Flower Crown Portraits

Flower Crown Portraits

Junior Tribe 2020

One of the very first teen group shoots I ever did was a flower crown shoot and I was excited to do it again with the 2020 Junior Tribe. We met at Hunt Hill Farm in New Milford and enjoyed their beautiful gardens and surroundings. The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm is a popular stop for both locals and visitors to Litchfield County. 

When we arrived the long horned cows were across the road to observe our group but of course they wandered into the back field when we were ready to shoot. There is something very magical about seeing them so drive by if you get a chance and see if you can spot them. 

Jordana, Grace, Katie and Ella were all beautiful and graceful in their flower crowns but you know we had lots of fun too!

If you have a creative idea for a group shoot or a themed photo shoot for you and your friends then a BFF portrait session is a great way to celebrate a birthday or a great friendship. We’ll plan the location and styling around your group and you’ll have the portraits as a wonderful memory of your special day. 

Now booking family, teens and high school seniors and personal branding for the most popular shooting time of the year – fall in New England!

Studio Portraits Taylor

Studio Portraits with The Planet Photo Tribe

Taylor

You know sometimes one item is all you need to figure out your whole outfit. It might be a certain pair of shoes. You know when you get that feeling that you HAVE to wear those shoes today so you build your entire look around them. Can you guess the focal point of Taylor’s styling (apart from already knowing that we were continuing with the studio portraits theme we had been creating with black and white bold outfits…..) If you guessed the white boots you were close, it was actually the black and white striped tights! I have had these stripy tights in my mind for a shoot for ages and I was SO excited to put them to good use so we started with those and built Taylor’s outfit around them. Because….

Stripes go with everything

And I could not agree more!!!!

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”

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.

 

Birthday Cake Smash Celebration Darius

Birthday Cake Smash Celebration

Dariuscake smash celebration

What better way to celebrate a halloween baby’s first birthday than a halloween themed birthday cake smash celebration! Darius has some serious hair and he had a ton of fun with his birthday photo shoot. He obviously adores his big brother Frankie and the feeling is clearly mutual. Frankie was helpful and sweet with his little brother and he was just as excited to see him smash his cake as Mom and Dad! Can you even stand the cuteness factor???

A birthday cake smash moves pretty quickly and Darius LOVED the little monster cake that The Sweet Spot in New Milford made for him.

cake smash celebration
The bath part is a favorite of almost all the cake smashers and Darius pretty much looked like he could have splashed in the bubbles all day long.  I was so happy to have captured his personality and those big brown eyes for his first birthday. He was barely standing on his own when we did the cake smash but by the time I delivered the wall art and book his Mom chose he was RUNNING! I am so relieved that we did the shoot when we did – new runners can be a challenge and a work out!

cake smash celebration

Fitness Portraits Michelle Phys Ed New Milford

Fitness Portraits

Michelle

Personal Trainer at Phys Ed New Milford

Michelle competed in her first body building competition in 2000 but she recently told me that she feels like she is in better shape now than at any other point in her life, so a perfect time to take some fitness portraits!

I invited Michelle to write a post for the blog so here in her words.

What fitness and good health mean to me.

Our bodies are meant to move…that’s what we’re designed to do.  Good health and fitness does not require endless hours of exercise or severe dietary restrictions, but it does require finding some form of movement that you can enjoy enough to do consistently and it does require being fueled with whole, nutritient dense foods.  Many individuals get sucked into the lifestyle of instant gratification:   We want it now. We enjoy those things that give us that quick moment of pleasure and we avoid those things that bring us a little discomfort.

What we should really be aiming for is an entire lifetime of feeling good.  We need to find balance between what we want in the moment and what will help us live a fuller, healthier long life.

In order to be well rounded, we also need to include finding some way to improve our mental health.  This could be as simple as taking 5 minutes a day to just sit and breathe deeply and think about what we’re grateful for that day.  Taking a few minutes to “just be” can have a huge impact on our day.

I work with many older individuals and the ones who are feeling well and healthy as they age are the ones who have learned to balance out movement, nutrition and mental well-being.  In the long run, we need to learn to take care of ourselves so we have more to give to others.

I love my job…helping others find nutrition and exercise that work for them so they can truly live their best healthy life!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Michelle. You are an inspiration to so many of your friends and clients.

 

 

Photography CT Hamden Hall Skilyn

Photography Hamden Hall CT

Skylin – Class of 2019

The Undiscovered Model Competition Finalist!

The minute I met Sky I knew we were going to have an incredible shoot! She was the sweetest, outgoing girl you could possibly meet with a cute little sister and a really fun mom. When I asked her about her high school experience and interests I was excited to figure out how we could incorporate her love of dance. She wanted a mix of urban and natural beauty so we actually met in Derby, CT. Now Derby doesn’t necessarily spring to mind when you think of a backdrop for a photoshoot…. but it actually was perfect for what we were looking for! Grace and beauty in an urban setting.

All Planet Photo Feature Seniors are invited to submit to The Undiscovered Model Competition and we are thrilled that Sky has made it to the Finalist stage! We find out on Friday if she will be one of the few winners chosen to go to Austin Texas in January for the ultimate destination model experience. You can see all the finalists on The Undiscovered In Print so you can see she is in good company, you might even see another Planet Photo Model – Maddie! Of course I am so proud of them both. All good vibes and luck accepted for both of them!!!

If you are class of 2020 or 2021 then you need to be part of Planet Photo’s model experience! Senior and Teen photography that shows just how unique you are. Drop me a line with Future Planet Photo Model Tribe Member in the subject line and I will make sure you are invited to the informational meetings in the spring.

Now booking Class of 2019 senior sessions!

 

 

Teen Photography 2018 Sherman CT

Teen Photography 2018

Taylor

Litchfield County CT

I have been longing to do a Free People inspired shoot for a while and when I came across this Free People dress I knew the time was right! A huge thank you to Taylor for going along with the vision and modeling for Nathalie and I on a humid sticky night in Sherman CT. You see I wanted to put Nathalie on the other side of the camera for a few shots, so we came up with the idea of having Taylor come with us so that Nathalie could shoot a bit too. Confused? Don’t worry the images kind of speak for themselves….

We set out with an overly optimistic plan of driving to Danbury to shoot some downtown graffiti shots first but we very quickly realized we were not going to have time to get back up to Sherman for sunset meadow shots. A quick compromise found us trekking under the bridge at Lover’s Leap for some local graffiti. Nathalie took these amazing ones of Taylor and I got a few of Nathalie but you’ll have to wait for the next blog post to see those!
teen photography 2018
We used a beauty dish to create some drama and shadows. We knew we were going all soft and dreamy for our next stop so it was great to have a little contrast here! On to full-on Free People dreamy natural light. The sun was setting fast so conditions were different for almost every shot!
teen photography 2018teen photography 2018teen photography 2018

 

 

Pool Party Photography 2K19 Tribe Friends

Pool Party Photography

2K19 Planet Photo Tribe

When Friends first hit the TV screen it was revolutionary. A show about a group of 20 something friends, hanging out, dating, working and living in a cool apartment in New York City. We all wondered how they could afford such an amazing apartment? Where did they buy their clothes? Should you get a Rachel or Monica haircut? Should Monica date Ross? Everyone kind of wanted to live the Friends lifestyle and be one of their friends.

Party PhotographyParty Photography

The 90’s TV line up soon filled up with similar shows; Melrose Place, Beverley Hills 90210, Dawson’s Creek, Baywatch, Saved by the Bell. They all centered on the interaction of friends and they all featured a boat load of DRAMA! We used the 90’s TV show as a springboard for our latest Planet Photo Tribe shoot and planned a pool party (minus the DRAMA!)

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Special thanks to Maddy M, Madi L, Madi S, Zoe and Julia for hanging out at our Planet Photo Tribe Pool Party!Party PhotographyParty Photography