Back to School NMHS

Back to School

The Junior Tribe at NMHS

Jordana, Grace and Katie will be Freshman at New Milford High School this year so we met there for our Junior Tribe Back to School photo shoot. NMHS has a hybrid model this year so students will be learning in person for two days per week and online for three days. That means back to school shopping is a little different (I hear that Lululemon and Athleta are having their best years ever, and jeans companies are struggling, because who wants to wear jeans during quarantine?) but planning your first day of school outfit is still so much fun and we can knock those outfits out of the park for two days a week. 

I grew up in the UK and I wore a school uniform until I was 16, but even getting a new uniform and shiny new shoes for the first day of school was exciting, so I LOVE to see all the photos on social media of kids heading off on their first day.  

Good luck to all the students heading back to school soon and to all the parents getting ready to drop kids off at college.

We got this! It’s going to be hard to send those kids back but I am excited for them to see their friends and teachers. 

Stay safe. Be smart. And wear your mask!

Junior Tribe Photo Shoot Cereal

Planet Photo Junior Tribe

Photo Shoot Cereal

I love starting a new project and this summer I decided to start the first ever Junior Tribe for kids in 7, 8 and 9th grade. COVID means shooting mainly outdoors with small groups so the Junior Tribe was invited to pick four themed photo shoots over the summer so that we could spread everyone out and keep the groups small, safe and manageable. 

We had so much fun getting to know one another and shooting our first cereal theme shoot. My kids could not believe their eyes when I came back from the store with a stack of fruity colorful cereal! Yes, I bought Lucky Charms and it wasn’t even St Patricks Day!

Everyone is a little nervous before a shoot so I invited Taylor from the regular Planet Photo Tribe to come and help put Caitlin and Katey at ease. As you can see from the images, they were amazing and I can’t wait to shoot with them again soon. 

It’s not too late to join in on all the themed photo shoots that we have planned. The next Junior Tribe themed photo shoot is scheduled for next week – they are going to be floating in milk baths. Do you know a teen that would love to take part in our summer model experience? It’s great for self confidence and for trying something new with teens from other groups, schools or towns and it’s open to guys and girls.

Thanks to Katie, Caitlin and Taylor for making the first Junior Tribe photo shoot so much fun!

senior portrait photographer new milford litchfield county ct
Photo Shoot Cereal​
Photo Shoot Cereal​
Photo Shoot Cereal​
Photo Shoot Cereal​
Photo Shoot Cereal​
Photo Shoot Cereal​
Planet Photo is scheduling family, senior and teen portraits outside this summer with limited availability. I will maintain a social distance and make sure that we are doing everything to keep your family as well as mine safe. Read more about our COVID policy here. 
Personal branding shoots are also available with slight modifications. Your web and social media presence is as important as ever so let’s update your website images. 
 

Project Beauty 360 2019

Natural Portraits to celebrate your natural beauty.

Join Project Beauty 360

June 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 2019

Project Beauty 360 2018

YOU ARE ENOUGH!

Join me in celebrating the natural beauty of teens. I would like to build on the success of last year’s Project Beauty 360 campaign and photograph as many local teen girls as possible. Let’s show the world that you are beautiful just the way you are. Come on your own or with a group of friends to be photographed at the Planet Photo studio in black and white.

There is a $50 suggested fee – we will be sending a donation to The Women’s Center in Danbury.

You are encouraged to wear a simple black, white, grey or denim outfit.

No make-up, just a clean, well moisturized face with clear lip gloss.

Clean natural hair.

I will send you a link to an app with a few images from your shoot and I will share the images on social media with very minimal editing – you (and your parents) have to be cool with that so I will have model release forms for you.

Schedule Appointment

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Styled Photo Shoot

New Milford, CT

How does a styled photo shoot come together?

People ask me all the time, and to be honest the answer is actually a little different every time. The idea for Breakfast at Tiffany’s started when a cute new cafe, River and Rail, opened on Bank Street in New Milford. I loved the vibe and the decorations and my brain started to fill with shoot ideas, somehow it landed on that scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Audrey Hepburn sitting in a cafe in her iconic black dress, jewels and little tiara and the shoot idea was born.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a novella by Truman Capote published in 1958. In it, a contemporary writer recalls his early days in New York City, when he makes the acquaintance of his remarkable neighbor, Holly Golightly, who is one of Capote’s best-known creations. The movie is set in the 60’s and Holly’s style has inspired women of all ages ever since.

We needed an Audrey so I spoke to Cadence about adding the Breakfast at Tiffany’s to her individual shoot. She loved the idea, we just had to find an open day – never easy with teens these days!

I wanted to include as many of our Bank Street neighbors as possible so I pitched our shoot to Stacey from Blush Couture and Karen from Joe’s Salon – we were definitely going to need help with hair and make up. Alexis from Joe’s Salon literally worked magic with Cadence’s long hair and Stacey gave her the right make up vibe. Luckily, Sue Snow of Dejavudu Vintage was once again able to draw from her amazing vintage collection and she kept me on the straight and narrow so that our styling was on point and pretty accurate to the era of the movie (can you hear me enthusiastically saying “oh this dress is cute, we should use this?” and her cringing because the dress was way too contemporary!)

Robertson’s Jewelers entrusted us with diamond jewels for our first look – they were absolutely stunning and made us all feel nervous but they added just the right amount of real bling to our shoot so it was worth it. I don’t know how the movie stars do it on Oscar night!

Swank on Bank had a long white shirt and we even recruited Simba the cat for some of the apartment images. I hope you love the images as much as we do and maybe we can introduce Breakfast at Tiffany’s to a new generation.

Game of Thrones Group Tribe Photo Shoot Kent Falls CT

Game of Thrones

Planet Photo Tribe

Photo Shoot Kent Falls CT

I have to admit I haven’t watched Game of Thrones!

I am in love with the styling though and absolutely crazy about the costumes and locations – we actually visited Iceland last year and heard over and over how parts of GOT was filmed there, but I felt like I was just too late to the party. Eight seasons to catch up? That is a lot of catching up!!!

My lack of personal watching history did not stop us for recreating a Game of Thrones theme for our Planet Photo Tribe group shoot. We had the perfect location (OK, I admit that I would have liked to fly to Iceland with the team but that was not quite in the budget….but we had the next best thing – Kent Falls State Park in Connecticut).

The falls usually freeze during the winter but you know what a crazy winter we had this year (do you remember our whiteout shoot with no snow?), so it was actually pretty warm on the day of our shoot. Can you even imagine how nervous I was on the drive up there? I was literally holding my breath when we turned into the parking lot. Thankfully, it was snowy, frozen and perfectly Game of Thrones-esque.

We were so excited to have Sue Snow from Deja Vudu Vintage as our stylist for this shoot. She has an eye for detail and a seemingly endless supply of amazing vintage clothes and accessories so she took our shoot to the next level.

It might have been unseasonably warm but it was still a little chilly standing on the ice waterfall so thank you to our models: Zoe, Sam, Cassie, Madi, Olivia and Julia.

I guess I can’t resist the hype any longer. Game of Thrones is the next thing on my binge watch list.

 

 

White on White group Tribe shoot teen senior portraits

White on White

Group Tribe Shoot

Everyone knows that you can’t count on the weather in New England. You’ve probably heard people say “if you don’t like the weather just wait 5 minutes”. Well we waited for the snow and it never came, but the rain sure did. So we moved our white on white  snowy, winter-wonderland group Tribe shoot indoors and made do with pretend snow balls and hot cocoa!

group tribe shoot
Did you ever read that book about snow, Miss Smilla’s Feelings for Snow? The Scandinavians apparently have hundreds of words to describe snow and frozen water in its various forms, not surprising when you consider that every snowflake is completely unique. I feel like we need more words to describe white… we probably had hundreds of versions between us but they were all beautiful. The Tribe did an amazing job of dressing in shades of white.

Thank you to Madisyn, Taylor, Cassie, Madi, Cadence, Zoe, Julia and Olivia for participating in our latest concept shoot. When you grow up in a small town then there is a really good chance that paths have crossed at some point or another. Have we met at a dance class or toddler program somewhere or have we been in the same school since Kindergarten? The girls love reconnecting with old friends!

Thank you to Seniors Ignite for featuring our shoot alongside some other amazing interpretations of the “whiteout” theme. Be sure to check them all out.

“Featured-On-UN-January-2019”

A New Years photoshoot Times Square NYC

Happy New Year

A celebration photoshoot in Times Square NYC

Almost every country celebrates New Year’s Eve in some way. If you live in the United States then the site of the ball dropping on Times Square is synonyms with the countdown to the New Year. Confetti, champagne, fireworks, glitz and glamour are all part of the New Year’s Eve celebration for many around the world. A time to reflect on the past and prepare and look forward to the future. How many people set New Year’s resolutions? It just feels natural to use the start of a new year as a turning point.

Times Square in December is busy, bustling and ALIVE with all walks of life and for some unknown reason lots of people dressed up as Elmo, Spiderman and Mario….. The famous billboards and signs cover every facade and are all around. Where tourists gather, vendors descend and you can’t walk five feet without being offered a bus tour, a restaurant coupon or discount tickets to a Broadway show. But it is magical and you feel like you are in the heart of New York City! Just blocks from Rockefeller Center, the Christmas tree, the department store holiday window displays and Radio City Music Hall but surrounded by Broadway and the musicals and plays that make it unique.

Madisyn, Julia and Olivia braved the cold and gave each other confidence to “work it girl” – they got lots of encouraging comments from passersby!! We were a few weeks early with our New Years celebration but we had a blast. 3000 pounds of confetti is dropped BY HAND at midnight, we even wrote messages on a couple of pieces.

Happy New Year to you all!

The Faces of Immigrants Old and New A Portrait Project

The Faces of Immigrants Old and New

A Planet Photo Portrait Project

After the success of last year’s Faces of Female Entrepreneurs Exhibition I have been searching for an idea for my next personal project. This year I want to create portraits of immigrants old and new.

Did you immigrate to the U.S. as a child?

Did you live in many countries and finally settled in America?

Were you forced to leave your own country?

Were you looking for the American Dream?

Do you call yourself an American?

Did you fall in love and moved to the U.S. to be together?

Were you recruited to come to the U.S. because of a special talent?

If you answered YES to one of more of these questions then I need to hear from you!

Please complete this on-line questionnaire to be considered for the project.

I will contact approximately 20 individuals to be interviewed and photographed. You must be willing to come to New Milford, CT to be photographed and share your story.

If you are interested in being a sponsor of this event please e-mail me directly: janet@planet-photography.com

 

The Future is in their Hands Tribe Teen Photo Shoot CT

The Future is in their Hands

Planet Photo Tribe

Teen Photo Shoot CT

Much has been written about Generation Z. They are more tech savvy than previous generations, most don’t remember not having access to the internet via their phones and they multitask. They are also starting to express their opinions and frustrations with the current political system. Most American school kids experience drills to prepare for an active shooter situation and they want someone to do something about it. They care about the environment and animals, they have lived through the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements and they took notice.

The New York Times wrote: “Alex Dunphy from ‘Modern Family’ represents the Gen Z antidote, Alex is a true Gen Z: conscientious, hard-working, somewhat anxious and mindful of the future.”

The girls in the Planet Photo Tribe picked the issues that they feel most passionate about and we highlighted some of those things. They believe that we should PROTECT our schools, our planet, our children, our water supply, our food supply, the environment, animals, minorities and the earth.

They say NO to racial profiling, labeling, transphobia, violence, sexism, racism, fat shaming, homophobia.

For today’s teens, the nation’s first African-American president is less a historic breakthrough than a fact of life. It is the responsibility and privilege of Generation Z to vote and they intend to do so. They make up almost 25% of all Americans and THEY VOTE NEXT.

They are Stronger Together. The Future is Female. They Support Equal Rights……The future really is in their hands.

 

Gothic School House Group Halloween Photo Shoot

Gothic School House

Group Halloween Shoot

The Planet Photo Tribe was very excited for the gothic halloween photo shoot….. well, let’s be honest, that is probably the understatement of the year! They were 100% on point with their styling so we didn’t waste any time getting down to shooting at the Hill and Plain one room school house in New Milford. Almost all the models had probably visited and learned about the school house in elementary school, so they knew the history of how past residents of our town were educated.

Halloween Photo Shoot

Halloween Photo ShootHalloween Photo ShootHalloween Photo Shoot

The Hill and Plain schoolhouse was built in 1843 and was in use until 1940. The room was heated by potbelly stove, burning wood supplied by nearby farmers in the spring and fall, and coal in the winter months.  At recess the children would play ball in an open field across the road or would slide down the huge rock formation directly behind the school. At the time of its closing in 1940, there were 16 students in the eight grades taught there.

However you are celebrating All Hallows Eve this year, have fun, be safe and save the Milk Duds for me!

Please consider supporting the restoration of the New Milford One Room Schoolhouse
Thanks to Sue Snow for Madi’s vintage costume