This is probably one of the most common questions I get for my sessions…and I think one of the most important. Part of the style of my photography has a lot to do with the clothing. The clothing helps set a mood, a tone and a style. Are you casual laid back? Are you prim and proper? Do you have a touch of country? Or are you urban chic? Your clothing speaks volumes when you see it in a 2D situation.

Then you have to decide where the session is going to be. Will you clothing go with the location? What colors do I want? How the heck am I going to coordinate 5 people without being all “matchy matchy”?

I have I stressed you out enough yet?

No worries. I am here to give you some questions, guidelines and suggestions to help you prepare for your session. My goal for the new year (just around the corner) is to hand hold a bit more in the process to get ready for your session. I want  you to be as prepared as possible to get the ultimate look and feel you and I want.

Things to consider:

• Location: If the session is outdoors and fieldsy, then don’t come all prim and proper. I like my photography to look as organic, comforable and natural as possible. If you like prim and proper (nothing wrong with that) then a field is not your location, we will find a plantation or manor to do your session, or even the studio. If we are heading downtown, then consider urban, metro, or chic colorful clothing. Leave your country prints and plaids at home or save them for a field session.

• Your Home: What? Why would I think about my home? Because, these ARE going in your home right? You plan on maybe hanging them up on the walls right? Say you have Restoration Hardware type living room, and you are planning on putting a canvas up in there from your session. You probably do not want to yank out the bright and bold modern styled clothing…right? Keep in mind your decor. What color story will go well in the room? Do you have an accent color in that room? These little tidbits would be a great start for your color selections.

• Seasonal: Do you plan on having the images on the walls? Do you plan on making a home for these images or are they being swapped out each season? Then pop back up to the “Your Home” section and consider color. Is the Red and Green Holiday attire going to look great as a canvas in your living room, or room of choice? I suggest if you want “Holiday” then you do the new mini sessions that I am now offering. It does not hurt to pick some colors that go with the environment say Autumn, but I do not suggest coming in your best Orange and Black attire. Hold out for a mini session for those pics!

• Matchy Matchy: So you have a family of five? So do I! And as I sit here trying to decide on attire for my own family photos I know just how hard it can be to dress them all, have some consistency but not look like we belong in an outdated studio family photo in matching tops and bottoms. So the trick I figured out was to start with the color scheme. I am going to put this in my home…large…so color is very important to me. I picked a couple color combinations and started hunting for clothing. I have a good mix of boys and girls so I had to make sure that the colors worked with both. I usually try to find one print with the color combination in it. Whether it is someone’s top, or dress. Then I can just start buying pieces from there that have the same colors and style. The colors do not have to be PERFECT, just in the same “field”. You will see a better idea of that from the samples below.

• Babies: Most people LOVE baby clothes (as do I). But unfortunately clothing on babied doesn’t typically photograph very well. Think back to the catalogs you shop from. How many babies under the “sitting” age do you see? Exactly very few. Clothing just bunches up on babies. And even the ones that are sitting look better in one piece outfits. It is cleaner, lays better, conducive to crawling and moving around. Clothing that shows off the baby legs is great too (warm weather and studio). If you have a baby that is at standing or walking age, then you can start putting on those dresses, or outfits. The clothing lays nicer on them and is not so distracting.

• Theme: Ok, now you are probably like…”Isn’t this Seasonal”. No, but it could be. This is more for the artistic person. The person that wants to create a moment, mini movie, or a story. Say you want a romantic field session, with your little girls playing patty cake and dolls on a patchwork quilt. Then you want to dress them appropriately for that. Soft airy old time little sundresses would be awesome. But jeans and modern tops would not be as conducive to the theme. Maybe you want Urban grungy downtown? Then you want to get out those jeans, boots, rad tops, vests and stylish hats. But you will leave the floral sundress at home. In 2011, I am going to start to separate my sessions from artistic to life sessions. The artistic ones will be when we step away a bit from your normal and do something more creative and stylized. The life sessions will be my normal sessions you have seen from me over the years.

• Studio: I am adding this because I am just now starting to add some family sessions in the Studio. My studio is not your typical studio that you may have been to before. It is all natural light with large windows on two sides and it decorated in all shades of white and light muted colors. So attire in the studio should be considered. It is pretty much a clean palette to work with, but you should still take into consideration the decor of my studio and the colors you pick. Soft muted tones that will blend in nicely with the white wash palette of my studio are divine. But if you are a bit more funky and colorful, the bold colors and prints would be fun and contemporary as well!

That should get you off on the right foot for now. If you have questions, need suggestions, or want to shoot me a couple of emails with some ideas in them, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be including a more in depth questionnaire for 2011 that will help guide me to the right type of session for you.

I took some time last night to pull some great ideas for sessions. These “Marta’s Picks” will do wonderfully in the Studio, in the field, and even downtown! And better yet, they all can be mixed and matched! Today is Baby & Kiddo…I will be posting the adult version tomorrow! You can thank Jcrew Crewcuts for all the boy & girl choices and Baby Gap for the baby’s. These are also fabulous for Holiday Cards without being too “Holiday”.

Girls

Boys

Baby