Many of you may be familiar with the styled session and some of you may be curious about what it is. I will do my best to clarify the difference between a traditional session and a styled session.

Simply put, the styled session is creative. Beginning with an idea or inspiration, these sessions are differentiated by their unique use of location,  feeling, certain style, or all of the above. Styled sessions are not your typical capture of personality where the people are the focus, but rather the people become part of the props to create a story, a feeling, a style or to highlight a special interest. This is how I define a styled session, anyways.

Let me show you a few examples.

For this first session, I was scheduled to shoot at an old farm in a nearby town. It was late summer and I knew that my clients would be game for some fun. The location just screamed little boys, in the dirt, slaying dragons and protecting their fortress. With a few simple props and the right afternoon lighting, THE BOYS OF SUMMER came to life.

This next session, that you may be familiar with, is part of an unfinished and annual series of photos my daughter in what I now call “ADDIE’S FIELD.” Again, the location inspired the props and the feeling that I wanted to portray. This is a portrait of my daughter that I will always treasure as she became part of the scenery to increase the feeling of beauty and freedom of the surrounding area. And again, the right dress discovered on Etsy and an old WW1 trunk help set the scene. Just take a deep breath and take in all of the fresh scents, clear air and enjoy!

THE STAR. This next session started as an idea from my client. She shared with me that she had some creative imagery of her daughter that was taken a few years back, but was lacking in something of that flavor for her son. As I probed my client for her ideas, this session became a true collaboration.

Preparing for and shooting this image was a little more intense but well worth it. The first challenge was to find a location with soccer nets that were still up. There are many fields around our city that have soccer nets, but the spring season had recently ended so the nets had been taken down and the frames stacked at the edge of the fields. Thankfully, I remembered one spot where I found nets still in place. Packing my camera on my hip, I went to the location without my client first to pre-shoot the net, just in case they were taken down by the time I shot with the subject. I also chose to use a very specialized lens to create the extreme blur around the edges and to show just a very narrow field of focus. I feel that the pre-shoot and the lens were the right choice to finalize this shot. To me, if feels like a dream and he is the star…which is not far from reality as he is a very talented little soccer player.

To add more drama to the image, I suggested a specific wood mounted product to my client where the image is printed on a slightly metallic paper. Choosing the right product can definitely give your images the right impact.

And since we were out and my client gave me free reign to be creative and to create beautiful images of her children, I also photographed his ballerina sister. I had visited my client’s home to finalize costume/wardrobe and I caught sight of one of her ballet costumes. I LOVE dance. I love photographing dance so I suggested that we add a dreamy ballerina segment to our session.

Place delicate and graceful LITTLE BALLERINA on a vintage trunk in a warm summer field. . .

And again, I made a suggestion for the finished product based on the feeling that we were creating. I suggested a print with a linen texture and custom frame (www.theorganicbloom.com) with a warm metallic texture. It came out even more beautiful than I imagined (read that as I wanted to keep it!). Please excuse the ugly iphone photo…

 THE THEME. This last session was inspired by my client who has a ‘small’ obsession with all things steam punk and who is excessively crafty at creating just about anything. She shared with me that she wanted to do a steam punk session with her kids and of course I jumped in. My client spent weeks designing, sewing, and spray painting the wardrobe and props. Once I saw how her vision was developing, I was able to suggest a location that suited her vision. I also processed this session with a slightly different edge than normal to accentuate the theme. Gadgets, sprockets, boots and guns…

Why did I just spend so much time sharing about The Styled Session? Because I love them, every bit of it from concept, to prop and location scouting, to final execution.

I will be offering styled sessions on a limited basis throughout the year. Please let me know if you have a vision.