I love shooting for Amber and Justin.  In addition to the fact that their son is Adorable (yes, with a capital “A”), they are amazing parents who have no trouble loving on their son as though I’m not even there.  Which makes capturing that love a piece of cake.

How’s this for the definition of “Little Boy Blue”?

If there’s a problem with having a smiley baby, its that you come to expect that winning grin all the time.  I learned that Eli is an uber smiler at our beach shoot not too long ago so I think all of us came into this session expecting to see dimple.  Eli, on the other hand, wanted to mix it up a bit and show us his more serious side.  And this wasn’t a bad thing…

…because it made us play harder.  Which made everyone else grin a little bigger.  Well played, little man.

Most of the time I edit out the drool.  But in this session, there were two drool shots so impressive that I couldn’t bring myself to Photoshop a thing!

Perry the cat made cameo appearances throughout the shoot.  And as cat people know, you just can’t make this stuff happen:

Just like baby chub peeking out through summer dresses on little girls, I’ve got a special love for tiny feet hanging out of pant legs on baby boys.  Baby pants might be the most ridiculously adorable invention.  Especially when they have functional pockets so that babies have a place to keep their keys and their smokes.

Here’s the shot where I said to Eli, “So, man, what are you in for?”

Then he got the joke:

Eli still naps best in someone’s arms.  So nap time became a special photo op.  I especially like the suitcase in the corner, it makes me wonder where slumberland took him.

Here’s a slideshow and the gallery and many, many thanks to Amber and Justin for their hospitality, especially the “broken” sugar cookies.  An accident?  I think not but I was clearly a beneficiary.  Be good until the next shoot, you three.

Posted by Mel @ 6:48 pm, in Portraits, Wee Ones | 1 comment | Permalink

We’re not far from the big day (October 29th) but it was still worth doing, despite nearly countless reschedules due to rain.  We met up with Eileen and Stephen at the aptly named “Confusion Corner” in Williamsburg, Virginia and walked first around the campus of William and Mary before hitting colonial Williamsburg itself.

The Crim Dell is a must hit spot, at least for graduates such as Eileen, who, according to campus lore, will marry the person they walk across the bridge alongside.

We definitely made use of the characteristic cobblestone…

And grand old trees…

…before hitting the Williamsburg winery just as the sun was setting.  We love how sometimes dusk has that soft, antiqued quality of light.

We looking forward to coming back to Williamsburg at the end of the month to document these two as they tie the knot!

Posted by Mel @ 4:13 pm, in Engagement Portraits, Weddings | No comments | Permalink

By popular request, I’m running a holiday card portrait session special this year!

$150 bucks.  30 minutes of your time, tops.  2 day turnaround with up to 20 pics of your crew.  One high res file included in the price for your card.

Sweet.

There are some parameters:

- Offer valid only through the months of October and November 2011.

- Portrait session must be scheduled on a week day.  If it rains, its back to the drawing board based on my availability, back up rain dates can’t be held so schedule soon…

- Session must be scheduled outdoors and within Richmond city limits.  Libby Hill Park in Church Hill, for example, is the perfect spot with both a city and river view. (Please note, some privately run parks such as Maymont and Ginter allow portraiture but require a sitting fee or donation for use of their property)

Contact me for more details at samandmel@worthington-photography.com.  Hope to see you soon!

Posted by Mel @ 2:45 pm, in News, Portraits | No comments | Permalink

It has come to my attention that I have been neglecting the album portion of this blog in a big way.  I think it was my New Years resolution for 2011 to post albums more frequently.  Sadly, the albums I am posting today went out for holiday delivery back in ‘10 so they pretty much date back to said resolution.  But these are nice albums and its never too late to make a change for the better so let’s talk contrasting pagemounts, shall we?

In both our Queensberry matted and duo books, photos are mounted to an art paper called a page (hence the name pagemount) and the apertures of the matt are cut just a tiny bit bigger so that the page peeks through.  When you choose a page color that contrasts the matt color, you get a border effect that makes your pics go POP!

Its a more contemporary look that isn’t for everyone, but given that we don’t keep an example of contrasting pagemounts in our studio, I think its a good idea to profile it here.

Here’s the design for Laura and Tom’s album (I recommend checking the designs out first, that way the shots of the books themselves make more sense).  Laura and Tom’s wedding may have looked traditional at a glance: the guys wore tuxes and Laura wore a tiara, the ceremony took place at a Catholic church and the reception at a Country Club.  But look a little closer and you’ll see just how lively this couple is from their first dance to M.C. Hammer’s Can’t Touch This to family dance offs where cousins got served by Tom’s kid brother!  This story called for an album layout with a little less tradition.

The couple chose a duo book, which combines both matted and digital (or flush mount) pages.  The choice of ivory matting with black pages really brought the matted pages to life.

Or, if you ivory mats aren’t your thing, you can do black matting with an ivory page too.  Black matting to me always says old school: it reminds me of the photo albums I found in my grandparents basement that I assume my grandmother made, painstakingly attaching each photo to the black paper with a photo corner.  But add a white page and whoosh, we’re shuttled from 1955 to the here and now…  Here’s Becky and Mike’s album design, Check out a few pages of their duo album, which included a gatefold and flip page for some extra glitz.

Also worth noting is the half photo front cover that Becky and Mike choose for their book.   This means that a photo is printed over the right half of the front cover.   I’ve been meaning to get a sample of one of these in studio because the effect is actually quite nice in black and white, the photo is slightly metallic and blends into the genuine black leather that makes up the rest of the cover quite nicely.

Similarly, Christina and William opted for a duo book with black mats and white pages.  Their cover is blind embossed though, so classic!

Also, they chose a 10×14 vertical format rather than the 12×12, which is probably our most popular choice.  Large format albums can be 12×12, 14×10 horizontal or 10×14 vertical.

Hopefully this helps some of you looking for album ideas.  More to come next week…

Posted by Mel @ 4:17 pm, in Albums, Weddings | No comments | Permalink