Amanda in Waiting | Family Story

Well, this is a fun blog post to write! My very dear friend, Amanda Fortuna, has a birthday tomorrow. As she celebrates with her family and friends in Roanoke, Virginia she is waiting. They are all waiting. We are all waiting! She is 39 weeks pregnant and gorgeous! When her baby is born I will complete the story by visiting them during the first week or so the baby is here. I cannot wait to see if it is a boy or girl. Mandy Sue and I kept calling her “Myrtle.” Reminds me of how I used to call Leo by the name Lola while in utero. I still love that name. Look for a follow up post soon!

And here is the very best ending you could have to a maternity story– a gorgeous, baby girl was born! Here is Elizabeth Sue at just over a week old. Love you little, girl!

The Promise | Family Story

Kathryn Bacon Goldman made a promise to her mother last Christmas that she was going to get her a family portrait as a gift. Her mom, Ellen, takes great pictures of the family but she’s never in any of them. Kathryn had good intentions of completing the portrait quickly but several months had gone by and she had not actually scheduled the session yet. When you have two small children sometimes things understandably get delayed. She and her husband, Jeff, who live in Maryland, were planning to visit her parents in Durham so she seized on this opportunity to finally make good on her promise. One of her good friends, Cora Harrison, referred her to me. Thanks, Cora!

We met at her parents home in Durham one recent morning. Darren, 7 months, and Alya, two-years-old, were in the living room playing when I arrived.

Alya is incredibly adorable with her curls and great smile but, unfortunately she had not slept well the night before and was a bit cranky. I figured she would eventually smile and she did! I wrote about how I got this great photo above in my Local Buzz column on WCHL’s Chapelboro.com for you photo geeks who want know how to do a head swap.

Kathryn had filled out a survey before I came. This helps me to understand who is coming and what kind of photos they want. The most important photo on the list was the whole family- her parents, her family and her brother. Their yard had a great view of a lake and the light was even and beautiful so we easily knocked out the list. The whole process took about an hour and, I hope, was fun for all involved!

Only two head swaps to make the photo above work!

We cannot forget mom and dad! I love this moment between them.

I bet this one will be their holiday card!


A sweet moment between Darren and grandma.

Even though Alya was tired her Uncle Michael could always make her smile! How nice that they are so close!

So, the moral of the story is to not put off until tomorrow what you can do today! My grandma Vivian always said this and it is so true. Book your KPO Photo Family Story at any time or take part in the KPO Photo Fall Family Story Special on October 23rd. Only four slots are left!

Run for the Border

This a new installment of a blog post that was originally published on April 28, 2010.
Back in April 2002 I photographed the wedding of Marisa Ferguson and Michael Kelly. I remembered them well as they were journalists like me, and thus shared a bond. I knew that after the wedding, Michael took the foreign service exam and they ended up moving to Turkey. It turns out that Marisa also ended up working for the State Department, and they have most recently been living in Mexico City, Mexico. It is there that they gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Maura. They were coming into North Carolina to visit with family and made time for a portrait session. I loved meeting seven-week-old Maura! She has her mother’s eyes and was a very patient, sweet baby as we changed her outfits and posed her in the studio and out in the garden.

You can see the WHOLE story in their GALLERY.

In July of 2011 Michael, Marisa and Maura came through North Carolina again to visit friends and family. I am so excited that they made time to visit me as they had big news and it is just wonderful to see how Maura has grown! First, they are moving from Mexico to Vancouver, Canada. Secondly, they are pregnant and due in October. Maura was so tiny when I first met her. She is now a great walker with beautiful curls and still has her mother’s eyes. At her age she would not “sit” for a portrait, which is fine. So we spent an hour or so just playing. She wandered all over the studio and the garden while I followed her with my camera. Here are my favorites.

Anatomy of a BIG Family Photo

I am one of four children. I would absolutely LOVE to have a photo of our whole family- my parents, my siblings, their spouses and kids. This kind of thing would be a logistical nightmare to coordinate as we are rarely all together, but it would be so worth it! I would cherish those prints forever.

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph two such groupings. I prefer to collaborate with my client so that we are partners in creating a Family Story. We typically meet before the shoot to discuss ideas, what to wear, which location- so many decisions! My clients fill out a quick on-line survey and then we are ready to go!

My first shoot was booked this past winter so we had been planning it awhile. I had photographed the Harry Family last fall at their farm in Orange County, North Carolina, just outside of Chapel Hill. Kim Harry asked me if I would be available for a Family Story at the North Carolina coast this summer. Her extended family would all be together so it was a golden opportunity for a big family portrait. So the week after school let out we arranged to meet at Kure Beach. I loooove the clothing they chose and we ended up having so much fun at Fort Fisher.

My other recent large family portrait was for the Broun Family. I met Margie Broun and her husband, Ken at the Dispute Settlement Center’s Silent Auction. She bid on and won a KPO Photo Family Story. They have two adult boys who are both married with two children each. She really wanted a great photo of all of them together as well as some smaller groupings. They have lived in Chapel Hill forever, close to the UNC campus. So we met at the Forest Theatre on the UNC campus and then finished the shoot at their home so we would have a lot to choose from. Here is what we came up with.

Do you have a family gathering coming up that would be a great opportunity for a big family portrait? You can sign up for KPO Photo Family Story here.

How to Better Photograph Your Children | Tip 6

This is the sixth in an eight-part series that will post each week through May. This series was created by me, Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, for the amateur family photographer. These tips are simple, quick things you can do to vastly improve the photos you take. I will be using photos that I have taken in my role as the family photographer, not images taken with high end cameras, complicated techniques nor studio lighting. These are images that ANYONE can take, many of them shot with a point and shoot camera.

TIP 6: NATURAL LIGHT

Professional photographers spend years learning how to work with light. The goal is to make their artificial light look like beautiful, Rembrandt-style, natural light. But why spend all that time learning how to modify light when the real thing is right in front of you? I am going to show three examples of using natural light versus the on-camera flash. For those of you using a point and shoot, you may have to consult your camera manual to learn how to turn the automatic flash off, when you so choose. Also, in darker situations, it would be nice to know how to turn your ISO up a bit, maybe to 800 if you can.

My first example is shooting indoors at night. Roman’s birthday is right before Christmas and Leo’s is right after, so the holidays are really big for us. It is right before bed and Roman is playing with his new train that he received as a birthday present from his Grandma and Grandpa Oguntoyinbo. First I photograph him using the on-camera flash. This photo is fine for capturing the action but it is rather bland.

In this second version I turned the flash off. I think that this image captures the scene much better- a quiet, dark room with the beautiful, twinkly Christmas lights. The only caveat with using no flash indoors is if you inadvertently shake camera the image will be blurry. In this case, I was down laying on my stomach on the floor. I put my elbows on the floor and used my body as a tripod so that the camera did not shake.

Next we are indoors but during the day this time. Most point and shoot cameras automatically turn on the flash when you are indoors. Often there is plenty of good light indoors to use. At least it is worth a try! In the first example the automatic flash came on. This illuminates the subjects closest to the flash but almost always renders the background very dark. In this case my background is ugly and messy, (see Tip 4) so maybe that was a small blessing, but normally I would like to see what is going on in the perimeter as it adds detail and information to your image.

In the image below I tried again. I used a plain background and had the girls close to a large window with the flash off. I think this works much better!

Finally, we are outside in front of a bonfire. First I let the on-camera flash do it’s thing. Again, this is not a horrible photo but the second photo with the flash off captures the mood of the evening much better, don’t you think?


Did you miss the fifth tip? Click HERE to read it. You can also read all of the tips on our FACEBOOK or TWITTER page.

How to Better Photograph Your Children | Tip 5

This is the fifth part in an eight-part series that will post each week through the first week of May. This series was created by me, Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, for the amateur family photographer. These tips are simple, quick things you can do to vastly improve the photos you take. I will be using photos that I have taken in my role as the family photographer, not images taken with high end cameras, complicated techniques nor studio lighting. These are images that ANYONE can take, many of them shot with a point and shoot camera.

TIP 5: CANDID CAMERA

Do you remember that show, “Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!” Perhaps I am dating myself, but the premise was that people were taped with concealed cameras as they were being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props. When the joke was revealed, victims would be told the show’s catch phrase, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.” I am not suggesting you set up pranks for your family so you can photograph how they react. But I am rather telling you that it is truly amazing to quietly watch your family from a detached position, like a concealed camera, almost as if you were a fly on the wall.

Most people photograph the big events- birthday parties, first days of school and beach vacations. But what about daily rituals such as sharing a family dinner, or your children playing with legos? It recently occurred to me that my mom takes my kids for dinner every single Tuesday (we call it Tuesdays with Grandma) and I have never photographed that! If you are using digital cameras there is just no reason not to shoot, shoot, shoot.

As you photograph these every day moments, try to resist the urge to draw attention to yourself and say, “Smile for the camera! Look this way so I can take your photo.” As soon as you do that, the moment is lost. My family is so used to me photographing them that they generally tune me out. Let me give you an example. On a warm evening last May my oldest was at a sleepover so I was home with just the boys. We had no plans except for the usual. So I quietly documented it for the record. As you can see on the photo on the left, when I initially took out my camera Roman’s instinct was to turn to look at me and smile. That is fine. But as I keep on photographing and continue to just be with them, they return to their play- WORMS!!!

Before you know it we are just hanging and I am shooting quite a few images. I will only end up printing my favorites, so why not spend some time doing this?

Then I just wandered around the yard to create a record of the night. The other two important players would be our animals. Here is a photo of Eve dozing. She just died a couple of weeks ago so I am especially thankful that I have many photos of her.

And then we have Kika, who was my first baby. She is getting up in years, too. But doesn’t she look nice by that hydrangea?

Then the boys finished playing with their worms and came over to their improvised drum set. Wish you could have heard the song that accompanied the drumming. This is when video would have been good, too! As you can see they are just being themselves. I generally walk in a circle around to see which angle ends up working best.

Then the monkey dogs, as I affectionately call them, scrambled up a tree while I lay in the hammock. They eventually came back down and joined me in the hammock in the photo on the right. This is foreshadowing of tip 8!

Did you miss the fourth tip? Click HERE to read it. You can also read all of the tips on our FACEBOOK or TWITTER page.

How to Better Photograph Your Children | Tip 4

This is the fourth part in an eight-part series that will post each week through the first week of May. This series was created by me, Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, for the amateur family photographer. These tips are simple, quick things you can do to vastly improve the photos you take. I will be using photos that I have taken in my role as the family photographer, not images taken with high end cameras, complicated techniques nor studio lighting. These are images that ANYONE can take, many of them shot with a point and shoot camera.

TIP 4: WATCH THE BACKGROUND

It seems counter intuitive, but any successful photograph BEGINS with the background. A bad background can ruin an otherwise amazing photo. Think of how a painter would work on the background first and then, layer by layer, add the protagonists. When filling up your rectangle (see tip 1) pick a clean or pleasing background so that you can focus on the action, aka. your family.

HERE IS HOW NOT TO DO IT! So here we are in August in North Carolina. It is a hot as Hades and I am at home with a full slumber party of five- my children and their Prelipp Lojk cousins. They had not seen each other all summer so the mood was very festive. The kids were having a raucous game that involved balloons, teams, rules incomprehensible to me and A LOT of screaming. I first tried photographing them in a direction with a really busy background. The detritus of my life, closets, toys, a chair fort, etc. made for a very busy background. So you can hardly focus in on the action.

When shooting digital you can just look at the back of your camera to see how things are looking. I could see right away that the background was too busy. So, I just took a position at the opposite end of the room to get a different view point. The result is below.

Now, with this nice clean background I could just follow the game until I got the right mix of elements. I tend to take a lot of photographs while I am at it. When shooting digital, why not?

Before I put the camera away, I took a quick photo of my favorite people.

Did you miss the second tip? Click HERE to read it. You can also read all of the tips on our FACEBOOK or TWITTER page.