About Left of Center Photography:

Left of Center is contemporary lifestyle photography for weddings and portraits. It's about making you feel comfortable while creating fantastic images. Weddings, families, children - all at the locations you want to be at - not in some cramped studio. Let's go make pictures together today!

  • Gear is all packed and ready for tonight's shoot. Good night to be at the beach!

    • Tag: ‘children’



    Family Style with Olivia and Austin

    Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

    I’m starting to run out of fingers to count how many times I’ve taken Austin and Olivia’s pictures.  I bring them chocolate milk and Smarties and they call me “Picture Paul”.  I may have to put that on a business card!

    Except for one big family photo I did a year or so ago with the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, I usually only shoot Austin and Olivia.  This time around they wanted some nice and simple family shots in their yard – and it’s a great big yard that’s perfect for pictures.

    Olivia and Austin

    Family

    And at the end of every shoot we have a little fun – mostly to burn off some of the sugar from all the Smarties they eat while we’re taking pictures! ;)

    Tree House

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    Cousins – It’s a Tradition

    Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

    Every year, just before the Fourth of July, we get our kids and our nephews together to take a pictures of them all for the grandparents.  It’s tradition.  You don’t mess with that, right?

    The whole group is six kids all under eight years old – ranging from two to eight for realz (my wife just told me I was using “actually” too much).   How hard is it to get eight kids to look at you?

    Not Interested

    Actually (doh!), it’s not as bad as that looks. I was testing out the lighting and told them to relax.

    Here is what’s cool about photographer’s kids. I just put mine on the log and got it one shot.

    Attitude

    For me, the best shots came at the end of the session. I told them to just play. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – nothing beats taking a picture of a child just being a child.

    What are you looking at?

    Toes and Rocks

    And, ACTUALLY, that’s all I have to say in the post.

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    Communion

    Sunday, April 18th, 2010

    My son, Carter, made his first Communion and Confirmation today.   I put on my photographer hat for a few shots, but then but all the gear away and was a good parent and sat quietly in my pew for the whole mass. ;)

    Confirmation

    The shot above was a happy accident. Pap-pap just happened to take a seat while I was setting up the lighting and firing off a test shot. The shot below is what I had planned to capture.

    Communion Prayer

    Rosary

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    Just Like the Plan

    Sunday, December 27th, 2009

    What happens when you take 13 children under the age of five and get them together for a group portrait?  Well, a lot of things but two certainty is that it’s going to result in some very cute pictures and some chaos.

    This is the second year I’ve shot Kathy’s kids for Christmas.  She watches these 13 little ones every day and for Christmas they get matching PJ’s and a picture to send home to Mom and Dad.

    My plan with kids is “wow” them with my charm right away.  Don’t these guys look amazed?

    Front and Center

    I started off with the individual shots first. Based on the early results it was a great idea.

    Katy

    By the time I had gone through all 13 kids though things were taking a turn for the worse.

    This is How We Planned It!

    Still sort of a cute shot. It’s kids being kids, ya know? Last years shoot went a little better… but the kids were also older

    On the technical side this was all done with a couple strands of Christmas lights and some Speedlights with white bounce umbrellas. Coming up in 2010, I plan on shooting some “behind the scenes” video on shoots like this. Got my new Canon Vixia HD camcorder sitting right here next to me.

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    Little Buckeyes

    Saturday, November 14th, 2009

    A while back I did a post about photographing kids being kids and nothing proves that point more than these three shots.   This is Olivia, Austin and their cousin Ellie.  I shot the three of them together last fall and I must not have really frightened the children too much because their parents called me back to shoot them again this year. ;)

    I have to say we got really lucky with the day.  It was 70F last weekend – in November! – in Ohio!  That sort of thing never happens.   We took advantage of the weather to do quite a few shots outside and these three were easily some of my favorites from the session!

    Swinging O

    Swinging Austin

    Swingin Ellie

    O-H!

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