Taylor Family Portraits

These guys are close to my heart (and many. many others' too, for sure!). I didn't know this at the time I took these, but they had not had professional family portraits done ever! Ever! But now they have beautiful, love-filled portraits for their home (and family!).

This was a super quick, slightly freezing photo sesh in their cute back yard. There was a lot of laughing, and beautiful smiles. Family portraits don't have to be a pain to plan for; they can be spontaneous and quickly thrown together.

Kasey, Fashion Portraits

Gah! This girl is stunning! And as real as they come. She has a mind of her own and won't hesitate to tell you how much she loves Krispy Kreme doughnuts or belt out Celine Dion! 

Creative Portraits {fog inspired}

My boys aren't always so great at listening and not bugging each other... but they are good at modeling for me (and they're ridiculously photogenic). It's a fair trade off, I guess. ;)

Kayleen, Maternity Portraits

This is my lovely cousin, Kayleen. Yep, I'll claim her! We're 5 months apart and grew up on opposite sides of the pacific ocean, but somehow we stayed good friends through the years. She's seen me at worst, for sure, and still claims me too! We've both moved around a lot since we've started families of our own, sometimes even living in the same state at the same time! That's always fun for us!

Carol, Maternity Portraits

I don't always want to go play outside in the cold, so I've been using the light I have available indoors. (My sliding glass doors to be exact). This is a totally different feel and challenge than being out in wide open spaces!

Marsing Family, Winter Family Photos

I adore this family. I've been taking pictures of these kiddos for about 7 years now! We've done train tracks, gardens, and canyon parks (to name a few places) so this time we tried something different! SNOW! I guess it was meant to be because that morning we got a LOT of snow! 

How Professional Images Actually Help Your Memory

Professional portraits are considered an investment because while we are told our brains save everything we hear, see, read, feel, smell, taste… we have not yet mastered the skill to recall those things at will and with utmost clarity. Try remembering the details of a face you haven’t seen in years… can you do it?

Without high quality images, I wouldn’t remember the details in the baby blue eyes of my now 9 year old - whose eyes have incredibly turned a shade of gold and green. I just couldn’t! Without high quality images, I would hardly remember the mischievous grin,and twinkling eyes of my younger brother who passed away over 10 years ago at age 20.

Images keep long distant relationships alive, and connect us to people we may never see again in this life (or may have never even met). Images keep stories real and memories closer to our mind’s reach. I despair to think how many priceless, precious moments have been lost to oblivion because no one bothered to record anything referencing them. How much more do we cherish the images of our babies - once they’re grown? How much do we cherish images of the best times of our lives - when those times have long since passed?

It is far too easy to let time slip away thinking there is nothing significant about that birthday, that family get together, that random road trip, that whole year, or that Halloween costume. Or have you already experienced the pang of regret that you didn’t get pictures while she was still around or when you went to that one place that ended up meaning a lot to you…

“I wish someone had gotten a picture…” Have you ever thought that?

Now let’s get your pictures taken!

6 Tips to Get Great Pictures of Kids!

Kids.

Oh, kids.

They can be exasperating to work with.

Let's be honest, a happy child is the most wild, free spirited thing you'll ever know and will hardly sit still or look at a camera long enough to say cheese. BUT if you know a few tricks they can be the most beautiful, magical creatures you've ever worked with! 

Here's a few things I've learned that make photographing kids my favorite! (And they don't even have to smile...)

Connect. You have to have to connect with them somehow. If you connect with them they will be more likely to respond to your direction.

1. Be FUN - throw leaves with them. Play a game of making faces. High five them - a lot!

I think it's really important to know their names, and use it a lot!

2. Change it up. K, now jump around. Look at mom. Make a silly face. Now give me your best smile! Now stop smiling and freeze…. Work with their short attention spans! They're guaranteed to get a little cranky (or maybe a lot) if they are expected to sit still and hold a, now fake, smile.

3. Give them breaks. Again, work with their short attention spans, and give them quick breaks to run around or get a drink or go to mom

4. Encourage good behavior. If mom and dad haven’t already bribed - I mean encouraged - them to be (generally) well behaved, then figure out some kind of reward. Small candies (with parents' permission) like smarties (NO CHOCOLATE) or pez work miracles. If candy is a no-go, simple rewards like hopping up and down can feel like a reward (and also goes along with "give them breaks").

5. Don't make them smile in every shot. Sometimes I like to tell the kids, "don't worry about smiling, just look at me like you're listening." Or, "don't worry about looking at the camera right now... why don't you look at _____________?"

6. Follow them around. Let the kid(s) set the pace for a little bit and follow his or her lead. Ask for their ideas, and go with them. If there is a child who just refuses to cooperate you might be amazed at how they change when they feel like they are in charge! Action shots are another great way to capture their personalities. Follow them around and snap away!

No matter what you do, don't forget to breathe. Don't rush through the experience, try to enjoy it and create those portraits that will be timeless for them and possibly generations to come!

You've totally got this!

What are some of your tricks to get great pictures of kids?
What other challenges do you want to overcome in your portrait photography?

Hello, Old Friend!

Apparently the last time I posted anything was in 2014. THAT'S embarassing! With all the different social media platforms available I've been rotating through them... and my blog was sorely sorely neglected. I'm sorry.

But not to worry, I have been taking pictures! To see some of my recent work, you can visit my website aliciastates.smugmug.com, facebook or instagram (@photosbyaliciastates).

Here's a little something recent to brighten your day!

I love those feet

Toes for days!

I love these feet. I love the tiny ones and the bigger ones (though they are all still pretty small). I love that their toes look like little squishy balls.

Oh yeah, and their feet are clean! (But wouldn't that be an image with muddy dirty feet in my clean white bed!)

With 4 boys ages 1-7 this image is kind of a miracle in itself. They were cooperative, and even excited about it. I have an image similar to this of my oldest two that hangs on our wall, and they were happy to try to recreate the image with their younger brothers :)

But those feet! I love their feet! I am grateful for their feet.

Those feet that they stand on, run on, walk on, climb with, kick with (yes, sometimes each other)...

Those feet that will support them throughout their lives. Who knows what grand adventures those feet will take them on! Some they will go on together, others on their own.

Those feet. My GOSH I love those feet.

(Hey! Hey, guys! I don't know if you know this, but I love those feet...) :)

My Little Princess... a photo project

I shared a little teaser in my last post of the project I was working on, My Little Princess a Photography Project. Remember I talked about learning new things? One of the things I learned to make was flower crowns, and I used them for this project.  This is a natural light : natural beauty project that emphasizes softness in facial expression, natural lighting, soft colors and texture. This is a photo shop project as much as a photography (straight out of the camera) project. Adding and blending the texture is what I feel make these images more than just nice pictures, but portraits. Pieces of creative art that would make someone want to hang on them on their walls. :) t's all part of the learning curve. Trial and error. Practice, Practice, Practice.

I am super pleased with these images, and hope you enjoy them!

Rediscovering Me

Have you ever done or experienced something so life changing that it kind of reawakens a part of you that has been dormant for... well, a long time? No? Go do it.

I'm at a good place in my life right now, (a calm before a storm? I hope not! knockonwood) and have been motivated to learn new things. I've been brave enough to start growing my own herbs, we're eating healthierish (yeah it's a thing), I've been trying new lighting/fabric/textures in my photography and I'm loving the results! Today I even set up my sewing machine!

It's no secret that I'm not fan of Winter, and finally summer is here! I thrive in the summertime!

I considered starting a new blog for the things I'm learning and experiencing... but let's be honest... there's a pretty good chance it will be badly neglected. So I'll share somethings here. Hope you don't mind!

And for your viewing pleasure... A beautiful little princess! (I've also learned how to make flower crowns and I'm in love with them!)

Little Boy Blue {A 3 Year Old Photo Session}

This kid is so dang cute.

And he's mine.

I've been trying to do better at at least getting birthday pictures of my (four) boys! It's harder work than it should be. I have been a slacker with my older boys, and I need to get pictures because they are both in their jack-o-lantern phase... and boy is it awesome. (Hey! Everyone goes through it!)

Anyway, here's my darling boy. I'm super pleased with these as I didn't intentionally over-expose them. I usually avoid mid-day like the plague, but it's the time we had to work with so there you go! We survived, and got a few gems that I will cherish for always!

Playing with available light

I love playing with light and trying new things. This is 100% natural light from her bedroom window. Yep! I saw this light and had to have it. ;) Obviously it worked perfectly with some texturing too! I am super pleased with this image and can't wait to play with this technique more! 

Prom 2014

My first time doing Prom pictures! It was an adventure to say the least and it was pretty dang cold... and obviously we were lacking some sleeves. Kindly, the gentlemen offered their jackets to their dates. :) I do have more images, and I'll try to remember to resize them, throw a watermark on them and share them! I have a few other photo sessions I need to get caught up with!! 

(If you want to see more images, "like" Alicia States Photography on Facebook!)

Winter Pearls

We had a fun mini session up in the mountains - where we found some snow! It may not seem like it since you don't really notice it in these images, but the snow really created the feel of this session. And do you like the pearls? I love 'em! :) These are my favorite images of each of them. It was a really mini session since it was so dang cold! But obviously a success!

I'm back... and ready to rock and roll!

I have a few shoots to preview here, but for now I'm just going to put this beautiful family up. This winter has been rough for me... creatively and mentally/emotionally. It's like this every year. I just can't seem to find a way to enjoy being out in the cold! I think (hope!) that for the most part, we're past the ridiculously cold temperatures... I can work with 30 ish degrees (still ew, but that's my compromise!). 

My point is, I'm back! My creative side is unleashed and ready to rock and roll!

Portrait Party... aka Photo Partay!!

I am super behind on posting images from the past few sessions, but these girls are dying to see their pictures, so I'm "throwing" them up here! 

We laughed a lot as these girls worked the camera. :) Really, they're just naturally beautiful girls and getting incredible shots of them was easy peasy. 

My sister (the first one pictured) will be going back to Hawaii at the end of the month and wanted some fallish pictures before she leaves (haha pun not intended)! The colors weren't as brilliant as we had hoped, but obviously we got some good shots even if they don't scream Autumn! 

Honestly, so much fun!