q: what gear do you use?
a: i’m a canon girl through and through. i use:
5DMK3 body
24 L TSE – births, families, portraits
35 1.4L – “”
50 1.2L- “”
85 1.2L- portraits, families
100 L macro- births, newborns
q: do you offer newborn mentoring?
a: i sure do, it’s my favorite! i like to lead classes limited to just a few people so everyone has a productive and positive newborn photography workshop experience. visit this link to learn more about my newborn workshop, including upcoming sessions, locations, and pricing: clickyclickclick
q: where do i buy your photoshop actions and presets? are they available for elements?
a: see the “shop” link in the menu. and nope, sorry 🙁 Just ACR 7/8, LR3+ for the presets, and Photoshop CS2 and above for the actions.
q: what do you shoot newborns with?
a: the vast majority of my newborn work is done with the 35 and 50. i enjoy negative space in compositions and prefer the “room to move” of 35mm. plus, unlike 50mm i can safely spot my own composite shots (chin in hands etc) with one hand and shoot with the other. only monkey-arms rachel vanoven can probably do that with a 50mm. yes, you do have to watch the slight distortion on the edges of the frame, but with a 22mp camera i can afford to crop in post instead. I choose 50mm for the “easy” no composite shots because of the dreamy bokeh and extra compression. Plus, it’s much more flattering for parent shots as well.
q: RAW or JPEG?
a: so, so RAW
q: where did you get that white wood floor drop in your baby photography studio?
a: i made it. it’s boards. that i painted. fake floors look fake. if you want a floor to look real, make a real one. it’s not hard. swears.
q: how about the dark one? is that a barnwood floor drop?
a: it’s salvaged barn wood. 4 feet deep.
q: how long have you been doing this/how did you get into newborn photography in Portland?
a: loved black and white film in high school and continued to take in all 4 years of college. graduated, had a kid, bought a DSLR… and it lit a fire in me. it just drove me insane that i saw allllll these beautiful photos of babies and i had no skills to do the same. so after some disastrous, awful newborn photos (complete with selective color and pop-up flash) i set out to learn all i could. and every time i teach or have a great session, i still feel myself growing and evolving. so long as that’s happening, i’ll keep on keepin’ on. 🙂
q: is your degree in photography?
a: no. it’s in neuropsychology. i wanted to study pharmaceuticals. i am still a total science nerd, especially when it comes to biology. i’d have needed a masters minimum to go down that path… i had babies instead. very happy with the decision. i originally wanted to be a veterinarian but organic chemistry kicked my arse.
q: what do you use to edit?
a: i cull in adobe bridge, edit in ACR + photoshop creative cloud.
q: how do you do the pretty floor fade?
a: i try to reserve this info for the cool cats who mentor with me in my portland baby photographer workshops. i may at some point make a video tutorial for purchase…
q: how do you wrap babies all curled up like that?
a: you wrap them tightly. there is no bowl/basket/thing under them, they’re just snug.
q: where do you get your fur rugs?
a: they’re called flokati (real wool) and google is your friend. you can get them all over. 4×6-5×7 is the best size.
q: will you post my giveaway/donate something to my cause?
a: probably not. i try to keep my page for my own work and nonsensical mouthing off.
q: can I send you a prop to photograph?
a: unless you have something that’s just totally going to blow my mind/is 100% original, I’m not looking for more vendors to work with right now 🙂
q: do you shoot births?
a: yes! my little one is finally old enough I can resume shooting them and I have my first births this fall and winter. I am more excited than you can imagine! 🙂 if you want info on how shooting births “works,” check out this info: CLICK ME