Blake's Senior Sneak Peek:

I have to start this post by saying it was ridiculously cold yesterday evening when we did this shoot. Kalee tried passing out Snuggies, which was adorable and we were both dying to take one. We so would have snuggied it up if we weren't scared of tripping over it and smashing our cameras. One of us would have tripped. Guarantee it. Anyway, Blake totally manned up and didn't even shiver. Here are some of our favorites from the shoot.

This barn was so beautiful and added such interest to all of Blakes pictures. We LOVE a good barn.

Blake's family knew just the right thing to say to get these great natural smiles out of him! We really appreciate that, they had a running joke through the whole photo shoot that got a laugh every single time and when someone laughs you are bound to get a natural smile out of it. Thanks family, you were all a pleasure!

We thought that since little sister came along we would peel her out of her snuggie and make her & Blake do a brother sister shot for their Mama. Mama's love pictures of their babies together. You two were so sweet to comply with our requests. Plus, we got some cool silhouettes.

I think someone is headed straight for that Snuggie hanging on the ladder! Thanks for letting us shoot your senior photos Blake. Thanks also for hanging around for a few extra minutes to take some shots with your sister. We absolutely love the black and white one! It's a hard job we have, taking pictures of good looking people. More to come on our website in a few days!

Azrea's Senior Sneek Peek:

Oh Azrea, what can we say? You were so much fun to work with and you really could "model the crap out of a garbage bag!" Our shoot started out at the railroad tracks. Below is one of our favorites from that location.

Everything about the above picture makes us smile. The paleness of Azrea's skin in the setting sunlight, the contrast of that raven hair. The elegance of her dress set against the harshness of the tracks and the shock of turquoise from the chair. Throw in Azrea's modeling skills and it just looks sublime!

A few behind the scenes shots.

And heres the end result of that shot, ha! No pun intended:-)

Simply Stunning.

Then we moved downton to another super secret location.  Here Azrea changed into a bit of an edgier look. Love the red lips with the purple jeans! Good choice.

Azrea's boyfriend came along and he was great, he ran all the way back home for Azrea's cheer uniform and he did nice boy things like carry our ladder, chairs and checked the platform to make sure it was safe for our girl in the 4 inch heels. So because he was there and we love a good background prop we stuck him in a few shots. Thanks for being such a good sport Jordan.

Now it's time to show off a little of that Spartan Pride...in a unique way. Oh, and the freckles just kill me every time. I'm in the freckle club and I say rock em' if you got em'!

The shot below was originally a behind the scenes shot, but the more we looked at it the more we loved the small town America feel that it had. Something about the cheer uniform, the hands on the hips and the look in her eyes makes me wonder what her story is or what she is planning. I must also add this is a testament to Azrea's natural modeling abilities, the girl could model to both cameras at the same time. Even as we fiddled with exposure she was constantly modeling through it, which means we had a lot to choose from. Love this shot.



Like we've said before, no shoot is truly complete without a trip to the beach.

Thank you for letting us shoot your Senior pictures Azrea!

Jennifer's Senior Sneek Peek:

Jennifer's shoot started on the Lost Lake trail at the Ludington State Park. For the first hour or so we were on a constant hunt for shade. The big beautiful clouds that graced us with there presence all morning had dissipated by 5:30. So we headed into the woods and the bridge that takes you over Hamlin Lake was completely shaded and lovely.

We had wanted to do a cool sports picture for one of our Seniors and when Jennifer told us she ran Cross Country and was in Track, we had what we thought was a pretty cool idea. So we said, "Hey Jen? Could we throw mud at you?" and she said with a nonchalant shrug, "Sure."

So we mixed up some good ol' black mud and flung it at her legs. We were trying to create how someone might really look after running 3 miles through a wooded trail. So below you will find our favorite Cross Country shot we took that day.

As the sun started setting we left the State park and headed down Ludington Avenue. We had another location in mind, but when we saw the Inns that line the Avenue and thought about how Jennifer and her Mom were following us in a van stuffed full of prom and homecoming dresses we figured a change of location would really suit Jennifer's classy style. So we switched gears and knocked on the door of the Ludington House Bed & Breakfast and asked if we could do a photo shoot on their front porch. Of course they were ever so gracious and said we could even come in to take pictures if we wanted! I love living in a small town. A huge thank you to Ludington House Bed & Breakfast!

Then we went across the street to the Cartier Mansion and they were equally as lovely. They were busy preparing for an event and they kept trying to work around us! They were very accommodating and we want to thank them as well. Thank you for not stepping on us as we laid in your driveway to get the perfect shot.

We are loving our new wide angle lens. It allows us to get these pictures that feel "big" and it adds real scope to a photo.

Heading out to the grand front porch!

Final Mansion shot.



One last location, you cannot live in Ludington and deny the pull of Lake Michigan. It is practically begging to be photographed. And, you simply can't go wrong with a gorgeous girl surrounded by a gorgeous landscape.

When we arrived at the beach there were a group of men standing around drinking. One of them, noticing our cameras, scoffed, "You picked a terrible night for a sunset!" We rolled our eyes and carried on with the plan, we don't often take advice from strange men who've been drinking. And, I would like to say, "Take this mister! You so didn't know what you were talking about. Sunset delivered!"

Thank you so much Jennifer for allowing us the privilege of taking your Senior pictures! You were an absolute delight to work with and so easy to photograph. Your mom even held it together through the whole thing! A couple of times we thought we might lose her, it's hard watching your baby grow up. So until your wedding Jennifer. Oh dear, then we will lose your mom for sure, she will be a puddle.

****A side note to all of our readers, many of you have remarked that you have tried to leave comments but haven't had success. This makes us so sad because we love to hear from you. I have found if I preview my comment first this almost always pushes it through to posting on the blog page. If that doesn't work, I am so sorry:-( We are working on linking this blog to our facebook page so that you can comment in either spot.

How to Dress for a Successful Photo Shoot

Are you a Warm or a Cool? I never had any idea what my skin tone was. I knew one thing, I burn really easily. Duh! This is a sign of a cool skin tone. But not all cools burn & not all warms tan beautifully. It gets more confusing as you search around the internet trying to figure this out.

Why should you care you may be asking? Well, when we take your photo we do our very best to make sure we capture who you really are. We are concerned about lighting, shadows, filtering, blah, blah, blah... What we can't do is dress you. If we could, we would. What you wear goes a long way to making you look like your true self, and not just personality wise. If you are wearing the wrong colors for your skin tone you can look washed out or if things get really bad you can look yellow or blotchy red!

So I trudged through the mire of information and came up with, what I think is a fairly concise way of determining what skin tone you are. Once you've got that figured out you will find choosing make-up, clothes and even hair color much easier. So here we go...

Lets conduct a couple of easy and painless tests...

The Vein Test  Sounds scary but it's not. All you have to do is look at the inside of your forearm, if the veins are Blue, then you may have Cool Skin Tones. If the veins appear Green, then you may have Warm Skin Tones.

Gold or Silver Test  What looks better against your skin? Try to be objective, I know that white gold, platinum and silver are all the rage and that yellow gold got left in the 90's by most people. Personal preference aside, what actually looks better against your skin, especially up near your face. If you are simply stunning in Silver then you are most likely a Cool Skin Tone. If you look glorious in Gold then you are most likely a Warm Skin Tone.

Standard Color Test  If you look good in White or Black you are likely a Cool Skin Tone. If you look much better in Off White or Brown then you are a Warm Skin Tone.

Towel Test  This is the last test I swear! Grab a nice white bath towel, scrape your hair back into a ponytail, wash that gorgeous face, put a mirror near some direct natural light (sunlight), now hold the white towel against your face. If your skin appears to have a yellow color to it then you are a Warm Skin Tone if your skin appears blue, then my darling, you are a Cool Skin Tone!

Genetics When all else fails look at your Mama or your sister. Chances are good that you share skin tone. So if your sister always seems to look stunning, take notice of the color of her make-up, jewelry or clothes. She may have figured all this out and never told you, because sometimes sisters do that. They like to be the fairest in all the land. Especially big sisters.

During all those tests I kept saying "you may be this skin tone" or "you are likely this skin tone", that's because these tests are not conclusive because, get this, there is also something called Neutral Skin Tone. If you are a lucky devil and you have Neutral Skin Tone that means you can wear anything and you can skip this whole blog post. Cools are most common, then Warms then Neutrals.

I have collected some images from around the world wide web to show the three main hair colors with the two most common skin tones. Lets start with blondes because we all know they have more fun regardless of their skin tone.

Blondes

Red Heads



Brunettes

O.k. now that you know what skin tone you are what the heck should you wear for your photo shoot? I think we can help you there as well.

Rule #1

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Hello Kitty as much as the next girl, and my sister and I used to rock as much Esprit and Guess as we could get our hands on. My mom however would not let us wear printed t-shirts on school picture day. No way. She said "someday that won't be cool anymore and you'll wish you wouldn't have worn it." Well, she was right. Nothing dates a picture quicker than a novelty tee or a shirt with a brand name plastered across the chest. As for the heavy prints, it simply detracts from your pretty face and oddly enough it can clash with the setting you've chosen. If you are wearing a heavy floral print we are not going to be able to take your picture by flowers. Think E.T. blending into the pile of stuffed animals.



Rule #2

Jewel Tones. They just look good on almost everyone, but look really good on Cool Skin Tones. So go out and buy yourself a beautiful blouse, yes I said blouse because that is the lovely girlie way of saying shirt, in a jewel tone. You will love it and you will wear it with jeans, skirts, or even slacks. O.k. so lets not say slacks.

Rule #3

So rule #3 really shouldn't be a rule because it only applies to my Warm Skin Tone ladies. Earth Tones. Earth Tones are gorgeous and I wish I could wear them. I have Earth Tone envy. On a Warm Skin toned girl these muted earthy greens, browns and slates go from blah to deep, rich, and beautiful. Rock it if you've got it Sister! All us Coolies will be jewel toned-green with envy.

I'm out of rules. But I put together a few layouts to show you some good photo shoot outfit options that are classic and not going to be dated in two years.

This next set is important. If you have a favorite pair of Jeans and you just can't decide what top to bring, bring them all. We got ya covered if you need to whip off your top to do a quick wardrobe change.

No worries, won't take picture of you changing. Our mom told us that would be rude.

So if you are stressing about what to wear, do the favorite jeans and as many tops as you want to swap out. Simple. Done. Then we'll go have ice cream before DQ closes for the year.

I hope this was helpful to someone out there. I know it was actually quite helpful to me. I'm a Cool and proud of it baby! Also, these neat sets I've made that make me look like I'm a professional at fashion layout and should be in NYC working for ELLE magazine, well I made them on a very fun website called Polyvore. Go check it out.