Posted on: Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Holiday portraits go casual
By Kathleen Lavey
Gannett News Service
Sandie Distel started thinking about having a family portrait taken last spring, but the holidays seemed the most appropriate time and Distel, of Lansing, Mich., awaited the October birth of a new arrival.
Photos by Robert Killips • Lansing (Mich.) State Journal Distel picked out a giant-sized portrait for her wall, some smaller display photos and 16 wallet-sized pictures to share in Christmas correspondence.
"We definitely do more families in November and December than other times of the year," says Genie Smith, manager of the Miller Studios in Williamston, Mich. The studio even scheduled appointments on Thanksgiving weekend so far-flung relatives who had gathered for the holiday could have a photo taken together.
Depending on the package, the price of the sitting and photos can range from $200 to $1,500. According to Smith, most families spend around $400.
The trend in photos is away from shots of the kids in holiday apparel and toward casual, comfortable portraits that include the whole family, photographers say.
"There are a lot of people who want to do just the kids for the Christmas card, but we are doing more and more with the whole family," says Smith.
"People don't really want holiday-theme pictures anymore unless they're just doing cards," Smith says. "A lot of families are buying a larger portrait that they're going to put on their wall, and they don't want a holiday scene all year long."
Portraits today tend to be looser affairs than the formal photos of decades past. More families are dressing casually, and sometimes they'll step away from the studio altogether. Miller Studios has a large nature area outside where many families have photos taken.
Other photographers go on location with their clients.
"I prefer to do them outside because they're more fun," says photographer Carol Lynne Perialas. "Some people even like to put their dogs in the picture."
Perialas has taken family portraits on location in back yards with river views, at public gardens .
No matter what the setting, Perialas advises families to dress casually and relax. "We'll do some fun shots just to break the ice," she says. That might mean kids piling on Mom or Dad or playing with each other.
There's no need to wear matching clothing, although some families do, Smith says. She thinks coordination is key.
"If you have people come in and someone's wearing floral and someone's wearing red and someone's wearing green, it really takes away from the picture," she says. "I'm not saying you need to go to Old Navy and buy six matching polo shirts, but coordination makes it look better."
Then in mid-November, Claire Schwarz, just 7 weeks old, nestled in her dad Steve's arms at the photo studio for a portrait that also would include grandparents, a brother, aunt and uncles and nephews.
Genie Smith, left, of the Miller Studios in Williamston, Mich., chats with the Distel, LaRoche and Schwarz families before shooting their photo. Including your extended clan in portraits is a trend.
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| Professional photographers offer these tips for high-quality family portraits:
• Choose a day of the week and a time of day when kids will be well-rested and fed. Let them look around the photo studio or the setting to get used to it. • Coordinate your wardrobe. Ask everyone to stay in the same color family, or to avoid patterns, large plaids, stripes and multicolored outfits. • Relax. "Sometimes I'll ask the parents to kind of step back and let me do my own thing with the kids," says photographer Carol Lynne Perialas. "Usually I'll just walk around with them." • If you want a holiday portrait and haven't had it taken yet, book it now, or ask the most gifted amateur among your friends, colleagues and relatives to take one, to make certain cards get mailed out on time or that a portrait makes it under the Christmas tree. |
