Porch-raits / A Novel Trend In Pandemic Times

by | May 9, 2020 | Family Photography, Life

What the heck is a porch-rait? It’s basically a portrait of the porch people tongue-out

During Coronavirus lock-down, a creative photographer came up with the idea of taking friends’ portraits from a distance, at their porches, windows or balconies. It has spread all around the world faster than the Corona virus itself. In this isolation time where we stop meeting with people, porch-raits has been a way of spreading positivity and cheer. Connecting with people through a fun photography project was a great idea that has gotten photographers out of their homes and put a smile on people’s faces. At the beginning I didn’t feel like doing it as it was still cold and snowy in Calgary but, when it started to get warmer, it turned into an attractive and fun thing to do.

I was drawn into the porch photo idea, also because I LOVE PORCHES.  Seriously, I love everything about porches. Doors, windows, stairs, pots, railings, plank floors and everything that goes along with it. When I’m walking on the streets the front porches of the houses always catch my eye. That pretty “home sweet home” feeling! When you add your family to this view, it completes the cozy home picture where we live, be loved and belong. There is no place like home!

So the last couple of weeks, I’m enjoying the spring in the air, going to different neighbourhoods, capturing beautiful smiles. Families cuddled on the front steps, giggling kids, pets, babies…♥♥♥

One of the lovely people I photographed told me that they just bought and moved in their new house right before the lock- down and this porch-rait of their family will be a beautiful memory of their first days in their new house.

I actually started thinking of making these sessions permenant minis especially for people who just bought their new house!

 

 

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Tags: calgary family photographer, calgary family photography, Coronavirus, covid19, family mini session, family photo, family photographer, front steps project, home sweet home, isolation, porch photo, porch-rait, social distancing, professional photography service, outdoor family portraits, family pictures, family photos, family pictures on the porch, kids photography, children’s photography, porchraits, porch-traits

A day in the fall

by | Sep 22, 2019 | Family Photography, Kids Photography, Outdoor Sessions

 

A Day In The Fall: A Fall Photo Session At Nosehill Park

It’s Calgary, as everybody knows we don’t have lengthy falls and winter can show it’s face any time with a surprise snow storm. Before this happens, I wanted to capture the beautiful colors of the fall and chose this Saturday as our photo shoot day.

I had a dress from my 20’s. I thought it would be a wonderful photo prop for fall photos. It was big for my 7-year-old but worked fine. She was going to be my model for the day. My son was my assistant holding the diffuser and pulling my equipment wagon. He was very happy with his job unlike his sister who was whining non-stop and refusing to look pretty. I promised them to pay for their work at the end of the day, and she cooperated. The timing was just perfect, we arrived at the park late afternoon and stayed until the sunset. I didn’t know the Nose Hill Park would make a prefect place for fall photos as there are lots of bright yellow trees which are human height so you can easily get beautiful bright fall colours in your portraits. I brought a children size guitar, a wooden stool, some flowers, books and an umbrella. I just loved how all these props worked with the dress. Little country girl in the fall wilderness. I think we can call Nose Hill Park “wilderness” as you can see cayotes and deer wondering around, lucky us, we didn’t encounter any cayotes.  When we got to the top of the hill, I started taking as many pictures as possible in the time limit my daughter was giving me. We emerged into a beautiful meadow which was covered with high grass and unfortunately lots of thorns. I enjoyed the golden hour through my daughter’s occasional whining and took some more sunset photos.

The moment I said, “thank you guys, we’re done” they jumped in the air and  started enjoying themselves/ one is riding the wagon, the other one is pushing it down the hill, screaming and laughing. And I? of course I was running behind them with my camera trying to capture some action shots. Photography is like an uncurable disease and what I love the most is capturing candid photos of people living that very moment in all its reality and emotion. I am sharing here some of the couple hundred photos I took that day. When I asked my kids as we drove back home what was their favourite part of the photo shoot, they said “the wagon ride of course” LOL, I knew it. I paid $10 each for modeling and assisting. What a slave driver! :))

Give me a shout for your fall family photos.

www.alpinaphotography.com

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Balloon Voyage

by | Sep 8, 2019 | Family Photography, Kids Photography, Outdoor Sessions

Balloon Voyage: Kids Photo Session

 

Kids photo sessions don’t have to be in a studio. If you put some creativity in it, you can make a super fun event for everyone. I always found hot air balloons fascinating. The big deep baskets that Home Sense sells just gave me a great idea and I decided to make a hot air balloon prop for a kids photo session. I sew sand bags from canvas and filled them with styrofoam beans and attach them to the basket. The yellow flower garland was a great addition to the balloon basket. I got one of those big party balloons from a party shop, inflated it with helium and decorated with colourful banner. I hauled everything to the car and headed to Confederation park. I thought it would be a perfect place to launch a hot air balloon 😊

I arrived earlier than my clients to get the basket ready. Tying the balloon to the basket was a little stressful as the balloon was big and wanted to rocket into the sky so badly. Thankfully, I could keep it under control and didn’t let it fly. When the kids saw the hot air balloon, they got excited. They thought it was a real one and a little afraid to go in it as they didn’t want to part with their moms, lol. I guaranteed that it will not go up even an inch from the ground hahaha! But it would be cool to make it look like it’s flying. So I used a little portable table for that. I placed the basket on it and took a photo from below. Making the balloon size a little bigger made it look even more awesome. Heart shaped black board came in handy to put each child’s age on it when taking single photos, as this was a milestone session for the siblings that were 1, 2 and 4. Each kid had their own photos in the balloon basket. I just changed the paper number on the wooden heart board.

It was a beautiful sunny day. Everybody had a great time and enjoyed their session in the park. For the kids, it wasn’t even a photo session, but a pretend play with the hot air balloon

If you have a specific idea on your mind, give me shout, we may be able to make it work. www.alpinaphotography.com

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