by Kristin Vacca | Jun 11, 2024 | Families, Newborns, Portraits
Handing a client their professionally printed artwork is truly one of the best parts of my job! I know I’ve just handed them an heirloom piece that their family will treasure forever. We’re in a digital age, but there is power in printing your photos after a professional photography session.
I think back to a very dear client of mine. We’ve done several sessions together over the years, documenting her children and family. The first time we worked together, this client only wanted digital files. She was sure she would print what she wanted. However, by the time our second session together about a year later came around, she just hadn’t gotten to printing photos from the first session. It’s not her fault! She’s a busy mom working and taking care of everyone else around her. During our second session, she decided to have me handle the printing of her album. I loved taking this big task off her plate, and she was overjoyed by her album. After every session we’ve had together since, I’ve created heirloom artwork for her.
Printing your photos and getting them off your computer and into your hands has some real benefits. I’d love to share six of them with you.
Family of three hanging out during their photo session
Capturing every sweet smile and giggle during their photoshoot
6 Benefits of Printing Your Photos and Turn Them Into Heirloom Artwork
- Technology Changes – Technology changes quickly. Will you or your children be able to access your images in the future? My wedding photos are on DVDs! There’s no easy way to access those now. But even in the more recent past, many clients had USB drives that are not always on computers and laptops these days. What if the USB becomes so old that I need to take it in to get the images off? Even Cloud-based storage is NOT guaranteed! Don’t leave your precious family memories sitting on a flash drive or a computer folder or your phone. Printing them is the only sure way to hold onto your images.
Documenting her growth!
Slow down and capture these precious moments!
- Tangible Memories – Yes, you can probably open your phone and swipe through hundreds (if not thousands!) of images of your children. Printing your images and creating an album, for example, freezes this moment in time with your children. Holding the image in your hands engages the senses and brings you back to the moment. As a mom of a preteen, I know our children grow way too fast! Printed artwork is how we can hold onto these memories.
Sharing a laugh during the photo session!
- Preserving Your Family’s Legacy – Photos are how we hold onto our family’s stories. Printing your family artwork creates a physical preservation of your family’s legacy. Your portraits will be passed down through the generations. Imagine who will be holding your artwork 50 or 100 years from now! When the news features unfortunate incidents of tragedy related to weather around the country, what are the family members usually holding? Frames, albums, PHOTOS! In those moments, they are the most important heirloom of their past.
The official family portrait!
Printed heirloom albums
- Display What Matters to You – Decorate your home with what matters most to you while showing off your beautiful family! This can be done with a variety of artwork products such as a statement piece, wall gallery, print collection box, or beautiful display albums. Your walls will be full of what you love the most in this world!
Beautiful studio newborn session
Black and white portrait from a studio newborn photoshoot
- Wall Art is Good for Children – Studies have shown that photography is actually good for children. Growing up with their images on the wall creates self-confidence and visually shows them their place in the world. What a happy place for kids to grow up! I know that looking at my family photos brings me a lot of joy, too! My daughter often looks through the albums I create each year of our memories and loves talking about the stories in them. They are easily accessible and bring out lots of laughs when her grandparents come to visit too!
Mom and dad proudly hold their newborn daughter
Newborn baby girl safely posted in a wicker chair
- Maximizing Your Professional Photography Investment – Hear me out on this one! You’re investing in a professional photography experience, so don’t miss out on the most important part! If you leave your digital files in a folder somewhere or only post them on social media, they’re not bringing you joy every day, and you’re not getting the fullest VALUE of your photoshoot! Maximize your investment by having some of your images printed along with those keepsake digital files.
Summer purple and white
Album and grandparent album
The Benefits of Professionally Printing Your Photos
Don’t trust your printing your heirloom artwork to a big box store. There are some major benefits to professionally printing your photos and creating custom artwork just for you.
Full-Service Design Process – This is not just a random product based on a big box store’s algorithm. We put care and thought into which artwork pieces you want to create and why. I love asking my clients how they want to use their images and bringing their vision to life. My print labs can create custom products to match your exact taste and style.
Mom holding her newborn daughter
Quality that Lasts – Drugstore and big-box printers just don’t last, and they aren’t calibrated to a professional’s computer. In many cases, they’ll even ruin the many hours of editing work that I put into your gallery! My print labs carefully craft each piece of artwork, resulting in an heirloom that will last over many decades and generations. When your artwork arrives at the studio, I personally look through every item to make sure it’s perfect. If it’s not (very rarely), I send it back until it is! I want you to love your artwork.
Sweet, snuggled newborn pose
Off Your To-Do List and Onto Mine – Remember the client I mentioned before? She’s a busy professional and mom. She already has a million things on her to-do list. I am so glad to take this important task off my client’s to-do lists and onto mine – and there are so many similar stories to her’s. You’ll feel relieved knowing your artwork will be in print and look beautiful for many years to come.
This beautiful girl is the princess of the house
Glastonbury Professional Portrait Photographer
As your full-service portrait photographer in Glastonbury, we begin with the end in mind for a seamless experience from start to finish. You’re never pressured to purchase anything you don’t want but always have OPTIONS of what you can do with your images. I’ve never had a client regret printing their images, but I HAVE had clients regret not doing so!! I’d love to help you craft a custom full-service portrait session and create heirloom artwork for you. Don’t forget – Grandparents LOVE printed artwork too! We have some great gift ideas for them as well. If you’re ready to meet, I’d love the opportunity to chat with you! Please click here to get in touch with me.
by Kristin Vacca | Apr 26, 2024 | Families
You’ve booked your Newington, CT family photographer, and the photo session date is set! Now what? Now you need to decide what to wear for your family photos! For some of my clients, this is easy enough, but this task creates a huge headache for others! You want everyone in your family to look nice and feel comfortable for the family photoshoot. Plus, these portraits will live forever on the walls of your home or in a treasured album, so you want your clothing to have a classic look that will always look nice.
Never fear! I have a few foolproof tips on choosing what to wear for your upcoming family photos. With my clients, I offer wardrobe guidance leading up to their session. We chat about coordinating a few colors, and I’ll even send over some outfit coordination sets with those colors to help them choose the best colors. Clients will even ask for my opinion on specific outfits and accessories; I’m always happy to help! You might have some items already in your closet, or planning a shopping trip can help create something new, especially if it’s been a while since you were dressed up!
Without further ado, here are my top 10 tips on what to wear for your family photos!
Deciding what to wear for your Newington, CT family photos shouldn’t be stressful!
10 Tips on What to Wear for Your Family Photos
1.) Start with the End in Mind – This might sound odd, but go with me for a moment! Think about how you plan on using your portraits from the session. Do you want to print a large wall art piece for your living room? Maybe create an heirloom album to create a time capsule of your family? Is this for a Christmas card? No matter what you choose to do with these portraits, taking a minute or two to think about your end result will help you decide what to wear! How? Because you’ll have that end goal in the back of your mind as you carefully choose the outfits for your family.
Think about how you want to use your images before even deciding what to wear for your family phtos!
2.) Start with Mom’s Outfit – I tend to suggest starting with mom’s outfit (or just choosing one person in general) for a few reasons. The first is that moms tend to have the hardest time choosing their outfit for the session, so if you start with mom, then the hardest part is over! The second is that you can easily coordinate the rest of the outfits by choosing mom’s outfit first and creating that “anchor” outfit!
Start with mom’s outfit and then choose the rest!
3.) Coordinate Colors, Don’t Match – Long gone are the days when everyone wore the same outfit for a family photo session! I suggest coordinating colors instead of matching outfits. This allows for children to pose with different parents or siblings without accidentally color-blocking. Once you choose mom’s outfit, choose 2-3 coordinating colors and look for the other outfits. Here are a few color palette ideas for each season. You’ll note that each one contains a white, gray, or a cream because those are great complimentary colors!
4.) Location Considerations – Think about where the session will take place and what will be your backdrop! For example, if it’s fall, and we’re heading to a nearby park, you can choose fall colors for your outfits. Or, if it’s spring and we will be in a garden, you can select springy colors and outfits. Summer session at the beach or lake? Maybe linens and light fabrics. If we’re in the studio, the sky’s the limit! We have many more options for your outfits because we’re not tied down to a specific backdrop or season.
Think about location and season as you choose your outfits.
5.) Lean on Clothing Staples – Trends come and go (hello, crop tops and low-rise jeans!!), but the classics always remain! Polos, quarter zip sweaters, and button-ups always work great for men and boys. Women always look lovely in a simple dress or solid-colored blouse with or without a jacket. Girls can wear dresses, too! Jeans always look nice for a casual photoshoot.
Clothing staples will never go out of style!
6.) Avoid Graphic T-shirts and Loud Patterns – Avoid wearing graphic T-shirts, neon or other super bright colors, and “loud patterns.” Some patterns are okay, but I don’t recommend more than one person wearing a pattern, as that can be distracting!
This beautiful mom’s dress has a pattern, but it’s muted enough that it doesn’t distract from their faces!
7.) Simple, Neutral Jewelry – Jewelry can add a nice punctuation to any outfit, but I suggest simple, neutral jewelry in family photoshoots. Avoid chunky necklaces, big scarves, or hats. Sometimes, scarves and colorful jewelry can tie in the color coordination nicely! It’s not that I don’t like those accessories in general, but for a family photoshoot, we don’t want to distract from your beautiful faces!
Each of these amazing women are wearing a beautiful, simple necklace!
8.) Make Sure Everyone Is Comfortable – When choosing outfits for your family, please select something each family member is comfortable in. For example, if your daughter never wears dresses, don’t have her wear one for the session. Why? She won’t feel comfortable, and, in the end, the image won’t capture her essence! We want everyone to look nice and feel relaxed. Feeling relaxed = great photos! We want all the natural smiles during your photo session!
Choose outfits that everyone will feel comfortable wearing!
9.) Have Everyone Try On Their Outfits – Have everyone in your family (including you) try on your outfits at least a week in advance! This will ensure everything fits nicely and there aren’t any surprise stains or tears. Everything should fit well and not be a dated outfit from 10 years ago. Trust me, you’ll save yourself from a frantic day of Target runs when you realize your son’s polo doesn’t fit!
Try on your outfits before the session to avoid any headaches!
10.) Take OFF Your Apple Watch – As your family photographer, I will catch this for you, but make sure you and your family remove any Apple or other smart watches, FitBits, hair ties, etc. Oh, and remove everything from your pockets before the session! All of these things will help make for less distracting items in your photos as well.
No Apple watches here!
Newington, CT Family Photographer
I hope these tips were helpful as you plan your family’s outfits for your upcoming photography session! As you can see, I have a lot of experience helping clients choose their outfits, and I am happy to do so. The most important thing to remember is that simple and neutral tend to photograph well (and some color too!). Looking and feeling your best in your photos will create a beautiful final result in custom artwork you’ll treasure forever (and we can help with that, too!). If you want to schedule your family photos with me, please connect with me here!
by Kristin Vacca | Dec 28, 2021 | Families
Client Fall Family Photos | Newington, CT
Another year has FLOWN by hasn’t it? And before we knew it, it was already time for our client fall family photos to see some of my regulars and even a few new faces (to fall sessions) this year! Each year I offer 1 afternoon of shorter petite family sessions for past clients only. It’s a great way to see people that would like to come every year, or sometimes multiple times a year with a little bit of a reduction in cost and time. I always love using these as well as my holiday sessions to watch my families grow up, kids get older, and new additions to meet! We try to search each year for a new location (I get bored at the same spots all the time) but sometimes it’s a bit of a challenge without a big driving distance for everyone. And a lot of parks now, especially in Hartford/West Hartford, are charging permit fees to photographers and other commercial use. So – we decided to stay local this year at a pretty spot with scenes that most probably don’t even realize are there. But with a professional eye, I knew we could make it work for some short sessions with a lot of options in a small spot! We met with 6 beautiful families and the kids all brought their smiles for me! It was a little chilly and gray (and foliage was still a bit of magic on my end) but such a great evening together and how do you choose favorite when they are this beautiful?! Enjoy some of our sneak peeks below!
by Kristin Vacca | Dec 24, 2021 | Families
Family Christmas Photos 2021 | Newington, CT
Another year of our Family Christmas Photos 2021! This was our 7th year of creating magic for our children and families…without Santa Claus! For some, their children are at a timid age, they’d just prefer more time together as a family, or maybe they’ve “aged out” of the magic of Santa! Regardless, we always have a place for you here on our Family Day! It’s a great way to get together for that special Christmas card, enjoy a beautiful custom made set, and we still bring just as much magic for this day too! We saw 22 beautiful families for these slightly longer sessions. Have a pet? We allow you to bring them too during certain afternoon time slots! Always so much fun to see our pet parents and their families together and some of our favorite doggies that come to visit us! Just as with our Santa Experience day, watching my kids grow up and seeing them every year for Christmas is so heartwarming! But there are only so many spots available, and we had SO many requests that we probably could have filled another day! That’s why it’s a good time to get on our newsletter list and follow us on social media as those people get first dibs on our spots every year when we beginning booking at the end of the summer! Times fill faster and faster every year – I think we had 2 days filled in just a few days! (And most within hours) Book early! And we’ll see you next year for the next great Holiday Experience!
by Kristin Vacca | Dec 23, 2021 | Families
S Family Fall Photos | Bristol, CT
Sometimes you really appreciate when clients are so willing to wait for your schedule to open up because they love your work! Such was the case for the S Family fall photos. They had originally contacted me over the summer about their baby boy’s arrival, but by the time they did, my schedule was already completely full! I always feel terrible when I can’t accommodate someone, but I gave them some options for a family session in the fall in case they wanted to wait. And they did! We met on a gorgeous early fall evening in October and although a lot of our foliage here has been pretty delayed due to all the rain and warmer temperatures we’ve had, the golden light coming through the trees of the later afternoon made everything look just as lovely! We had a fun time exploring one of my favorite parks (and first time here in the afternoon!) and getting to know their little man! He slept for us for a while and then had some tummy trouble. And sometimes, you just have to go with the flow and use poses that will make those troubles a little bit better. And that’s why it’s great to work with a photographer who has so much experiences with these younger ages to be able to help out. I had no problem with getting my baby snuggles in too while helping! We had a great family photoshoot together and I was so honored to help them for their first photos together! Enjoy some of their favorites below!
by Kristin Vacca | Dec 14, 2021 | Families
D Family Fall Photos | West Hartford, CT
Every year, especially during the fall season (which seems so short around here!), it’s so wonderful to meet new families to introduce them to the quality of my photography studio and share a special moment or milestone with them. I was honored to meet this next group for their D Family fall photos later in September. We met on a beautiful morning at one of my favorite morning light locations. It was cool but not cold for the season, and they were celebrating their baby boy’s upcoming first birthday. It was the perfect time to collaborate on photos of their son as well as of their new family unit together. This location is always one of my favorites because the morning light is so pretty, and there are many different backgrounds to photograph with in a small area. We loved walking around and exploring, photographing the little guy with his Dad (such big smiles!), his Mom (snuggles on the board walk), and together. He loved interacting with us (thank goodness for Elmo & Ernie!) and we put together such a nice gallery for them. Although we might not be walking yet, he thoroughly enjoyed being carried by Mom & Dad and even getting some swings in at the end! I hope your enjoy some of their many favorites below! We DO tend to book for fall (September & October) by August every year, so be sure to contact us early about scheduling!
