Long Island Indoor Lifestyle Photography Session Reyes Family

So I know I have talked about this a lot, and you might not want to hear about it again, but I seriously LOVE doing indoor lifestyle sessions in my clients' homes. Here's the thing, you feel most comfortable in your home, which lends itself to getting more natural photographs of your family interacting and being together. Kids, especially very young children, feel more comfortable in their home. When the children are comfortable the photography session goes really smoothly and who doesn't want a smooth and easy photography session. And since the kids are relaxed, mom and dad become relaxed; win, win, win, I say! I think most people hesitate to do an indoor session in their homes because we all get hung up on the things we don't feel are "picture worthy" in our homes, maybe it's not as clean as you want it to be, or there is an area of your home that you don't really feel is decorated well, or you have messy kids, like me, and your house is always a little bit of a mess. I get it, I live the same way you do, but your house doesn't have to be perfect for an in-home session, I promise you. I tell clients to tell me the rooms that are off limits, for me that is my office, it is so horribly overcrowded with crap, I would NEVER want it to be photographed, but my kitchen can be de-cluttered in about 5 minutes and gets great light. Plus a lot can be cropped out, trust me, that pile of clothes over in the corner of the room gets hidden by the bed. But being at home can be so wonderful because I get to capture your baby carrying her blankey, or that arms up that they do when they want you to lift them out of their crib, or the way they like to make silly faces in the hallway mirror. These are the images you will cherish when they are older and their blanket that they had to take everywhere is now somewhere under their bed collecting dust because they haven't needed it to sleep in 5 years.

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Why I embarked on another 365 project

Last year I decided to try my hand at a 365 project, where I would take a picture a day for 365 days. It was actually 366 days since 2016 was a leap year. I started out strong, but by September I had lost steam and gave up all together. My main issue were days where I was not inspired and felt like the photograph was more of a chore than exciting. I also found that it was hard for me to keep up with uploading the photographs each day and editing and posting, so I would let a week go by and then feel overwhelmed. I have learned that when I am overwhelmed I don’t plow through, instead I bury my head in the sand and walk away, which is exactly what I did in September. So you may be wondering why I would choose to do this to myself again. Am I a glutton for punishment? Do I like to set myself up for failure? No, it is because I need to challenge myself in order to stay motivated. This year I decided to take on the 365 project to actually finish it but more than that I want to push myself. I want to try out new lighting, low lighting, new techniques and this pushes me to do that instead of procrastinate. It forces me to see things differently, take my camera with me when I go out, and document our days. Another part of my 365 project is to do a portrait a week project. I am trying to take a portrait of my kids each week. I want to be able to capture all their silly faces, changes that occur, their moods, etc. and this sounded like a great way to do it.

I hope you will follow along with me. It helps to keep me encouraged if I know people are following along. Also, if you are doing a 365 please share it with me. If you have any ideas for me to try send them my way as well, sometimes I get stumped and having some suggestions would be great.

I hope you enjoy my January photos.  I will be updating the blog at the end of each month, and talk about what I learned, what went well, what failed, how I hate myself for doing this lol, you know that kinda stuff.

You can follow along on my 365 project on flickr My weekly portrait project is also on flickr

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Long Island Beach Family Session

Living on Long Island you are never far from the water, and I absolutely love being able to shoot at the beach. This family is one of my favorite client families. I have been shooting for them since their little boy was born and I hope to continue to be able to watch them grow. This day was super windy and gray and at first I was disappointed that we would not be able to get any sunset pictures, but then I saw how amazing the clouds were and how great they would look in black and white with the contrast.Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography Long Island Photographer | Erica Burns Photography | Family Photography