Marlene’s Designer Portraits

I was the winner of a draw  for a free photo session & a 12″ framed portrait @ Marlene’s studio.  This came at a perfect timing, as we have just adopted a baby and wanted to take family pictures!  Thank you Marlene for a wonderful job!!  Great Pictures!! Erika, Marlin & Justin Penner  Steinbach, Manitoba

On Tuesday, October 25th, I had the pleasure of speaking to about 30 moms at the local MOPS group.  (MOPS – Mothers of Preschoolers)    I touched a bit on “Tips to Shoot Like a Pro” – but mostly I spoke on the legacy of photographs.   How often is the Mom the photographer in the family – and rarely on family photos?   Make sure you have photographs of you in the photos – your children will appreciate and value that in years to come.   I also stressed the importance of backing up your digital files.  In this era of digital cameras – I have heard from quite a few people that their computer crashed and ALL their photos were gone!   So I hope I made it clear to everyone that they need to PRINT up their favorite photos – you will always have a memory and you can always scan the snapshots and make more prints – but if you just keep them on your flash card, or memory stick – be prepared for your photos not to be permanent!    It frightens me how there will probably be huge gaps in your children’s ‘history’.  There are too many people that take thousands of photos and never back them up or store them off site for safekeeping.  There are many photographers who hand over a CD of images these days – but my question is, do they keep a copy for themselves if the CD the client purchased can’t be accessed one day – or if it is lost and or damaged.  If you get a CD – make a duplicate – store it on an external drive – have multiple copies!!!!   I always look back through the photos that were taken when I was growing up – and it is these photos that stir my memories of my childhood.  I am such a visual person that I need a photo to trigger my memory.  If I wouldn’t have these photos, much of my childhood would be lost.

Okay – enough of my little story… here are the lovely portraits taken of Erika and her family…

Isn’t this next image just adorable?   Children have a mind of their own – and they often dictate the way the session is going!   Justin wanted to explore and be independent as many young children his age tend to be!