Remember this grand idea from months ago? Yep, I’ve totally dropped the ball. I was supposed to attempt ONE family/group photo, just once a month, and I’ve failed miserably.

Nonetheless, here is the Pulver Party of 5 for the month of July. This portrait makes me happy. My family and I just came back from our beach vacation; we are all toasty brown with peely noses. Out of all the things we did and experienced, I find that I get the most joy out of the fact that we made memories with our kids. Memories that, I hope, will last a lifetime for them. I hope that years from now, my kids will reminisce with great joy the time we spent together. I can hear them now, “Hey Momma, remember when we woke up early that morning and went hunting for shells on the beach?” or “I had the best time that day we got all dressed up in our red, white, & blue clothes for the 4th of July parade on the beach and you were so mad that we had gotten completely soaked in the ocean before the parade even started.” or “It was so cool when Daddy did the Boogie Bahn at Schlitterbahn and then totally wiped out.”   Our last beach trip was 4 years ago, and only Gavin really remembered it.  Asthon and Teagan were still to young.     I love that now, as a family of five, we all have memories to take home and keep in our hearts.

Our little Elfie has been a very busy little Elf! Here are just some of the shenanigans he’s been up to lately!

Our lil’ Elfie Rojo has been up to no good lately. At first, he was such a cute little elf & not causing any trouble. On day 4, the kids found him in the bathroom. They came up with the notion that he probably needed a bath after his long trip back from the North Pole. And of course, I added that it looked like he needed to floss his teeth too probably from eating too many of Mrs. Claus’ cookies. (hey you can blame a Mom from trying to encourage a little extra flossing).

Day 5, we found Elfie Rojo in Miss Teagan’s room. Just the day before, the kids and I watched Avatar, and I guess Elfie Rojo thought it would be fun to ride one of Teagan’s hanging butterflies just like Jake rode the mountain banshees in the movie.

But this morning….. yeah, Elfie Rojo’s mischievous side came out in full force. The kids found him sitting at the kitchen table looking quite guilty. He decided to make snow angels on the table. He also took one of the boys’ Monster Trucks and rode it through the snow leaving tire tracks everywhere. (as an added bonus, the cat decided to add to the action and left little white paw prints on the table as well).

I asked the kids if we should put Elfie Rojo in time out, but they said no. <—- guess they are feeling a little sympathetic. Ashton volunteered to help clean up Elfie’s mess. What a good boy! Elfie will definitely have a nice report to tell Santa tonight.

I’m in the process of editting this particular session and I forgot that I took this shot, but I’m glad I did. This photo is so typical of how things go behind the scenes of a portrait session. There is an African proverb that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” I feel the same about a photo shoot. I am always asking my parents to hold my reflector, be on “boogie” patrol with Klennex in hand, or stand behind me & be the court jester to ellicit smiles and laughter. Thanks to all of you who have been my right hand man during a session. All these things must come together to have a successful session. ]]> http://raeoflight-photography.com/2010/11/22/behind-the-scene/feed/ 0 http://raeoflight-photography.com/2010/11/19/embracing-40/ http://raeoflight-photography.com/2010/11/19/embracing-40/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:25:45 +0000 Rae Pulver http://raeoflight-photography.com/?p=3653 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

I’ve debated on posting anything about me turning 40 years old today, but at last, I felt it was good therapy to just let it out. Today, November 19th, is my 40th Birthday! So first off, I’ve got to say “Damn, when did I get so old?” Seriously. Ask me on a bad day, when the kids are pushing every button in the book and I will admit that yes, I feel old. But honestly, inside, I still feel young, although when I look in the mirror, the face looking back at me tells a different story. I’ve seen other photographers out there going a la naturale, no photoshop, no skin smoothing, wrinkle remover, nada. So what better date to reveal the truth, my 40th birthday. (ok, I’ll admit, I bumped exposure in Adobe Camera Raw). It’s hard to nail exposure when you are setting the self timer and then trying to pose, hoping your face is in frame. With a quick puff of face powder and a stroke of mascara, this is me:

I have my mother’s blue eyes, and my father’s face. One of my eyes does this little glitch thing where is closes more than the other – got that from my Granny Francis. I’ve got the early onset of some great jowels on the side of my jaw. You know, where the sides of your jaw begin to sag like a basset hound? Ya, those. I usually push those in with photoshop in my other photos. I also have nothing but a few scragglely hairs for eyebrows – thanks Daddy for those! I’ve also got the beginnings of a great divide in my forehead, *lovely* little wrinkle right between the eyes.

But for all the things that I feel are lacking & not up to par with me, I have an abundane of things in my life that I am overly thankful for. A loving husband! I have always said that it’s not the good times that define your marriage, but how you got thru the bad times that truly are indicative of your strength & love. And Lord knows, in the last few years, there have been some crazy low times. Three wonderful children. I have been so blessed by them. I’m almost speechless… they’re my life, my soul, and my inspiration. My photography business. Looking back years ago, having my own photography business was nothing but an idea, a dream, something I always really wanted to do, but didn’t think I was good enough to do or had the guts to start. It’s now a reality. And along with that, I’ve got the best clients a girl could ask for. Thank you all for making 2010 a wonderful & memorable year for me!

This family is near and dear to my heart; meet my nephew Ross, his wife, and beautiful children. As soon as these two cutie patooties got out of the car for our session, I grinned from ear to ear when I saw the boots! How cute is that?

Warning, I’m about to say an old lady thing…… but I remember when my nephew was this tall (holding hand out to my side about knee height). Don’t you remember when your elders said things like that to you as a young adult? But it’s true, I remember when Ross was just about the size as his son running around in a diaper with his blonde hair and bright blue eyes. (Ok, have I embarassed you enough?). *giggle* That’s what family is supposed to do right?

Ross is a good man with a tender heart and a beautiful family. I very proud of him! There is so much love in this family, can you see it?

Note: the title of the post comes from Randy Houser’s song Boots On. You know me, I get to editting photos and songs keep popping in my head. And this session was no different. ]]> http://raeoflight-photography.com/2010/10/26/boots-on/feed/ 0 http://raeoflight-photography.com/2010/10/21/classic-rad/ http://raeoflight-photography.com/2010/10/21/classic-rad/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:23:41 +0000 Rae Pulver http://raeoflight-photography.com/?p=3543 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

I just love the look of a black and white photo grouping on the wall. I’ve been thinking about doing something similiar at our house. It’s such a classic way to showcase your portraits from Rae of Light Photography. Oh, and to have a rad (thanks Tiff for the adjective) couch like that in your house, would be an awesome bonus!!!

I recently read an article on Kimberlin Gray’s Photography blog that had some great suggestions for parents during a photo session. I thought she had some great advice that I wanted to share here at Rae of Light.

1. Come to the session with well-rested, well-fed children. Nap times might need to be adjusted on the day of our session for the littlest, or dinner time might have to be a couple hours early. It truly makes a WORLD of difference if you plan your day around our session – even if it means a schedule that is non-typical for your family. A good photographer will interact with your child, play games, chat with them and make them feel comfortable. But we cannot take a tired, hungry, writhing ball of meltdown (can you tell I HAVE toddlers?! ) and create a beautiful portrait!!

2. Don’t prep your child too much for a photo session. Talking about it for days on end (or even all day on the day of the session) only raises the stress level for your child and creates an atmosphere of “you’d better…or else!”. It’s better to let your child become comfortable at the session and have their personality shine through. That said, bring a “backup plan”. If you have wee little ones, bringing a non-messy snack (for babies: puffs, small cookies, etc.) and a drink is essential! For older toddlers, a special snack (something a bit exciting even!) might be just the thing to get that big smile! If your child has a lovey or special friend that you don’t mind being in some photos, it can be a great comfort item. I am not above bribery, but be sure to keep it positive and specific. “Give two beautiful smiles and you get a special treat!” is great.

3. Allow your photographer to interact with your child. Don’t answer for them – or chime in with your own thoughts. The photographer needs to spend a few moments getting comfortable with your child and allowing your child to get comfortable with her. Many times I will ask children questions about what things they like, about their teacher or friends, or find something in common to chat about. It helps to break the ice and allows the photographer to get a sense of your child’s personality.

4. If you have a baby, allow the photographer to interact with her and try to get her to look at the camera and smile. This is a hard one for parents. If there’s a particular thing that “works” – a game, a sound, a word, a song – tell the photographer at the beginning of your session together and allow her to try it with your baby. The goal of the photographer is to get your baby to look directly into the camera. If you are standing to the photographer’s left or right, even slightly, and shouting your baby’s name to get her to look up, she is going to look AT YOU! Why is that a bad thing? Because even though she could be giving the best, most beautiful and perfect smile to you…when you see the photo, it looks like she’s smiling at someone outside the frame. I never really understood this until I started photographing children professionally, but now I notice it all the time. In most studio photos, the children are almost always looking at someone above the camera’s level. My goal as a custom photographer is to capture your child(ren) looking right at me – so that when you see that photo, it looks like they are smiling directly at you every time you look at the picture. You will see the twinkle in their eye, you will see the mischievous grin, you will feel the connection! It is hard to step back and not interact with your own baby – but let the photographer try first. She’ll let you know if she needs help!

5. If your child is between 12 months and 2 1/2 years old, expect your session to be a lot of “follow the baby around”! This age is the most unpredictable. Since bribing, cajoling, and joking doesn’t work yet, we are forced to go with the flow! The best thing to do is to see where he wants to play, sit, stand and then position yourselves around him for a group shot. When he moves, you move! Again, interact like you normally do – if that’s playing peek-a-boo or clapping, we’ll capture it, and maybe a few smiles in the process!

6. If you have older toddlers or elementary school children, allow the photographer some space to work with them. If you “disappear” or hang back a bit, photographers can often work more easily with your child – especially siblings! Trust us, we have interacted with many children and have a few tricks up our sleeves! Oftentimes, children will act up when their parents are around and watching just to get their attention – but they wouldn’t dare misbehave with a stranger! (Just ask their teachers – they are angels at school, right?!) I sometimes take a child by the hand and we take a walk to a new location so that we can start fresh and not have mom and dad watching our every move. Most of the time, I capture the truest smiles that way!

7. Try not to threaten your child or coerce them into smiling. You are most likely not going to get a genuine smile if you’ve just told them that they must smile or you will beat them within an inch of their lives not take them for ice cream. Please, whatever you do, don’t tell your child to SAY CHEESE! It does not capture their true smile and we’re probably only going to get that smile the rest of the session. (That’s why they call it a cheezy smile!) Your photographer will help with fun things to make your child smile – or you could always just start a tickle fight or say something really silly that makes everyone laugh!

8. Get close. When you stand next to each other, you should always be touching! Wrap your arms around each other or hold hands. Even a few inches of space looks like a wide gap in a picture! I often tell people to, “act like you like each other!” (which always gets people to smile, by the way!) because I want them to be close. Kids sitting on laps, or standing with their arms around their parents legs or shoulders are natural “poses”. Your closeness and love for each other will shine through if you are close to each other when standing or sitting for a photograph.

9. Your job, as parents is to look at the camera and smile when we attempt the big group shot. When your photographer poses you and is doing her best to get the childrens’ attention, don’t look down at the kids!!! My job is to get the baby to smile. My job is to keep the kids looking at me. My job is to see whose head is turned or fingers are in their mouth. Your job is to plaster that (natural!) smile on your face and look at my camera! There have been too many times when I’ve gotten home, downloaded a family session, and found that by the time I got all three or four kids looking at the camera and smiling, the mom and dad had dropped their smiles or were “just checking” to see if the kids were smiling. So, I either have a great shot of mom and dad with wild monkeys or beautiful children with parents who look completely over it! Remember to just look at the camera and smile – your photographer will do the rest!!

10. Be yourselves and try to have fun! The absolute best family photographs are those where the family looks comfortable and connected. If you are silly, be silly during your session. If dad is the comedian, by all means, bring on the jokes! If your kids like to play Ring around the Rosy (or Superheroes!), let’s get to it early on in the session so that we can capture your family being you. After all, that’s what you want to remember in ten or twenty years, right?

I have to let you all in on a little secret…. it’s a bit embarassing but, it’s quite funny too. So I get a session request from a young woman named Roxane, I immediately think it’s my friend Roxane, who I haven’t seen in years. Last I saw her was about 4 years ago, and she wasn’t married or had any children. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I get a session request email from Roxane, so I call her and was “chumming it up” with her like old friends. I was surprised to hear she was married now, which I then said “fabulous, congrats!”    She then tells me she has a son, and so I said “awesome, how old is he, is he a toddler?” She hesitated a bit and said “no, he’s 12 years old.”    When I further asked her to tell me a little bit more about her family, she told me to check out her facebook page so that I could see photos of them. I went to Facebook, check out her profile and I was instantly confused…. The girl in the photos had blonde hair just like my old friend Roxane, but didn’t really look the same as her. Could she have changed that much in 4 years? I even had my husband look at her page and I asked “Is this OUR Roxane?” He immediately said “Nope, not her.” Oh my, I felt absolutely silly!   I was so emabarassed.   Here I went on and on talking to this girl as if she was my old friend and she wasn’t.    She probably thought I was overly friendly or just plain weird! LOL!

Nonetheless, when we did meet up on Saturday for on session downtown, it really felt like we had known each other for years. Roxane is such a sweetheart and absolutely gorgeous!  I loved the clothes she brought to our session.   And her husband? Woozers, super handsome and very big! I had no fear of anyone coming around and running off with one of my cameras with this guy close by.   And last but not least, this young man, her son, who was so much fun and had such a great sense of humor.  He was just too sweet –  he even shared some of his lotion with me. I’ll definitely have to get some of the Tropical Passionfruit lotion from Bath and Body Works. Smells heavenly!

Thanks Roxane for a wonderful session this past weekend. I had alot of fun! Enjoy your sneak peek.

I love this blue wall.  It helps that my favorite color is blue, especially this colbalt blue.   

Just one of my favorites from yesterday’s session downtown. While walking from one location to the next, I asked this couple how they met, and their answer “here downtown.” Just seems fitting to capture their love again, now 6 years after the fact, here in downtown Austin.

Roxane, thanks for indulging me on this shot. I know it seems a little weird at first, just standing there holding a kiss for what seemed like the longest time, but I think this shot turned out beautiful. Heck, we even got little whoop and fist pump from the guys and gals down the street watching us. Too funny!