Category Archives: my life
What to wear? Same rules apply–check out these sample outfit–fabulous details, big buttons, cool seams, texture, fun details, layers, fantastic colors… All of these clothes are for older kids size 2-6.
All of these beautiful, photo-licious outfits are from Tiny Hanger in Coolidge Corner! Put it on your weekend to do list. And if you have a shoot scheduled, don’t forget to contact me for your special offer from Tiny Hanger.
Let me know what you think of all these glorious clothes…
One thing I love about New England is the town centers. How each town has a gathering place of small stores and restaurants. Even better when those stores are one of a kind or carry merchandise that is not available in other places.
I am lucky enough to live in Coolidge Corner in Brookline. It’s hard to overstate how much I love Brookline, and Coolidge Corner is the best area of the best town. Really. I’m a little biased, but I have done some research on this.
So, I was really excited last fall to see that Tiny Hanger, a children’s clothing store, was opening in Coolidge Corner. I remember the little sign on the door–about a woman following her dream of opening a unique clothing store for kids and her excitement about the grand opening. It’s always inspiring to read about someone jumping in, both feet, to realize a dream. Well, when the store opened, it was better than anything that I could have anticipated. I mean, let’s be real, it’s not that hard to find amazing and cute kids clothes, but this place really went the extra mile. Each piece was carefully selected–and beyond that, there was clothing from local women making gorgeous pieces in their basements. I swoon at these things. Mostly because as the world gets more and more global, you have to try harder and harder to find truly unique things and Lucia had done just that. Shoes made by a woman in Brookline (see photo below), local hats upcycled and made locally (also pictured), sweaters and capes from local designers.
Everything is lovingly selected. And now my adoration has grown into a partnership. Tiny Hanger has partnered with me to help you make your portraits the best that they can be. For details, inquire about this special offer when you book your family’s shoot. Exclusively for Portraits by Lisa customers.
This will help me answer the question I get most frequently from clients is “what should I wear?” Tiny Hanger has lots of great answers. Items with texture, ruffles, interesting seams, patterns, bright colors, fun buttons. Here are some examples: a onsie that leaves the cute little toes revealed, tiny ruffles on pants, baby jeans, subtle apliques. Really, your child won’t ever look bad, but in these clothes s/he will look especially gorgeous.
Over the next couple of weeks Lucia and I will give you some examples of Tiny Hanger’s outfits that will photograph well. And even if you don’t have a shoot–I recommend dropping in (after all the holidays are coming!). But don’t be surprised if you come out with a few more items than were on your list, the clothes are irresistible.
In honor of the 3 families who have inquired about infant shoots this week–here are some suggestions from Lucia and I about how to dress your baby for a shoot:
Sometimes life just hands you a gift and you have no choice but to get out your camera and just say “thank you” with every frame you shoot.
For some photographers the gift would be a beautiful model, others a perfect sunset, a grand vista, or a perfect little newborn baby. For me it was a troop of tiny superheroes. I’m sorry, did I not type that loudly enough? A TROOP OF TINY SUPER HEROES!!!!!
When does that happen? And how did I get so lucky? It all started a year ago. When I met this completely charming, totally zany, and absolutely adorable little boy. In the last year I have spent a bunch of time with this little guy. He never ceases to crack me up. He is absolutely 100% BOY. The kind of kid who inspires people to stop you on the street and in cafes and tell you how cute he is, how captivating. And along with him, of course, has come a bunch of other little guys (and their little brothers and sisters) who have also inched their way into my heart. A few months ago L became a big brother, now my heart has grown a little more as his sister found her place there too.
And so, this collection of littles gathered to celebrate L’s third birthday and with delicious food cooked by Dad and the most incredible costumes all hand made by Mom (and the most gorgeous day) I found myself luck enough to be surrounded by knee-high super heroes and their families. Here is what I did with the photographic gift the universe served up…
So, way back in March I ran a little contest. I thought that it would be straight forward enough, nominate, choose judges, finalists, some voting, a winning family would get a portraiture sitting. Well, silly me.
First, one of the finalists was a family who had lost everything in a house fire. The winner, however, was a group of women–a “friend family”–who shared dinners and joys, trials and tribulations, and generally supported one another through life, over meals. The actual nominee was one of their group who had rolled with some pretty serious punches, supporting the others all the while. You can read the story (and all the finalists’ stories) here.
But, upon learning that they had won, these generous women asked if I would transfer the prize to the family who had lost it all in the fire. Instead, I agreed to do photo shoots with BOTH these women and the Lexington family.
Then, when following up with the family whose house burned down I learned that the year had gone from bad to worse. After losing everything a family member had a health crisis so desperate that they had to relocate to Europe to care for him, and, since the fire had effectively disentangled them from responsibilities in Boston, they were not at all sure that they would be back.
Several months later (in fact just a couple of weeks ago), the Lexington family again dropped me a line adding yet another wrinkle to the story–at the time of the fire friends from outside the country were relocating to Boston. All of their possessions had also been in the house when it burned. Since the home owners were unlikely to be able to redeem the prize, could they pass on the family portrait to these friends who would be anxious to have the portraits. Hmmmmmm. Let me think. OF COURSE! And so, we are organizing a time for that portrait session.
Meanwhile back to the Glorious Ladies of the Potluck. We scheduled our shoot (no easy task to get 6 women in two states to find a date–and then I needed to be available). The first shoot was called off due to injury. It took months to get another possible date. Well, we finally did the shoot during the later part of November and the wait was COMPLETELY worth it. So much fun to watch these women catch one another’s glow, encourage and tease each other, all while getting gorgeous portraits. Honestly, as I was going through them I was amazed at how few actually BAD photos there were. Six people are a lot to photograph and to have many great group photos is practically a photographic miracle. But, then, these women have created something special and celebrating it was bound to release some magic.
And it does not hurt that all of these women are gorgeous:
Stay tuned for this year’s contest this winter!
