Camellia + John Paul : Children’s Portrait Session
These littles are very dear to my heart. They just so happen to be my niece and nephew who live just far enough away to make taking photos a little hard to coordinate with school and work schedules. Needless to say, I was thrilled to finally have them back in my studio for some fun portraits documenting their ages (4 & 7).
The outfits their mama dressed them in were adorable and classic and so fitting for their ages. Camellia loves the camera and strutted her stuff like a girl who has seen a few episodes of America’s Next Top Model. Such a honey.
And JP, he’s golden. He really is. My parents get to spend lots of time with them since they live right next door and they never have a bad word to say about either of them. Gotta love grandparents.
I hope you love these images as much as I do… well, maybe that’s asking a lot if you’re not also related to them, but leave me a comment below and let me know which picture is your favorite!
Enjoy!
Becca
Joey : High School Senior Portraits : Mason City Iowa
Today I’m sharing images from a recent photo shoot for a high school senior. This good-looking guy is a stepbrother to a girl I photographed a little earlier in the summer. I was thrilled when we were wrapping up her session and her mom said she’d like to book her stepson’s portraits since his mom hadn’t arranged anything yet because they just had so much fun themselves.
Secretly, I wondered how the mood of the session would be when I found out both moms would be there… and it turned out we didn’t just have both moms, but also his sister and his girlfriend! Quite the entourage!
I was so happy to see how well his mom and his step-mom got along and the whole time we were laughing and the girls were teasing Joey. Everyone really had a fun experience. Even Joey! (Although I did kick them out of the camera room at first when they were all watching him like hawks over my shoulders, poor guy!) I’ve gotta say I’m very impressed with how well Joey handled all the women he was surrounded with that day. He’s definitely a great guy.
Looking at these photographs brings back so many awesome memories of that day, the beautiful weather, and the fun we shared.
Thanks for choosing Rebecca Lynne Photography!
Enjoy!
Becca
Little Reese : Newborn Boy Portrait Session
A lot of people seem to think I must have the most ideal life, being self-employed. Especially when I announced we’d be having another son and they all seemed to think I would be taking as much time off as I wanted… to just snuggle at home with my new bundle of joy.
Reality is a much different thing. LOL!
Reality is that I was working on paperwork and tax reports the week I got home from the hospital. And reality is that although my dear, dear customers who totally respect my time and honor me by asking who I would recommend they have take their portraits while I enjoy some much deserved maternity leave…well, I just can’t have someone else taking their portraits, now, can I??? 🙂
I just love them too much, and I want both of their son’s first year of portraits to be taken by yours truly so when they hang on their wall in the family gallery they look totally cohesive.
To tell the truth, I was a bit nervous. It had only been two weeks since our son, Henry, was born and so I had some legit concerns about this little newborn thinking I was his lunch ticket. (If you know what I mean!)
Luckily, he must like his own mama’s scent more than mine, so after battling his hunger cravings for an hour or so he FINALLY submitted to those heavy, heavy eyelids!
Success!
Needless to say, I also love these first images we caught with mom and dad when he was still awake.
Enjoy!
Becca
P.S. I’m pretty sure you all know I wouldn’t be photographing right now if I didn’t absolutely love doing this. I just want to make sure it didn’t sound like I was complaining because I was very thankful I had scheduled the session. It was actually a relief to have a couple hours away from Henry and feel like a regular person and not a mombie (mom/zombie) LOL!
A new year, new ideas! And a sweet little newborn!
2014 is going to be a year of BIG and LITTLE changes! I’m so excited to re-draft my business plan like I try to do every couple years.
I am always one to set both business and personal goals at the beginning of a new year, but I know that this year … with the arrival of the newest member of our family expected to arrive any day (the 18th is my due date) I need to be evaluating priorities and creating a new vision of our ideal life… photography business included!
I LOVE my photography business. Self employment definitely has it’s ups and downs, but even at the low moments I still know it’s what’s best for me and our family … and I still have that gut feeling that it’s a gift the Lord blessed me with I need to continue to share with others.
Thankfully, with my gift, I’ve continued to attract the most amazing customers of whom I’m so grateful for. No complaints here! Keep referring me to your friends and family. That’s the only way I can continue to use this gift to support our growing family.
A few of the upcoming changes you can expect to enhance your experience at Rebecca Lynne Photography:
– I will offer some “collections” this upcoming year and embrace the idea of including digital files with some of those collections. (Of course, there will still be the a la carte offerings)
– I will be offering 5-7 pm weekday photo sessions which should actually work better with my clients work/sports practice schedules. I am making this change to delay the need for full time daycare for at least the first 6-9 months of our new little one’s life. Depending on how well this works, I may just keep it this way.
– Prices will only increase very slightly (which I need to do every year to fend off the increasing costs of production) but there will be some amazing new products included in the collections to tempt my customers into investing in the products they have always wanted but maybe didn’t feel they could justify purchasing before, and save them money on things they “had” to invest a large portion of their budget into before the collections (aka gift prints for family members).
– I hope to do more in-home ordering sessions (which will now be called the “Session Premiere”) when it’s more convenient for the customer. This will allow me to see the walls they would like to decorate with the images we created.
– I will be adding in more personal touches throughout the process from the first phone call, to the photo session, as well as the session premiere and the order presentation. My ultimate goal being to take the whole experience to a new level of luxury and make my customers (who are mainly moms) feel pampered.
All in all, I want to continue to set myself and my business apart from those newbies and part-timers who we all know are out there trying to lure people in with free and discounted sessions.
Most moms (and some dads) know how much time goes into preparing for the photo session… researching for the perfect photographer, coordinating schedules, gathering outfits and scouring Pinterest and other sites for inspiration. A pretty big investment of time that is worth just as much as the money invested in new outfits… but one that is so rewarding when you have a beautiful work of art (aka family/senior/child’s portrait) to hang in the perfect place in your home and enjoy every time you look at it.
My goal will be to make sure you know just how much I appreciate all of that and help you understand that it would be the ultimate DIS-service to you if I were to just hand you a CD or ask you to download the files yourself from the internet and figure out on your own what to do with them from there… when we both know I can provide you with so much more than that.
……
If you’ve made it through this text-heavy post I figured you needed to be rewarded with some beautiful images I recently had the privilege of capturing for one of my wedding clients from 2012. They just welcomed this little miracle, Jace, into their family. I’m so genuinely happy for them. I believe babies are the best gifts we receive in our lives (be it our own children, grandchildren, nieces/nephews, friend’s children), and to be blessed with such a happy & healthy little boy … well, it just about doesn’t get any better than that!
Enjoy!
Becca
Dylan : Senior Portraits : Albert Lea High School
I was so busy with photo sessions this last fall, that I wasn’t able to post as many of my sessions on my blog as I would have liked… so I’m going to play a little catch-up now, in these blustery days of winter that are a little slower on the shooting side of things. I am still crazy busy with making business plans for this coming year, organizing my studio and preparing for taxes, but at least I’m near a computer and can take a little break for a few minutes to blog about some of these amazing sessions I am dying to share with you.
Without any further ado… Let me show you some fantastic portraits I took of Dylan.
I fell in love with his mom on the phone. That’s right. She’s super straight-forward and one of those people that “lays-it-all-out-there-for-you” kind of people. MY KIND OF PERSON! 🙂
So I knew right away that her son, Dylan, was a nice looking guy that enjoyed wearing more trendy clothes, he was big into sports (soccer and track in particular) and had a sweet Jeep that he’d love to get some shots with.
ALRIGHT! I was off and running with this one!
We started at the studio, captured some great, more traditional, yet modern portraits. Just keeping it nice and simple. Natural expressions, always key!
Next, we headed to the Big Ol’ City of Albert Lea… LOL! Yeah, you heard me, I said big city… Those of you from around here know that is a little bit of a joke. But it’s truly a great place to go for a variety of backgrounds. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I yearn to live closer to an actual city that would have TONS of options, but then I would worry about the safety of my customers…
Anyhow, you should know by now that I don’t need a big fancy city to find the PERFECT backdrop for senior portraits. We have so many great locations, right here, locally, and I plan on opening your eyes to them! (Well, without giving away my top-secret locations!!!) 😉
Although, it’s rather obvious we did some of these at Tiger Field, which was totally appropriate since that’s where Dylan has all his home sporting events. I would much rather do on-location sporting images, than take one of those in-studio shots with all the uniforms lying on the floor or hanging behind the kid… ugh! They make me want to barf! (excuse my drama)
Oh! What’s that you say? You think you’ve seen an image like that I’ve taken??? Well, you caught me… I may have done them once or twice before… but ONLY on request! And even then, I always try some other ideas as well, because indoor sports portraits can be very cool. I’ll admit that much.
As you can see, we captured Dylan in some great locations and captured all the different sides of his personality, which made mom VERY happy and ended up in some AWESOME collages that will hang on their walls and be proudly displayed at his graduation open house. Which is what this whole senior portrait experience is really all about. (That, and being treated like a Rock Star for the day!)
Enjoy!
Becca
Mason : 6 Months Old : Little Miracles Baby Plan
This little stud-muffin has changed a lot since the newborn session I shared not so long ago.
I tend to recommend parents wait until their baby starts sitting up well on their own before doing another baby session. That way you can really see a dramatic difference in their portraits.
Mason’s mommy had lots of clothing options for him, and I have to say, he really was a trooper through all the changes.
My favorites are the ones in the baby legs and the stocking hat. I loved when the hat kind of fell over his face and when he was chewing on the tassels.
I also loved the ones with his daddy’s sunglasses. I caught one of him peering over them at me. (I can see him checking out the ladies like this in the future!)
Oh, and the cute little farmer look with the pumpkins turned out really adorable on my portrait porch.
Enjoy!
Becca
Dayne : Newborn Session : Little Miracles Baby Plan
You probably remember this lovely family from the maternity session I posted in July. Well, the little guy finally decided to arrive over a week past poor Karie’s due date.
But, he is a healthy, happy baby boy. I just love being able to watch their family grow up through my photographs. First, I did their engagement… followed through with Gracie, and now little Mr. Dayne.
Isn’t he just the sweetest. I adore the simple images, of just a baby, without a diaper, lying on a blanket… although the little bear hat is pretty darn cute.
I am so blessed to have this family as customers, I appreciate them so very much.
Enjoy!
Rebecca
Jacob : High School Senior : Mason City, IA
I’m excited to finally share a little sneak peek with Jacob and his mom! The last two weeks have been absolutely packed with photo sessions (the whole month of August, actually) and so I’m not turning things around in a week like I usually do for the proofs. I’ve been able to do things within two weeks, even with the holiday weekend. (Which my customers assure me is still faster than most of my competition… but still!) 🙂
I hate to make anyone wait!
So here you go! Another hunk of a guy. And he wanted to do some without his shirt on. 😉 Who am I to tell him he couldn’t?
Aren’t I just the luckiest photographer??? LOL! His mom will laugh with me because she was saying he was making his list and she was starting to wonder if he was planning on doing any shots with his shirt on!
I say, if you got it, flaunt it! (At least a little bit!)
My favorites are the ones in the gray shirt. It’s goes perfect with the location I chose and you just focus on him. Portrait harmony!
Enjoy!
Rebecca
Urijah : 3 Month Session : Baby Portraits
Normally, I encourage my baby plan customers to do 3 sessions during their son/daughter’s first year. Once, when the baby is a newborn (ideally less than 10 days old), again when the baby is sitting up strong (maybe wait till they start crawling) and before their first birthday (standing/walking). This allows for a good variety in the portraits as they are in three very distinct stages.
There are lots of people, photographers, baby books, etc. that encourage portraits at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months the first year. That’s a great idea, and I definitely encourage my moms to take their own personal photos at those milestone ages, but I just think it gets to be overwhelming for moms that aren’t big “picture people.” It gets to be a lot of trips to the studio with the session, ordering, and picking up the order… (at least 12). Also, you are picking up the finished prints about the time we are scheduling the next session so you don’t have as much time to just enjoy them before you are planning the next order.
That’s just me. But I definitely have moms that want lots and lots of pictures of their babies. And it doesn’t bother them to have to make the quick trip down to my studio for each appointment. (Lots of my clients say they really enjoy the relaxing drive out to the country) Many times they did the more frequent schedule of portraits with their older child and they want to keep the tradition going. (Kuddos to them! Because we all know the 2nd child often gets the shaft!… 😉 this is a comment from a 2nd child, by the way!)
Urijah’s mom falls into that category of parents that love professional portraits and had done the newborn, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 month sessions with their oldest in Florida with their past photographer. (I should write her a Thank you) LOL!
I’m happy to share this little chubber’s three-month portraits with you. They are just too cute! Christina brought the cute little blue knit sweater and hat… and I just keep thinking those pictures would make such a cute Christmas card (this one in the munchkin stocking hat looks like he just saw Santa!) But he will have changed a lot by then and have lots of new portraits to pick from.
Enjoy!
Becca
Kory : Senior Portraits : Mason City, IA
Kory was one of those boys who walks in my door and instantly makes me a little nervous. I have to admit. Guys like him always challenge me. I could tell just by looking through his outfits that he is creative and artsy and has a definite idea of what he thinks is cool… and it isn’t quite “main-stream cool”, if you know what I mean.
I get my fair share of these guys. They know that I can pull off the look that they want, it’s just I know how much they are interested in their pictures (they appreciate good artwork) and so I am on my toes trying to get “outside my box” of my standard “senior guy” fall back poses. (I’ll totally admit I have them! I try to be unique, but just like when you’re shopping for guy clothes versus girl stuff… there’s a much greater range with girls.)
Once Kory and I got to know each other and I gained his trust (or just won him over with my charm and grace … LOL!) he really started giving me the inspiration I needed to get the poses and the shots that were going to be unique (but at the same time, not too weird.)
He also brought his guitar, since he is in a band, and that was the highlight of the session for me. I love watching guys get into the roll of rockstar!
I also did a few funkier crops, added some grittiness to this b&w image and made some vintage color effects that I’m hoping he’ll appreciate.
Enjoy!
Rebecca
Rebecca Lynne Photography : Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota's Best Photographer! 