Tag: portrait photographer

Style Haus by SH

Whoodley woot woot! I just finished putting together my fall look book for sessions! (You can see all the magic here.) I’m so excited about the little micro collections I built. Each one has its own particular style and palette. It’s difficult to describe the ways that color, texture and pattern interact well, so showing is perfect. I’m so thankful to have an Amazon Influencer account that lets me create this amazing resource.

The most important concept to me while I was building these little family collections was sprezzatura–a certain effortlessness of style. I tried to to include an unexpected element in each to make them as utterly unique as each family I meet. I’m not aiming to have someone buy these collections as they are and wear them, although anyone certainly may do. What I really want to do is inspire creativity in a way that introduces some fresh perspective and authentic personality to the family wardrobe game.

Let’s be totally transparent here. Amazon’s Influencer program is all about sales, right? I do get a few pennies in the jar each time someone uses my shop. Some day I might make enough off of this to buy an extra battery for my camera. But I’m not a merchant, I’m a photographer. I’m not doing this to make money on clothing sales. It’s just a phenomenal tool to communicate ideas, and to help my clients plan and get excited for their sessions. It’s like Pinterest, only it’s on Amazon, so if you love something you can just add it to your cart. And most of it is inexpensive. What could be more awesome?!

Anyway, I digress. Here are a few thoughts about dressing your family for your fall session.

First of all, it’s ok to let each individual personality shine through. If everyone has a different style, you can unify the look through color or texture. Don’t worry about your teenager’s eccentricity too much. If one of your kids is a book worm and the other is an athlete, go with it. Everyone doesn’t have to be wearing cookie cutter Sunday Best for the pictures to be fantastic. I tried to show in these little collections how different aesthetics can mix well in the same group. Because every family is a little eclectic, right?

If you’re not formal in your everyday life, there’s no reason to “dress up” for your session. The images will be much more authentic if you dress in a way that’s comfortable to you. Make your look special by adding a bold accessory or two rather than stepping up the level of formality in the clothing itself.

The best way to make a sure-fire success of your family’s look is to choose either a warm or cool neutral palette, and then include a pop or two of one color (bonus if it’s subtle or timely). When I say a pop or two, I don’t mean per person. I mean per group. Only one or two people should have the color on, and the rest should be all in neutrals.

Use pattern with extreme caution. If there will be more than one pattern (even if it’s the “same” pattern, like two plaids), then only one of the patterns should have non-neutral color, and the neutrals need to coordinate.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and these aren’t even rules to begin with. The whole point is really to say, “yes, you can use color!” and, “yes, you can use pattern!” as long as you use them in a way that supports rather than detracts from the impact of the people themselves.

So, dive in, enjoy, and share your thoughts with me about the whole process! What do you think of the pattern mixing? What do you think of the style mixing? Would you do it?

https://www.amazon.com/shop/relishphotography?listId=GDUADBD442ZK&ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_list_own_relishphotography_dp_QpL7X5z7T7S1W
Style Haus by SH: Gold Country Fall Look Book

Perception, Self, and the Theory of Forms

Plato explored the notion that all things exist as copies of their ideal forms–theoretical blueprints of sorts. I imagine this is something people have mulled over in various forms throughout human history. As Plato’s ideas developed over time through the lens of other minds’ eyes, it became more common to think of these universal forms as ideas, and less common to think of them as actual objects existing on another plane of reality.

I read about Plato and his Theory of Forms when I was young, and it brought my attention to how I tend to perceive the world based on ideal forms, sometimes at the expense of reality. This is especially interesting when applied to my perceptions of people, and this may be why artistic portraiture is so compelling to me.

When I think about the people around me, I see their essence first. I’m very aware of the core of their selfness. People’s actual physical aspects are secondary to me, by a wide margin. I often find myself surprised when I see a photograph for the first time of someone I’ve only met in person. The photograph will look so different to me than the person I met. Without the actual personhood present, I notice a lot of the physical characteristics for the first time. Kind of strange? It feels strange.

Normal or not, this mode of perception informs how I shoot and process my own photography. This is my lens. I want to photograph who a person is much more than I want to photograph what a person looks like. This can be tricky sometimes, but I find it’s actually easiest with people who say they hate pictures or that they’re not photogenic. I find that those people don’t have a practiced barrier in place for me to get through before I can see who they really are.

When I’m processing, I’m looking to take away anything that distracts from who that person is at the utter depth of the soul. I want everything around that person to support the message, “look how amazing this person is.” There are a lot of little physical distractions we all deal with day to day. Many little details deviate from what we would consider our ideal form of self; but who we really are is our ideal, and that’s what I see when I look at people. I think of people at their best, and I create that image from my own perspective.

Seeing your own self this way is transformative.

When a portrait is about who a person is, it can’t help being beautiful–it really can’t. We’re all weird in our own particular idioms, and that is utterly fascinating. So if there’s one thing you can take away from this read, and especially from your session if I ever get the honor of working with you, it’s this: you–the real you, as you are–are just what you should be, and you shouldn’t be anything else.