Tag Archives: metro Detroit photographer

The B Boys Being Boys!

You’ve heard the saying “Boys will be boys”?  These guys were no exception!  But they were completely and totally adorable!  Lots of laughs and LOTS of personality!

Mom was a bit worried that we wouldn’t “get anything good” from this session and she warned us before the session that the boys might give us a hard time.  But since we’re complete “professionals,” we were able to get some awesome expressions!  You know how we do it… silly words and of course screaming really loudly…You know…Totally professional!  Ahhhh….the things we do for our clients!  Ha!!!

 

Whole Lotta Love!

Family Portraits, Frameable Faces Photography

You may have noticed we (and other frameables) have fallen in love with this pose...

If you’ve ever met Doug, you’ll know that he’s a total music freak.  There are very few people our age that can even come close to his eclectic tastes and can have the level of music knowledge to have a conversation about it.  And then came these guys…..

When we met “M”, we knew that she was an exceptionally cool, down-to-earth girl.  Then when we had the photo session and she came in with bags, yes BAGS, of clothes for her family, we knew she’d won Ally over.  During the photo session, which was filled with laughter, cuteness, “boy” jokes and fun chit chat, we were able to capture some really great shots of these guys.  Supremely photogenic takes on a whole new meaning with this family.
 Child Photography, West Bloomfield Photographer
At the end of our time together, M was talking with Doug about music and she was totally holding her own with him!  Y had to take the kids down the hall for some yummy Mickey Mouse pancakes, but it was pretty cool to hear M and Doug chatting about Joe Walsh – M is bit of a rock and roller!  That’s why we’ve aptly named this post after a classic rock song – Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love!
Gotta love super awesome families that you just totally get!

And We Laughed, and Laughed, and Laughed….

What a fun family to be able to photograph!  From the moment we met S, we knew it was going to be a fun one!
 Family Portrait
There are lots of fun stories that have come out of this session, and when we say that we laughed and laughed…we really did!  C and S are some seriously amazing sisters with an amazing dad.  Brilliant, beautiful and so freakin’ funny!!!  This family kept Ally on her toes with their fun antics, awesome personalities and silliness.   There were some definite “behind the scenes” images taken that C made Ally delete immediately, lots of emotions and a WHOLE LOTTA giggles!  Even younger brother G got in on the laughs!  And he was a total rockstar, too- flashed us some award-winning smiles and everything!!  Little sister princess S was a total diva.  She loved dressing up in the tutus and posing.  And she’s not even 10 yet!!!  Watch out, Daddy!
 Father and SonDaddy and his Girls
The M family was a definite joy to have in the studio!  Probably one of our most fun sessions!  Stop by if you’d like to see some of the outtakes from their session!  We’ve got some really GREAT ones!  Ha ha ha!!!!!!  Just kidding!  😉

Family Fun, Brotherly Love!

Family Portrait, Frameable Faces Photography, West Bloomfield PhotographerWe ordered up a perfect day for this session with a family we’ve known for a long long time, and it was a blast!  The boys had a lot of fun clowning around (which provided for some hilarious outtakes) and we had so much fun photographing them.  We were actually the first people to randomly bump into them on an Ann Arbor sidewalk minutes after they got engaged years ago, and now they are a complete family!

“G” Was This Family Photo Session Fun!

Family Portrait, Frameable Faces Photography, West Bloomfield PhotographerWe met the G family relatively recently when their oldest son became friends with our little guy.  The boys became friends and then we followed suit pretty quickly afterwards!

It’s been kind of a whirlwind, really.  You know how there are people who once you connect with them, it’s like you’ve always known them and been friends with them?  Yeah, that’s us and these guys!  R had mentioned that she’d really like a nice new updated family photo and some nice ones of the boys together.  She was a little bit worried that since we’ve become so close, the boys wouldn’t take it seriously and do it the way that she’d like.  BUT, truth be told, the boys totally rocked it and I’m pretty sure they had fun doing it, too!  We were able to capture some amazing real, natural smiles, some sweet tender moments and had a little bit of fun mixed up in there, too.
This is one of the reasons we love our job.  The look on R’s face when we showed her some of these images was priceless.  These guys really do have a heart of gold!  <3

4 Ways We Incorporate Music Into Frameable Faces Photography

Music plays a huge role here at Frameable Faces.  As for me I’ve been a music fanatic my whole life.  I grew up with brothers who were 10 and 8 years older than me so I was headbanging to Kiss, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin when I was 5.  I evolved and Music, Photography Studio, Frameable Faces Photographyplayed the cello in my high school orchestra, and now I sing in a rock band.  I listen to everything from hip/hop to jazz to classical and having a photography studio gives me a lab in which to actively practice my music snobbery on a daily basis and so I will share with you now a few ways which music plays a role at our studio.  You are SO lucky to have access to these pearls….  hahaha…

Music Soothes The Savage Beast

For newborn sessions we turn the heat up, the lights down low, we lock the door to keep the studio exclusive to new mommy and baby (newborns come to the studio in the first two weeks after birth) and play classical music.  While the theory about classical music somehow helping along the cognitive development of babies has been debunked, it can still help to soothe and make baby happy.  A google search turned up this article from 2010 on the topic.  Very often we start off with something simple like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and then we move on from there.

Music For Inspiration

Music is a very powerful tool to create a mood, and it helps to have a wide repertoire of musical knowledge so you can match the right genre for a haute session or a family session or a high school senior session, although the high school seniors usually know what they like and sometimes a website like Accuradio can come in handy if you don’t own the latest pop hits.

Music For Commercial Purposes

Here is where you need to be careful and follow the rules.  We still see many new photographers who are starting out who use copyrighted music on their websites without permission which is a no-no.  We have permission to use the song on our website, and when it comes to our promotional videos and slideshows that we actually sell as products we pay for the use of royalty-free music.  You can find clips of wonderful professional music for your videos written especially for different kinds of sessions with services like Triple Scoop, Emotion, and Animoto.

Music For Everything Else

Music is always playing here.  Even if there isn’t a session going on there is music playing just to edit or blog to.  As I’m writing this I’m listening to Marty Willson-Piper – guitarist for The Church and one of my favorite artists.  Good soothing jangly alternative rock.  People expect to hear good music when they come here and it’s part of our culture.  It’s fun!  We like to share what we are listening to with the occasional tweet, and we even have a Pinterest board that focuses on the music we play here.

What is your favorite music to listen to and for what activities?

It’s Time We Gave Props to Camera Mart…

camera martWe follow most of our favorite vendors and partners on twitter and facebook and we are committed to buying local when we can, so when it dawned on us that we hadn’t given  any online love to Camera Mart we decided to remedy that situation immediately.  For starters, we decided to make a little impromptu and extremely amateurish video of our trip there yesterday to buy some grey paper for an on-location photo shoot for a dance studio (plus we think the grey will be great in the studio too).  Caution: This was NOT done under professional video supervision and you should absolutely try this at home.

A Visit To Camera Mart!

Huge Selection at Camera Mart

Camera Mart carries all the major brands of just about every type of equipment you need in the field of photography.  They have a great selection of lenses, accessories, printing equipment, backdrop paper, camera bags, you name it…

Knowledgeable Staff

It seems like everyone there has vast expertise not just on the products but the applications for the products beyond what you find in a product manual.  They can advise on practical uses for your photography and your studio which makes a big difference when considering your purchase.  Camera Mart also holds “demo days” at the store where you can come talk to representatives of most of the major brands they carry and attend various seminars to improve your knowledge.

Local Independent Store

Maybe most importantly they are a good old fashioned local merchant – we identify with that!  Remember according to the 3/50 Project for every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures.  If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here, and if you spend it online nothing comes home.

So take our word for it – if you are looking for the best camera store in Metro Detroit, Camera Mart is the place to be!

Peace, Love, Spokesmodels, and Frameable Faces!

We had our second annual high school senior spokesmodel party yesterday for the Frameable Faces class of 2013 and it was a blast!  Our group of 11 had been looking forward to this for a while and to finally see all the spokesmodels in the studio together wearing Frameable Faces t-shirts and having fun is one of the real highlights of the year for us.  Each year we try to take it up one more notch and we definitely did this year…

When the spokesmodels arrived yesterday all of their t-shirts were laid out on a table with their spokesmodel cards which they can pass out to their friends.

Senior Spokesmodels, Metro Detroit Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography

Frameable Faces t-shirts!

Once everyone arrived and introduced themselves to each other they started exchanging cards and I think some sort of card game broke out…  hilarious!

Next was a special presentation – this year we added the spokesmodel video which includes video clips and images from each of the sessions – take a look!

Frameable Faces Spokesmodels Class of 2013!

After raucous applause we got down to the business of taking pictures for this year’s composite photo which will be revealed soon so stay tuned!  We can’t wait to see the results of this – in the meantime here is last year’s from the class of 2012 which adorns one of our studio windows as a huge mural!

class of 2013 spokesmodels

We were about to eat dinner next but everyone decided that they had to first put on our tutus for some bonus fun – what is it with seniors and tutus?  Meanwhile one of our spokesmodels (Kyle) had to leave early leaving Donovan as the only boy – I don’t think he minded and things got pretty funny as you can see by clicking the link below…  at this point Samantha hadn’t arrived yet so this is everyone minus Kyle and Samantha….

Spokesmodel Silliness!

At that point we ate some pasta and salad for dinner, and then we finished off the night with the piéce de résistance – the Just Baked cupcake tower with a Frameable Faces cake on top!!!  The Chubby Hubby, Red Velvet, and Grumpy Cake cupcakes were the first to go….  YUM!!!!

Just Baked

All in all it was a great night and we are so happy to have these amazing young people representing our studio!  As someone said during the party, “Peace Love and Frameable Faces”!!!!

Frameable Fun with the G’s!

We’ve been photographing this family since before they were a family!  M was one of Ally’s first subjects when she went back to school to study photography.  They’re like family to us here and we always welcome a session with them whenever they ask.  The fact that they’re insanely photogenic doesn’t hurt either!!Family Photography

The “reason” behind the timing of this photo session was that “R” was getting braces the very next day, and M and T wanted a fun family photo session before she got them.  🙂
Ally loved getting some of the fun “interactive” poses with T and B and the sweet, loving mom and daughter poses with M and R, too.  But when the kids got together in their poses, everyone ended up collapsing with laughter.  Those two could have each other in a headlock one second and pull out the best, most amazing expressions in the next.  They’re just like our own kids – laughing and smiling in one moment but then they’ll switch modes on a dime and push each others buttons in the next!  The G family is one that we’ll claim as our own….whenever we’re around these guys, laughs are abundant, fun is obvious and great times are had!
Family Portraits, Frameable Faces PhotographyWest Bloomfield Photographer, Frameable Faces PhotographyChild Portraits, Child Photography, Frameable Faces Photography

A Newborn Addition to a Lovely Family!

Family Photography, Frameable Faces Photography, Metro Detroit Photographer

You should’ve heard the excitement when we got the call to photograph this sweet newborn!  10 days old at the session and she was pure sugar!  Sweet, smushy and very cuddly!

Baby “S” came into the studio with her her dashingly handsome dad, her exquisite mom and her adorable big brother.   Put them together and what a beautiful family!!!  We had to so some coaxing to get these amazing smiles from big brother, L, but when we “popped” the flash, we got some fabulous smiles out of that little boy!   Don’t you just want to jump right into that photo and just squeeze his little face?!?!
After we captured the newest family photos, little Miss S got her very own turn in the spotlight.  What a little love she was!  She let us change her clothes, move her around and barely woke up for it.  There’s just something some amazing and wondrous about a sleeping newborn baby.  Little lips, little nose, little finger and little toes.   Ally was swooning!!!!
It’s families like this that make our job not really a job.  We are so lucky and so blessed!

Newborn Photography, Frameable Faces Photography, West Bloomfield Photographer