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This beautiful family was a referral from a wonderful client in 2010 – I was so pleased to meet them.  Both children were so well behaved and perfect models for our family shoot!

Today, I thought it would be fun to do a shoot that really showed just how beautiful Finland is in Winter.  If I could design a postcard of an amazing Winter wonderland, then these are what I’d submit as the artwork.

Presenting a 9 year old Finnish girl, her reindeer, a book on antique Finnish maps, and a beautiful snowy day in January.

It took half the Winter, but we finally saw snowfall here in Helsinki.

The light and scenery is so exquisite this time of year.  Soft and light and lovely.  We’re fortunate to have a mild Winter – not too cold for tea parties with friends!

I will be presenting a Masterclass in Lighting with  my commercial business partner Melody Hood at WPPI in Las Vegas, February, 2012.  The class is nearly half filled after one week – I recommend booking early before it fills up completely.  Proudly sponsored by Pixel 2 Canvas.

Edited:  A big thank you!  I was just notified by the WPPI organizers that ours was the first Masterclass to sell out.  Unfortunately, there is not a waiting list.

wppi 2012 masterclass lighting workshop class

This little girl was sooo sweet!  And a beautiful family to boot.  A great way to spend an unseasonably warm Autumn in Boston!

I had a special request for this session: add in some sweet soft vintage to the regular mix of proofs.   And I have to admit, when a family has this much love, it is very easy to be a photographer!

I am asked about this quite a bit in email: I do offer training and mentoring/tutoring in the professional portrait photography field.  Training webinars, workshops, and in person tutoring are available on my travels.

I am hosting my once-yearly Creativity Workshop with Melody Hood of Inammorata Photography in Las Vegas on November 4-6th.

I also give periodic lectures and webinars on photography technique and post processing/workflow software.  These are on-line and scheduled as I find availability.

I also provide in person one-on-one tutoring: from Boston to Brisbane, spots are extremely limited and first come, first served basis.

All photography training, workshops, and tutoring/mentoring can be found separately through Photographers Learning Resource and are intended for intermediate portrait photographers who can achieve manual exposure and consistent focus.

http://www.photolearningresource.com

http://www.facebook.com/PhotoLearningResource

I’ve just started to go through this session, for fashion designer Basia Malinowska.   How can you not love anything shot in New York City, especially with a beautiful model in Summer linen?

One of my greatest sources of pride with my photography is the ability to shoot regardless of the lighting conditions.  Professional photographers know how challenging a full sun midday shoot can be:  if not shot carefully, the lighting will wreck the image, creating harsh skin tones, dappled blotchiness, and odd nuclear-winter brightness/colors.  But with a bit more thought, it can also be pure magic.

For a workshop in Central Park, New York City, my objective was to show how to make full sun midday shooting achievable.  But often, it is the client who also helps transcend an ordinary day and make it special as well.  This family in that regard were absolutely a pleasure to work with and shoot.  They brought a full picnic set, set it up, and then sat and enjoyed the day, allowing us to capture that warm, intimate moment of enjoying life together.  When the sun moved enough to put them in shade, they were happy to move the set up a bit back into the sun and then sit and enjoy the grapes again.  It’s a reminder to all of us to spend time just enjoying ourselves with our family and the ones we love.

My goal with my shots of the family was to show that love and connection and really show that heaven has smiled on them.  I wanted to have them bathed in the warmth of the sun and to that end carefully chose the location away from the crowds but still with a bit of Central Park flavor peeking in from the upscale white high rise apartment buildings visible through the trees.   I had to shoot between ugly yellow buses and a few random pedestrians also enjoying the park (fortunately, dogs were leashed at that hour!) but in all, once the location was chosen, it was an incredibly easy shoot.

I hope they enjoy the images – they really have a huge thanks from me for being so incredibly wonderful to photograph! My understanding is that the father in this image is a wedding planner – I wish I had known him when I was married because he is very, very, good at his job!

I am booking up quicker this year for Autumn sessions.  I have limited availability on weekends and I’m completely booked from October 15 through November 15 for Christmas sessions.   If you’d like an Autumn session in Finland, I recommend booking as soon as possible to ensure better choices for dates/times.