felt the 9 to 12 year photographer color landscape photography category was the strongest category of all. A gorgeous 1/2 above &1/2 below water image was a pastel beauty . The second place pond picture with strong cattails in the foreground was a sunny delight. And the third place winner of Lake Michigan sunset was a moody beauty while the 4th place little 4×6 sunset was better than most sunsets in all other categories.

When judging the children portrait categories, Lori Zahn instructed me to judge each image as to “how well the photographer conveyed the child’s ‘spirit’”. That was difficult because of uneven print quality. A few images showed promising personality and spirit, but were printed too darkly or were mis-focused or the composition was a hindrance. Several images were technically sharp and well printed, but the smiles were frozen and ‘unspirited’. One photograph had beautiful lighting, was crisp with nice composition but the little persons demeanor was not pleasing… So I relied heavily on overall ‘impact’ to choose the blue ribbon images.

After judging I suggested they split the children’s categories into ‘professional portraits’ and ‘non professional portraits’. When they told me ALL the portraits in the Children’s categories were professional portraits I was surprised. I expect consistent high quality from professional portrait providers. Lori told me many area professionals sell digital images and the prints were made by the moms–so that explains the poor print quality. (This is precisely why I do not want Photo Generations clients printing images we make–I want to control what the final image looks like!–a poor print can ruin a gorgeous portrait).

All in all, the photo judging was a lot of fun. I’ve returned to the studio happy, feeling strongly that the images I provide for my clients truly are of excellent, if not top quality available in the Ann Arbor area .

I was so glad to talk to new mom who was wanting professional pictures of her newborn baby just a week after he was born!  We made arrangements for the following week–I always make newborn portraits TOP priority.  I know hose first few days with baby are like no other and Dads have only a few paternity days.

So we were able to get portraits of baby Aidan at 15 days old!  Happily Pilar now has her announcements in hand!  The newborn infant portrait session was done at no charge, because we have a policy that we will do Daddy and Newborn portraits within 1 month of baby’s birth at no charge!  I offer this because I  am confident you will LOVE your portraits so much you will want to continue with our very popular Baby First Year in Portriats plan.  And I love making these very special images!

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours!   If you are seeking a portrait for a gift to your special valentine, call the studio today 734.426.0700 or email via the contact button and we can we can email the gift certificate to you!   Then we create a gorgeous portrait very soon.   $150 Valentine Day special includes session and one cameo portrait.  (offer valid today only!)   Here’s to your sweetie!

Pictured above is the cutest little cupid, ‘Brynn’ who is one year old and quite the explorer.  We did her session last week, and she was such a cutie I had to get the pictures for her mom right away.

dexter ann arbor family portraits in the park sale:  oct 16 & 17 .  Times Remain! Contact Studio for times pricing and availability!

see this link for holiday card pricing

This session reminded me that often the favorite picture from a family portrait session is not the posed picture.   Arron had his senior pictures -Dexter High School Class of 2010 – made last summer.   This June, after graduation, the family is moving out of state and the at  graduation commencement time, the extended family came together from around the country to celebrate & make an extended family portrait.  Can you guess which was  both the mom and grandmoms’ favorite picture of the two brothers?

What’s Least interesting to a 3-year old: a) seven day old new little brother b) plastic spider climbing toy 3) trucks driving on Baker Road

complimentary dadday & me picture session at studio, and first in Baby First Year in portraits

Everything but newborn baby brother interested Andrew Saturday morning.  Luckily, the plastic climbing spider got his attention to get the family portrait his parents wanted!  Thanks Meghan for coming in from Plymouth, and backtracing from the Ann Arbor truck-a-looza for the late morning session.  The boys are beautiful!   Answer to quiz caption:  newborn baby brother is least interesting–especially it seems at portrait time!

Attention VIP class of 2010 senior picture clients:  ‘Grad VIPS’ are all who had senior pictures at the studio–including the students from Ann Arbor,Brighton,Chelsea, Dexter,Grass Lake,Hartland, Howell,Milan,Saline, Tecumseh,Ypsilanti,Whitmore Lake, Pinckney, White Lake, & Beyond –you should have received an email last week regarding our Sale for FAMILY PICTURES & Grad Announcement/Pary Cardss.  Details below.

Announcements/Party Invitations on sale in April

49 cards in quality envelopes just $89   add 25 more cards just $25.  Colleen will customize the look, colors  and text to your specifications.  Quick turn around.  Average 1-week or sooner.  Ship to your house just $5.  You may include a personal picture (baby pic) at no extra charge.                   Save steps, save $.  Order cards by April 30 to save…See Samples we are adding more samples almost daily so check back often:  http://express.photogenerations.com/gradsale

Class of 2010 FAMILY PORTRAIT SALE

ATTENTION Moms & Dads of 2010 Grads having portraits made at Photo Generations:  Have your custom family portrait made weekday Before JUNE 30 at your home, an area park or the studio: NO SESSION FEE with a minimum $200 purchase.  NOTE: Session must  occur before June 30

Call Colleen to discuss the style Family Portrait or Announcement you wish to create.  734.426.0700

Decorating your home with family portraits

Decorating your home with family portraits can be much more than putting an 8×10 or a few 5x7s on a bookshelf or side table.   Many Ann Arbor area follks tend to choose those smaller images to display in their homes… and over time have lots of cameo sized pictures spread around the house. It is spring,  you may want to give your family portrait decoration a spring lift.  What follows is a suggestion to tune-up  your existing family portrait decoration.

Gather all ye little family pictures…

I often suggest this to portrait clients:  Gather all those little framed family pictures together and display them together.  A grouping of photos–even tiny 5×7′s– hang with much more prominence when arranged in one single wall.  Small frames are easy to  inexpensively replace,  transforming your ‘rag-tag’ into ‘eclectic’.

[While many plain bare walls are crying for decoration that is not the subject of this article. However at Photo Generations we have added a special service for those looking to decorate their walls with fresh new family portraits.   Our new family portrait decoration service is more precise--'pre-envisioned' as Ansel Adms might say --than the method described below, because we use it before you make your family portrait decisions--but that is a subject for later...]

It is a lot of fun to look at the group of family pictures

It is a lot of fun to look at the group of family pictures on your wall and see the differences a few years makes in how everyone looks.  Your ‘cameo gallery’ of portraits means more when you can access all the images in one place–So much more of a statement than an image here and there scattered in various rooms.

Once you pull your cameo family portrait gallery together from the existing pictures in the house, you will be amazed how great they look together!

Creating a ‘cameo gallery’

First:  choose the wall.  It may be on the staircase heading to the basement, the upstairs hallway, the family room, the media room.

Next: design the gallery.  An basic method to design your cameo gallery is to layout your frames on the floor.  Arrange them in a pleasing manner.   You may prefer a perfect grid–you may like an assymetrical grouping.   Or, if you like to doodle, first draw a sketch of the wall and the little pictures.  Or, cut out colored squares for each picture and arrange them on your wall sketch till it looks good to you.

A grouping of smaller 5×7 pictures works so much better than the same pictures on different walls-even in the room.  The reason is this:  the grouping creates a focal point.  Your eyes will be drawn to that focal point because it is the most interesting thing on the wall in a room.  A group of even tiny pictures becomes, from a distance, a single focal point.

Tools to make hanging your portrait easier for small family portraits in small frames

An easy hanger is a ‘wall grabber’ type wall hook that will hold small and lightweight frames.   They are one piece metal pieces you gently knock into the wall, they stay put on modern walls very well.   On white walls they are nearly invisible.

If you have one of those fancy laser beam levelers, use it!.  You want to determine the outside reference points of your wall grouping.  The top (or sides) of  frame groupings makes sense to sight, rather than the actual wall hanger.  Use a light pencil mark and mark your wall.

You will want to know where the hanger on the back of each picture is, because it seems they are never exactly the same.  Test hang  your frame to see where the wall hook has to be in order to align the frame where you want it.

As you hang your pictures, knock just one hanger into the wall at a time, then hang the picture that goes on it right away, then move on to the next picture that hopefully you have laidout on a nearby floor.  This one-at-a-time method lets  you custom fine tune– how high or low to put the wall hook–depending on where the hook on the back of the picture is.  Generally it looks best if the tops of frames in your grouping are aligned in your pattern.  Not all frames need to be precisely arranged,  just having a few key frames precisely aligned goes a long way to creating a pleasing layout.

No mystery to decorating with portraits

The great thing about grouping your older smaller images into one presentation, is this: You have more room for new family art!

I know, because I have gone through the process  described above with our family pictures.  And over the years I have gravitated to larger sized family portraits and whimsical child portraits.  One beautiful portrait is so much more powerful (and has more decorating use) in a room!  But that is a discussion for another day!

Meanwhile let’s enjoy this beautiful spring weather in Dexter, Ann Arbor and all over Washtenaw county. H ey why not create a new child or family portrait to decorate our walls with!