Montgomery Family – Family Portraits

Meet the Montgomery Family, staring Sara, Zach, Ava and Olivia. We had such a great time!

As soon as we made it to our destination the rain came… but knowing that this sweet family took so much time in preparing for the day, there was no way we were turning back and I am so glad we didn’t.

Sara is a photographer and we met at a MeRa Koh photography workshop a few years back. We have stayed in contact since and I was honored that she wanted me to take their family portraits.

This family brought colorful clothes, chairs, scarves and lollipops for the kids. I can’t stress enough how much color brings out an image. I just have a love fest going on with it right now… maybe because it makes me feel cheerfully good!

These sisters were priceless!

Ava is the oldest and loves the camera!

Olivia is full of laughter and joy!

Sara and Zach met on a blind date… so sweet…

We found a great garage to duck into to get out of the rain… graffiti everywhere!

I love that my daughter is taking interest in my photography. The pink lollipop shining through the black and white was her idea. Love it!

Love this shot too! So fun!

Sharing between sisters… you have to click on this one and look at the larger image… it is just precious!

Olivia, Olivia… can I kiss ya!!

Ava’s eyes just sparkle…

Beautiful soft colors.

Go ahead melt my heart…

There are so many images I want to share with you! Just love them all!! Just a few more, ok :).

Mom with her girls.

Dad with his girls.

I know, cute right!

What a fun day… has to be one of my favorite shoots! I think I say that a lot :).

Joe is always so amazing with kids on these shoots! We could hear the kids yelling “bye Joe” out the window as they drove off… how cute is that!

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Joely – Anytime Portrait

Joely is my niece and is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out! Penn State is fortunate to have her! While she was up on her annual ski trip to the Pacific Northwest we did a very quick shoot with her and Amanda, just yards from my sister-in-laws house while the family was all gathered for dinner. There are many great reasons why I love Italian families, but one is the food and the high importance put on family. When Joely and her family visit we are always guaranteed to get together lots and eat lots of great food… and laugh!! I love my family!!!

Love the French girl look! Joely is a natural at the French language and looks so cute in the hat… even though it’s a NYC hat :)…

Spreading the love…

I adore the love between these two… sweet cousins!

Fun!! Love the rustic look…

Laughter, good for the soul…

I’m so glad that there are still leaves around in the winter… no snow this season so far… boo!! I love the snow and this year I wouldn’t have to drive in it, I could just admire it. Yummy image! There is just an innocence about it.

The boots were perfect for this spot, love when everything just falls into place.

Scarves work great for creating interest in portrait sessions. If I am doing a mini-session where there is no time for a change in clothes, then I always request that my customer brings scarves, hats and a coat, maybe even an extra pair of shoes to quickly change their look and get a little variety. I have lots of scarves too, so bring my own just in case. I often carry around chairs and umbrella’s too. I found a shop in downtown Seattle that has vintage umbrella’s – so cool… someday I would love to purchase one to use in my shoots…

There are nights I lay awake thinking of images I would like to create… some are elaborate and others just visions of locations that don’t exist. Occasionally, ideas pop in that I can duplicate. This year I am going to set up times where that is my focus, duplicating what goes through my head. I get excited just thinking about it! I will be sure to tell you when one of those sessions come up!

Sneak peak of a funny post with Joely and Amanda coming up! Made us all laugh lots – hope it will you too! Stay tuned…

xoxoxo

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Amanda – Anytime Portrait

…Romance, not the kind between 2 people, but the kind with nature… that was my inspiration for this series with my daughter, Amanda.

I love the outdoors and since this year I will not be taking my annual trip to a National Park I am going to spend more time outside in my own community! This is far from a National Park, but makes me happy anyways! I love the feel of this image, her hair romantically falling over her shoulders, the colors of the leaves in the back, the softness of the focus, the whiteness of her skin…

Although her eyes are quite dark in this one, I love it.

It started to rain on us for this shoot, but we continued and I am so glad we did. The rain is a regular occurrance around her so why not just go with it! We found a broken down shack to hide in…

I have been experimenting with more color and exposure for these last few shoots and I am loving the outcome! I love the little “over” exposed look with such yummy white skin matched against a colorful background.

I have also been experimenting with different focusing techniques. This image is purposely out of focus… clarity is not always the goal.

Another “different” focus technique.

Another new found love is the look of “vintage” 70’s… not the romantic feel above, but the overly grainy and washed out colors of years past…

This is one of my favorites of the shoot. Amanda wasn’t so impressed with my choice of hairstyles for her, but after seeing the outcome she liked it… just needs to learn to trust her mommy on these shoots!

Nothing better than a good Amanda laugh! She is wearing the special ring I bought her for Christmas… you will see this in another shoot we are planning later on… can’t wait!

We did this shoot with Joely, Amanda’s cousin and I have some funny ones I am saving for another post, but for now, wanted to show you this sweet picture of the 2 of them together. They have a very special relationship since Joely’s mom (my sister-in-law) used to take care of Amanda when she was just a baby…. so Joely and Amanda had a lot of time together as youngsters… now that Joely lives in PA Amanda cherishes those times she can come and visit.

This year is starting out well, a new decade to look forward to with a new career, support from family and friends, great kids and the love of my life sharing it all with me… thank you God!

One last one… more later…

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Heather – Anytime Portrait

Heather was a doll and so comfortable in front of the camera. I wish I was that comfortable… but when it comes to getting my picture taken I run – as far as possible! I am trying to get better and the fact that there is even a picture of me on this site is a step forward! So, for those that are shy with the camera… I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND!

I love shoots like this that just develop as they go along, in totally new untapped spots.

This is one of my favorites.

This is another… I knew it when I took it.

Another favorite and this one I wasn’t sure about until I loaded it on the computer and then it just jumped out at me. LOVE IT!

I have taken pictures of friends before and I really love the connection true friends have with one another. It is so heartwarming to watch.

Melaina is the one that brought Heather along on her shoot and we went crazy with the pictures of them both!

This was a cool doorway!

I don’t get to photograph tattoos very often, but I love it when I do! Can you see the “tear” on Heather’s cheek? This image gets to me…

Such simple beauty…

Her eyes!!! Her eyes!!! WOW!

Sweet smile…

Love the seventies color!

One more for you…

2 more beauties coming within the next week! This is so much fun!

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Melaina – Anytime Portrait

Melaina and I wanted color – lots and lots of color but I didn’t want to drive all over town looking for it and we were quickly losing the light, so we parked once and walk within a block to find all these locations. I love finding an old part of town and just using whatever we find close by… her red hair helped with the whole color theme!

This was a special occasion since Melaina’s best friend, Heather, is leaving for California and she wanted to get pictures with her before she left. Beautiful friends!

Even though the goal was to get pictures together I also captured lots of them individually.

The rain does not stop the Little Mermaid. We found some awnings to duck into…

And stayed close to the walls…

This series had so much color I didn’t want to change them! But I do like the 70’s look of this next one… the grain, the coloring, even something about the look on her face in this image made me think 70’s. Click to enlarge… LOVE it!

Never a dull moment…

Can you believe that this location was just across the alley from the others? I might use this area again. Finding new places to shoot gets my creative juices flowing!

Couldn’t have asked for a better day!

Come on, what could be better than taking pictures with great subjects and my hubby next to me? Oh, wait and let’s not forget Lucy Dog… Melaina’s Puggle (Pug/Beagle).

Pure joy!!

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Sneak Peak – 4 Beauties

I am working on 4 beauties right now and am so excited I just wanted to share a sneak peak with you… each shoot was done at one location and each while we dealt with the rain. You really can’t get away from it in the Pacific Northwest, so I am trying to embrace it and shoot regardless… unless it is just pouring! It’s amazing what you can find in just one location.

Melaina:
Melaina had her senior pictures done last year, but wanted to get some new pictures with her Little Mermaid hair and before her BFF went to California.

Heather:
Heather is Melaina’s BFF. I have never “shot” Heather before, but she is a natural in front of the camera.

Amanda:
As you probably know, Amanda is my daughter and I love doing shoots of her. We have several more planned out this year.

Joely:
Joely is my niece and has been featured on my site before with her friend, Steph.

Stay Tuned for upcoming posts that will feature each one… I LOVE how 2010 is already kicking off!

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Warren Family – Family Portrait

One of my photography goals for 2010 is to think out of the box, explore the settings of my camera a little more and do the untraditional since that is what catches my eye. I started early with this photo shoot! It was incredibly fun and comfortable… I thought hard about why it was so comfortable for me besides the warmth of this wonderful family… it was because I captured the untraditional, the real interaction between them… it was fulfilling that need to make photography fun and stress free for everyone. Dana told me several days later that they all had so much fun… such good words to hear!

It’s funny, almost every family shoot I do I get “that” email, the one the warns me that they are not the type to be comfortable in front of the camera, the one that says my husband won’t smile, or my son will be hard to work with… it is all from our past experience of getting the family picture taken and so we allow years to go by without one… then we give in and feel the stress of that. I so understand!! I am very much like that myself and maybe it’s because I haven’t found that right photographer to help us through that and get us all relaxed and ourselves in front of the camera.

I usually “pick” on the youngest one to get everyone relaxed… and Bailey was perfect for that! She was easy to make laugh and everything just fell in to place with her help!

This one was Amanda’s idea… I love that she came along with me and helped with the creative process… already talented at 12!

We only hit 2 locations (very close to each other) in this session, but really I could shoot in 1 city block and you would never know it was inches away from the last shot. I love that and it helps me to be more creative in short periods of time. I love this image of Rusty and Colby.

Dad and his boys…

The wind picked up and made for a fun shot of Bailey and her mom, Dana. Bailey takes ballet with Amanda and through that have become very close friends… so glad since I adore her family!

Dana and Howie have been together since 9th grade!!! So cool!

What a fun family… Bailey cracks me up!

Amazing that you can find this setting in the city, but you can!

We had to get a few more traditional shots for the grandparents :).

I love how they turned out since at the time we were being chased out by the parking police since we parked on the “sidewalk.” Joe would argue that it wasn’t a sidewalk, but that is another story :).

Love to you all!! Merry Christmas!

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Amanda and Friends at the 2009 Nutcracker Ballet

I know that I am a couple days behind in posting this, but come on, it’s the week of Christmas and there is just so much still to do! This is a special month for Amanda and I… it has been for the last 7 years. On the weekends leading up to Christmas we get to the Pantages theater in the morning hours and leave when it’s dark, we eat subway for lunch and sometimes dinner, we laugh, take pictures, play on our computers, read, listen to music and just enjoy the ballet family surrounding us. There are always a few new ones, but many of the familiar faces that we enjoy every year. The Tacoma City Ballet used to be called The Jan Collum School of Classical Ballet when my sister, Wendy and I took it many years ago. I can still remember the outfits we wore, the performances we had and practicing at the ballet bar in our living room. When I signed Amanda up for it I had no idea that she would fall in love with it… just as I hoped… maybe I had some influence or maybe she would have loved it anyway.

Amanda on her computer… it’s the glow of the computer screen so cool!

I love the long lashes they wear… there are days I put them on just because!

I love watching her put all the makeup on…

but she doesn’t like me in the dressing room… so I just ignore her comments and come in anyway…

I have always been impressed that most of the girls do their own makeup and have been doing it for years. Although, this year they had some help from another mom… made things easier for sure!

Amanda has been almost every part you can be, as a child, in the Nutcracker… most kids enter in as Bon Bons… it’s a very cherished part by many. Erin made an adorable one…

and her sister, Taylor a very cute soldier.

Taylor has a hearing aid in each ear allowing her to hear some of the music. I love watching her talk to the other girls… she is always full of joy and much loved by all the ballerinas…

There is a ton of waiting on these weekends, since the kids have 2 performances in a day… for me, it’s relaxing… I think Kacey likes it too…

Kacey let me take as many pictures as I wanted of her! Amanda processed this photo. Loved showing her how to use Photoshop.

She processed this one too… she calls it the “scary clowns”…

Hannah (Gingerbread Soldier) and Amanda (Bugle Soldier) struck up a friendship again after not seeing each other for a few years… glad to see her back!

Fun to see all the costumes… there are many… many… many different ones, but here are just a few…

Party mom… she is beautiful!!! So vintage!

Colleen as Chinese.

Her brother Alex as Fritz with attitude and everything.

Morgan as snow… even though her costume is undone… they are so hot after performances that they are half off my the time they hit the basement where we hang out…

Lauren as Fairy… It’s so fun to watch these kids grow up and take pictures of them along the way.

Natalie as a Gingerbread Soldier.

Another Party mom and her Party Girl daughter (really is her daughter :))

Amanda as a Bugle Soldier and Bailey as the Captain. Bailey is one of Amanda’s close friends. We did a shoot of her family on Monday and will be posting those soon. I also took a few with in this post.

Thanks for stopping by and if I don’t post before Christmas… Merry Christmas from our house to yours!
Much Love…

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The 2009 Riggio Christmas Card

I would REALLY love to learn how to custom design my own cards in Photoshop… maybe a goal for next year!!  This year I will go with a pre-designed Costco card. There are lots of options from other photo service labs, but really, these are the most economical for me this year and I found a retro-looking design that I liked.  What is great and is when you have a photo shoot with me, you get the images and you can order your Christmas cards this way too, as well as getting enlargements framed for the relatives as gifts.

The 2009 Riggio Christmas Card

Since Amanda has the Nutcracker every weekend it has been hard to get a picture of her, so I went with one from the summertime and then just took a shot of Nick yesterday. He’s a funny one… that kid of mine… you should see some of the shots I got of him making one goofy face after another… until I finally landed this one… heavy sigh… I am keeping the others for the great moment in time when he has a girlfriend and she wants to see old pictures of him and boy do I have some good ones from when he was just a little guy! Can’t wait… :).

For those that didn’t get to see last year’s card, I thought I would share…

The 2008 Riggio Christmas Card

Now to get them all addressed and sent in time for Christmas!

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Just for Fun – Random Photography

I used this black ice cream chair in Karly’s shoot. It used to be in my room growing up, but it was white back then. My sister has the matching one.  We shared  a room growing up, her side always clean, mine messy… it used to drive her nuts!  She would be proud of how clean I keep my room now :).

When I am on a portrait shoot there is no guessing on what else I might take a picture of.  Sometimes it is only the subject, but many times there are other things that catch my eye and I have to get a quick shot.  I have used many past images for cards and others, like these just sit on my computer and no one ever gets to see, so I thought I would share with you (and maybe make some more cards with some).

Beware, I take pictures of things that strike me as funny, even if it is on you! Hee hee

I love the look of rusted iron.

I know it’s just a traffic light, but I like it.

Joe doesn’t even know when I sneak a pic of him.  I captured this during the shoot of Joely and Steph.

And sometimes he does… I love the Canon 70-200 2.8L lens for these types of shots. I always use that lens when shooting railroad shots too.  I think Joe must be the only guy from high school that has MORE hair than he did back then!

Things like this just jump out at me.

I make anniversary cards from images like this one… the gum wall in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

Amanda comes along occasionally… sometimes she lets me take a picture and sometimes not!

Abby had these great red shoes, so we had to get creative with them.

I thought this was funny while on a senior shoot with Kayla.

Sometimes it’s of people I don’t even know… just because… shhhh, we will just keep that between us, K?

I LOVE animals, so I have lots of images of dogs, cats, birds and squirrels.

Hope you have a great day!!
{{Hugs}}

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