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

Photography Exhibition Female Entrepreneurs

Faces of Female Entrepreneurs

A black and white portrait photography exhibition

March 29th | 7-9pm

19Main, New Milford, CT

Dessert and refreshments will be served

When I opened the Planet Photo studio on Bank Street at the end of 2016 I realized that so many of the neighboring businesses had been established by women. Starting your own business is not for everyone. It takes strength, determination, and of course, a lot of hard work.

I chose to celebrate these powerful women with a portrait project. I wanted to capture their strength, but also their feminine side. So the Faces of Female Entrepreneurs project began. Over the course of a few months I met with quite a few of New Milford’s women who had started their own business. I am so happy to share these portraits with our community. Meet them and other local entrepreneurs at 19Main on March 29th. All are welcome to attend!

Portrait Project – Women in Business New Milford CT

Portrait Project

Women in Business New Milford CT

I am creating a portrait project around all the wonderful women who have started their own business in New Milford. Since I moved into my studio on Bank Street at the end of 2016, I realized just how many female entrepreneurs had opened a store or started a business in downtown New Milford. I would like to take a black and white portrait of these women in business for a future exhibition celebrating women entrepreneurs. My goal is to show strong, independent and powerful female entrepreneurs while also showing their feminine side. Check out my inspiration board.

Are you a business owner? Would you like to be part of my portrait project? I would love to hear from you!

Email: janet@planet-photography.com

I am sure you have a few questions, check here first but contact me if there is something I missed!

What to wear?

I would like to show your glamorous side! All portraits will be shot in black and white so don’t worry about the color but textures photograph really well, I love lace! Large earrings can be distracting but a necklace always look great. Most portraits will be waist up so don’t worry about shoes!

How long will it take?

About 30 minutes. You should come dressed and with hair and make up already done. If you want to arrange to have professional make up, I generally use Blush Couture but Joe’s Salon and Spa also offers make up services – contact them both directly for pricing and scheduling information.

Do I get to see all the images?

I will choose one image to be printed for the exhibition. You can arrange a time to view your images and select your favorite – that is my gift to you. Additional images will be available for purchase.

Do I have to have a brick and mortar store?

No. But you do have to be a female registered business owner in New Milford, CT. This project is open to for-profit or non-profit organizations. If you started it, I want to hear from you! I know there are many ladies involved in a MLM company, unfortunately I cannot focus on these businesses this time, unless you started the original business.

Is there a charge?

No. I will print my favorite for the exhibition. I will gift you one matted portrait of your choice, additional portraits will be available for purchase (no obligation!)

Can I bring my husband, kids, dog, cat, fish?

No. This is a portrait project focusing on New Milford women in business. If you would like to arrange a portrait session to include all or some of the above then we can do that.

My business is in New Milford but I live in a neighboring town, can I still participate?

Yes!

How many women can do this?

I am going to start by saying 20 but I may add more.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Janet

Planet Photo is a boutique portrait studio located on Bank Street, New Milford, Connecticut.

Specializing in magazine style individual and family portraits, High School seniors and graduates, teens and families.

Serving New Milford, Danbury, Kent, Washington, Newtown, Bethel, Redding, Ridgefield, Bridgewater, Southbury, North Salem, Brewster and surrounding areas.

Newborn Photographer CT – A baby girl!

Newborn Photographer CT – Meet Nora!

This darling baby girl came from New York to meet me in my studio in New Milford CT when she was just a few days old. Her parents are part of the extended “RAW family” (I worked with their sister-in-law Jill in the Raw Photo Design days) and their wedding at the Bronx Zoo was spectacular. We had lots to catch up on and as Mom and Dad are both teachers (and I have a freshman in high school this year) you can be sure I picked their brain about that too!

Baby Nora was nothing short of spectacular when we met.

She had delicate little features, perfect skin and the most amazing new baby smell 🙂 I took photo’s of Nora’s cousin in a basket with leaves so we had to do a similar shot with easter eggs (yes – I really am that far behind on blogging!!!!) It’s funny how you can see both parent’s features in the different shots – there is no denying she is a perfect combination of both.

Congratulations to Daryl and Kristen! Your baby girl is beautiful and she is in great hands.

Love, Janet xo

If you are looking for a newborn photographer then fill out the contact form with your information – don’t forget to let me know your due date. Dates change and babies hardly ever arrive exactly on time but these estimates make it easier for me to schedule my time and also ensure that I don’t over fill my calendar. I would hate to say that I can’t fit you in…..book early!

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Maternity Photographer – New Milford, CT Studio Session

A Studio Maternity Session in the middle of winter

Have you noticed how everyone loves to share pregnancy horror stories? When you are a Family, Newborn and Maternity Photographer you get to hear a fair number of stories. . .

I was actually one of those women that loved being pregnant. I had no morning sickness and two easy deliveries. Now before you hate me, it wasn’t all perfect – I stopped counting weight gain over 55 pounds and my first child was nicknamed “Sensitive Sammy”, I found myself always making excuses for why he was crying or difficult. You’ve heard them all before…. he’s tired, he’s hungry, he’s hot, he’s ______ you could just fill in the blank. Luckily around one he turned into the most incredibly mellow kid. I paid my dues, and now I am enjoying years of easy going mellow behavior.

So it was great to meet Lindsey. She is a fellow lover of pregnancy and on the urging of friends and family at her shower she called me to schedule a last minute maternity shoot. I say last minute because she is due in about 3 weeks now! She had the most incredible baby bump that just cried out to be photographed and admired. She also had a suitcase full of maternity clothes and was pretty much game to try a bunch of different poses and looks – music to my ears! We had a few minutes outside but I really wanted to be able to show that even a winter session in the studio can give variety and can deliver a bunch of different styles.

I absolutely love how the images came out. The hair and make-up by Stacey of Blush Couture was sexy and perfect. My absolute, hands down, without a shadow of a doubt, can’t get enough of it, favorite of the day is the first one. The blanket was made by her Mother and I can’t wait to photograph the new baby wrapped in that same blanket in just a couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the in studio session – if you are interested in maternity photographs but were worried about it being too cold now (or too hot in summer for that matter) then I hope I have shown you that a studio session can be a great option!

Newborn Photography – Welcome Baby Brody!

Planet Photo Newborn Photography – welcomes Baby Brody!

I first met Amber and Eric of Raw Photo Design through our children. Olivia and Avery rode the bus to kindergarden and have been the best of friends ever since. It was a couple of weeks into the soccer season and side line chatter when I realized that this young couple were photographers (the 70-200 lens was probably the first clue) and I had been following their blog. Small world, huh?

Fast forward a few years and things have changed quite a bit for all of us. After spending a few years as part of the raw family, Planet Photo was born. Eric and Amber gave me the confidence, the inspiration (and a lot of technical know how!) to go for it. I learned tons from both of them and our families became close in so many ways. Tragedy struck earlier this year and Eric drowned in a terrible accident. We felt his loss deeply and promised to be there for Amber, her children and her baby on the way. We respect and honor Eric’s memory by talking about him often; sharing memories and guessing what he would say or do in a particular situation or just joking about the crazy things he did…… there was one time they came for dinner and Eric jumped behind my stove and started taking it apart so that he could figure out how to fix his own broken cooktop!

Avery and Olivia have helped each other with their losses this year, Olivia grieving for her Auntie Sarah and Avery for her Dad. It has created a strong bond that I hope will be there for a very long time and has made for some very strange back of the car conversations!

We are so excited to welcome Brody to the raw family. He is the glue and the promise of the future bringing them together, and he is already deeply adored by Amber, Avery and Ryder and all the family and friends around him. I was so happy to spend time with Amber and Brody to capture this little nugget at two weeks old. He is changing already but I think you will agree he is a very special little guy.

Welcome Brody Michael – we have lots of stories to share with you.

xoxox

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The Planet Photo Family Session :)

The Planet Photo Family Session – the holiday card shoot!

There are some families out there (who shall remain nameless at this point in time) that don’t always love to have photos taken. It’s not a specific thing, but a general “Oh do we have to? Can’t we do it next week?” kind of response. Usually I compromise and just take photos of the kids, but this year I booked our session on the shared family calendar just like any other regular shoot. The day that my family was going to get their christmas card picture!

I have a list of tips and tricks for styling a family shoot. I know, I hear you groaning from here, but the advantages far out way the disadvantages and it means that you can have more printing options when everyone coordinates. Notice I didn’t say matching, you know I prefer coordinating to matching right? So let me know what you think. I am pretty happy with how they turned out this year and I even printed and framed a selection of the pictures before the holidays!!! Procrastination is everyone’s worst enemy (even mine) but I was determined, and it really is easier to just go ahead and do it right away. Go with your gut instinct to pick your favorites and get them on your wall where they can be enjoyed. I already have a date pencilled in my calendar for our next family picture. There are no excuses for the Planet Photo Family in the future!

OK. Enough chatter. Onto the pictures. My favorite comment on facebook was that my hair looked like I just stepped out of a Pantene commercial. I always read all the comments, and of course love the complimentary ones, so please send me a comment!

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Newborn Photography CT – Branford Baby Boy

Newborn Photography CT – Welcome to the newest member of the Raw Photo Design family.

Before Planet Photo I worked as part of the Raw Photo Design team – we called ourselves the “raw family”. Raw Photo was started by Eric and Amber Langlois, a young charismatic couple from Connecticut with an amazing talent for photography. Eric and Amber brought a unique style to the CT wedding photography market and to couples wanting a modern, editorial style to their wedding day photography. I came on board to help with family photography and this little guy’s mom, Jill handled the studio management. With Brenden and Rob in the studio editing, the raw family expanded. Earlier this year Eric was lost in a tragic drowning accident leaving behind Amber, their two children and a baby on the way. Friends and family from all over Connecticut have supported and grieved alongside Amber and his loss is felt every day by many who knew him well and many who just admired his incredible talent. Although I no longer work for Raw Photo, I will always consider myself a member of the Raw Family and I was thrilled to welcome the newest member. Eric would have adored him.

The fund for Eric’s family

Jill’s beautiful baby boy was born when the leaves were falling and the air was starting to get a chill. Probably my favorite time in New England. No humidity, true blue skies and clear crisp days. We had to get him outside in the leaves and we wrapped him up in a cocoon to keep him warm. My son was born while we were living in Copenhagen Denmark. He took his naps bundled up in his pram and parked in the fresh air, even at daycare they put the babies outside to nap in rows of prams with no wheels! There has been much written about the Scandinavian tradition of parking prams outside a restaurant and leaving the baby unattended, something that would be unimaginable in the United States but is considered completely normal in Denmark. I will let you decide if you ever would dare….but don’t risk it in NYC, you just might be arrested!

Just a hint of a smile!

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Sherman CT Family Photographer

Sherman CT Family Photographer Planet Photo in a Candlewood Lake Family Session

A relaxed photo shoot on the shores of Candlewood Lake in Sherman CT with an active almost one year old?????? You know that as soon as they are mobile, then chances are you are going to get a few cute shots of the back of a toddlers head as they take off across the lawn. This little girl was no exception, but she loved to smile at the camera, and I managed to get a few of those beautiful big brown eyes as well. She is adorable and everyone who meets her remarks on how much she looks like her mommy. I am sure you can see it too, but she sure loves her Daddy.

Photographing young families is always a question of balancing that “holiday card pose” with capturing the magic interactions between family members. I absolutely LOVE the shots of this family laughing and playing together. That’s what it’s all about for me – those moments of sheer joy when they forget that I am there with a camera and just enjoy each other. But those moments are captured for ever, and to me, they mean of so much more than that holiday card pose.

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Brookfield CT Family Photographer

Brookfield CT | Family Photographer Planet Photo at Happy Landings Farm

One of the perks of being a family photographer is being able to see how some of my regular families change over the years. I have always been impressed at how these Brookfield, CT siblings get along – at least when I am around…… and they usually have a lot of fun with the photo session. We chose Happy Landings Farm in Brookfield – we have done graffiti in Brookfield and fall colors over at Lover’s Leap in New Milford, so an open field with hay bales seemed like a good choice this year!!!

Happy Landings is a former dairy farm and a beautiful wide open nature preserve. It is hardly ever crowded and even if there were more than four cars in the parking lot there is plenty of room to find a moment of peace and quiet. We managed to squeeze a meeting into a hectic weekend of Irish dancing and hockey and even though the sky was gray, we certainly managed to capture the bond that exists between this brother and sister. I love the ones in the tall grasses, with a little help from some off camera flash you would never guess just how grey that day was. And best of all, no ticks were reported, although I think I got just a little poison ivy…….

Enjoy!