If there’s one single aspect of creating portraits that seems to be more important than all others, to me it’s capturing the relationships between people. After all, the richest person in the world would indeed be the poorest if there were no one that they loved; no one who loved them.
So we’ve created a whole new program for the studio to celebrate the relationships between people. We call it Footprints on the Heart, a term inspired by a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt and a poem called “Some People” by Flavia Weedn.
Although Footprints On The Heart started out as a concept for a new portrait program for the studio, as it developed it became much more.
I”m a sucker for hearttugging stories. I love the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, and rarely miss one when they’re on TV. I even collect the Hallmark commercials when I can find them on line, because I find them wonderful.
We sometimes give away copies of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, one of my favorite series. I’ve even used Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul as cirriculum in my high schoo age Sunday School Class, because there’s so many lessons within these books.
As a dog owner, I loved, and cried during, Marley and Me. (didn’t we all?)
So I began to realize there’s real value in gathering and sharing heart touching stories of the relationships between people. After all, these stories underly just about every portrait we create. We’re photographing those in front of the camera specifically because there’s someone that loves them. Very seldom do we create portraits for the individual themselves; they’re almost always for the benefit of those they love.
So the first expansion of the idea was the thought we’d share the story of each of these families on the website. Like the family portrait we created of our new mayor Anna Peterson and her family; the very first time EVER that the entire family had been together, and it was created on the occasion of Ed Peterson’s 80th birthday.
Or perhaps the love story of how one of our wedding couples met and fell in love. You get the idea.
But then, we realized that even those not currently involved in having a portrait created have stories to tell. So what if we gave others the opportunity to share their stories with the world; tell others who has left Footprints on THEIR heart.
So while the portrait program underlies the new site, it’s really about celebrating human relationships. We’d like it to be a site that you visit when you need an inspiration, a lift, or simply to enjoy reading the stories that others have left.
To start things off, we’re having a contest for a $200 gift certificate to the studio for the best stories as voted by the readers. Details on the site. But we’re also putting together a bigger prize package for the favorite story of the summer, or the next 6 months; we haven’t decided all the details yet.
The address of the new website is http://www.footprintsontheheart.com. We invite you to visit, and we hope eventually it touches your heart.
Who was just elected Mayor of Salem in yesterday’s election.
I had the pleasure of photographing Anna, her husband Ed and their family in late March on the occasion of Ed’s 80th birthday. This was the first time the entire family – adult children and spouses/significant others had ever been together – EVER
That’s amazing. The first time EVER.
But as I thought about it, my entire family has never been together either. Our two new granddaughters have never been in the same place, and have never met. We hope it might happen next Christmas, but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m finding that this isn’t all that unusual. That’s why I love what I do. Having the chance to capture Ed and Anna’s entire family on this rare occasion was indeed a unique pleasure.
Quick, name something mom loves more than her family.
I’ll bet you can’t.
I’ll also bet it’s been a long time since she’s had anything other than some snapshots, and those are probably still sitting on a computer disc somewhere.
So what better gift could you give her than one only you can give… a quality portrait of those she loves the most.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a group of adult children, all the grandchildren together, or dad and the kids, as long as it’s of her family, it will be the mother’s day gift she’ll treasure forever.
Or it could even be a gift certificate for a future session, so we might create a portrait of the entire family together, maybe in some special location like the beach or Detroit Lake.
Call the studio today at 503-588-0902, and we’ll talk about how best to bring tears to mom’s eyes this Mother’s Day.
Click on the image to download a PDF version of this card
We’re still looking for more Senior Models from the Class of 2011.
If you’re active, outgoing, energetic, connected, love to be in front of the camera, and would love to have the opportunity to earn free senior portraits, then get in touch with us. Our email address is info@encorephotography.com, and our phone number is 503-588-0902
You may even know someone who would make a good model, tell them, and send us their information. We’ll need an address so we can send them an invitation for an interview.
But do it soon. We want schedule their initial sessions in the next 2 weeks.
In the years I’ve been photographing, I’ve noticed that there are two times in a woman’s life that you can almost see a glow emanate from them – kind of an aura.
The first is on their wedding day. And the second is when they’re pregnant.
I’ve always thought pregnant women were beautiful, which is probably why I really enjoy photographing them.
Last weekend, we had two sessions. Here are some results from the first.
Frequently, we concentrate on what’s going on between mother and baby, and produce moody, introspective looking images. But Rachel wanted something different.
Beautiful, isn't she?
And the second:
I’ll admit it. I’m prejudiced. I think my granddaughters are beautiful.
But one of them lives 9000 miles from me. So the other one has to put up with me photographing her all the time.
So last Sunday, we took advantage of the remaining life of the wildflowers, and created this:
Kennedy in the Camas Lillies.
Kennedy’s been photographed her entire life, as you can imagine, so she’s a pretty willing subject. But I suppose one of these days, I’ll have to start bribing her.
Every year, I look forward to mid-April when the Camas flowers bloom. They’re SPECTACULAR, and they make a great setting for portraits. Perfect for families (as you see here), children, couples, even senior girls (probably not boys, however).
And the good news is, they’re available for a few more days, so you still have a chance to take advantage of this beautiful setting to have something wonderful created for you!
The portraits you see here are from a family session last weekend. This is the first family portrait Evan and his parents have had created for them, and they chose the perfect time of year.
If you’d like to take advantage of this special, short-lived opportunity, call the studio today at 503-588-0902, and make an appointment. We’ll create something for you that captures the native beauty of the Willamette Valley.
This afternoon, I had the delightful opportunity to photograph Ed Peterson, former Supreme Court Justice, his wife Anna, candidate for Mayor and their family on the occasion of Ed’s 80th birthday. They told me this was the very first time their entire family (3 adult children and spouses/significant others) had ever been together.
This got me to thinking, and I realized that I seem to have a connection to the leaders of the city of Salem. Besides photographing Anna today, several weeks ago, I photograph Chuck Bennett, current council member and also running for Mayor in the upcoming election.
I photographed TJ Sullivan’s wedding a number of years ago, Dan Clem’s daughter’s wedding (our own Valerie Hibler who does all our album designing), Brand Nanke’s sons senior pictures, and in December, I photograph the wedding of Jim Randall’s daughter, Jim being a former City Councilor.
Each of these people came to me independently, not as referrals from each other, but what a fun coincidence.
We find ourselves concentrating more and more on photographing the relationships between people (watch for a very special announcement in the next few months).
There’s no bond closer, more special, than that between mother and baby. Here’s one I love from Hudson’s four month session. We turned this photograph into a pencil sketch that will be printed out on water color paper for a very textured look. The effect may be too subtle to show up on the blog or on Facebook, but it’s a wonderful interpretation of a very special photograph.
This is from his four month session, part of our Baby Steps program (Newborn, 4-months, 8-months and 1-year). At the 4 month session, we concentrate a lot on the special relationship between baby and mom, dad and the rest of the family, as appropriate.
Maybe it’s because of the two new grandchildren that entered our lives in the last year, but we find ourselves now photographing lots of babies. So I thought I’d share a couple of recent shots.
I recently saw a quote that says a baby is someone that constantly leaks out of both ends, which pretty much describes a newborn. They really don’t do much but eat, sleep and make a mess of their diapers.
But they’re great to photograph, and what could be more special than capturing the fresh hope of a new life entering this world.
We’re always looking for new things to do with newborns, and here’s one we did a while back.
Special Delivery