Destination Shoot CA Senior Portraits

Destination Shoot Ca

Senior Portraits Nora Finalist Shoot

When I entered Nora and Ryan into the Seniors Ignite Model Competition at the end of 2017 I had no idea that they would both be selected as finalists! I was so proud of both of them, and at that point I knew that I was inviting them to come, competition winners or not. Ryan’s play schedule meant that he couldn’t go, but Nora and her mom Becky were up for a trip to California. So the plans started to take shape.

Day 1 of the destination shoot was Joshua Tree National Park Model competition winner Timber and two other senior photographers joined us for part of the day. Palm Springs is known for its mid-century architecture, mild winter climate, and its stunning natural landscape so we had to make time to shoot around the town as well. 

Destination Shoot
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Timber it was an absolute pleasure to meet you! Thank you for braving the cold at Joshua Tree – none of us expected that when we planned our weekend in Cali! If you have never seen Joshua Tree it is totally worth a trip. The rocks look like giant pebbles dropped in piles from the sky and the joshua trees themselves look like they come from another planet. I can’t even tell you how excited we were to see tumble weeds…. I know, kind of silly, but seriously they exist outside of cartoons and old western movies

destination shoot
Check back for Day 2 of our destination shoot in Palm Springs!

MUA: Nancy Z Beauty (thanks for the location tips too!)

Nora’s outfits: Guess Jeans, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, American Eagle

 

CT HS Senior Photography – New Milford High School Abbi

CT HS Senior Photography

Meet Abbi!

Planning a senior photo shoot around the crazy schedule of marching band, varsity volleyball, college visits and college applications is not easy. But we did it!

I always try to plan locations and styling around each individual client.  I knew back in the summer that Abbi wanted to shoot in the classic New England fall colors, so our date was on the calendar way before senior year started to get super busy. We chose Steep Rock Preserve in Washington Depot as our start point but we were on the lookout for road side locations. CT109 didn’t disappoint and we were climbing into the weeds before you know it!

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Steep Rock has been a favorite destination for my family for many years and I felt just a tad guilty for not having our dog with us. But what an amazing warm fall day…. we couldn’t have wished for better light.

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Abbi is long and lean (hence the varsity volleyball and basketball….) and she has the most amazing strawberry blond curly hair so I love to pose and photograph her. Her mom had a huge selection of outfits in the back of her car so that we could mix it up and match outfits to the different locations as we went. She didn’t wear it all, but we gave it a good college try!
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I absolutely LOVED the purple with the colors in the meadow, we didn’t even really notice the purple undertones at the time, but as soon as I opened the files in photoshop I knew I had found the winning shots of the shoot. Did I tell you recently how much I love what I do?
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A quick stop at a deserted barn on the way home and our shoot was done. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for beautiful Abbi but I know her family will treasure these portraits of her taken during that crazy senior year.

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Do you wish that you had portraits of your High School Senior or college freshman? Let me know and I can design the most amazing portrait experience for you!

Janet xo

 

Model Photo Shoot Camping Webb Mountain Monroe CT

Model Photo Shoot

Camping in CT

You are either an outdoors person or not. It was a damp Connecticut fall day but Avery, Olivia, Maggie, Sam and Payton did not hesitate to hang out in the woods for the latest Planet Photo Tribe Group Shoot.

I LOVE the outdoors, love hiking, picnics, hot cocoa in the fresh air and s’mores but I have to admit for me this was the best kind of camping…… NO TENT! We didn’t stay overnight but we had an absolute blast hanging out around the camp fire at Webb Mountain Park. Mobile phones stayed in the car so that meant we had fun with a rock, paper scissors tournament, a game of telephone and races down the trail. We even had an apple cider donut challenge!

“Welcome to our fire pit. The s’more the merrier.”

What happens around the campfire stays around the campfire! Except when we plan a group photo shoot camping theme….. Just kidding girls. Your secrets are safe with me!


Does your family love the outdoors? Would a camping themed family photo shoot be a perfect fit to show the fun you have when you spend time together? Let’s start planning. I’ll bring the s’mores!

Teen Photography CT – Meet Audrey!

Teen Photography CT

Meet Audrey!

I was so excited for Audrey’s individual shoot. She is part of the Planet Photo Tribe so I have photographed her a few times before and I know the camera loves her as much as I do. But it’s different for the individual session. For the individual session it was all about Audrey. Her interests. Her passions. Her style. And we picked the locations just for her.

She is a super talented dancer, which of course means she is at dance classes almost every day of the week and rehearsing for the Nutcracker on weekends, but we threaded the needle and made a plan. We met at the studio so that she could raid the studio wardrobe closet and got to work.

Head shots were first on the list. Check.

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We added a little make up and we moved on to studio dance portraits. Check.

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And onto the location part of the shoot. TRIPLE CHECK with a cherry on top! We stopped at a couple of different places, I joke about the best locations being on the side of the road but I am not kidding, sometimes they really are….

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Fairfield Hills is an absolute favorite and it was the look and style that Audrey wanted to create so we ended there. Sequins and tulle against a backdrop of an old psychiatric hospital which housed 4000 patients until closing in 1995 …. CHECK!

Teen Photography CT

I hope you love the images as much as we do.

Every teen is unique. I design every individual portrait session to be just as unique. I help to plan where to shoot your session and how to style it. Call to schedule your Teen Photography Session.

Make Up: Blush Couture

 

 

Candlelight Farm Airport New Milford – Models and Planes

Candlelight Farm Airport New Milford

Models Photo Shoot with Planes

For the second part of our Planes, Trains and Automobiles shoot we headed over to Candlelight Farms Airport. Nestled in the mountains on the northern side of Candlewood Lake the airport is a green haven for airplane enthusiasts. With a grass runway and planes parked in the shade of the trees, it was also s an idyllic location for our next New Milford models photo shoot.

May your dreams fly high!

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Styling for our group shoot was on the glamorous side, harking back to the Golden Age of Flying. The days when people dressed up for flights and airplane travel was only for the rich and famous. A short flight would have cost the equivalent of a months salary for a secretary in the 50s. You would have a lot more room than on a modern flight though and lines at security were non existent! To be an airline pilot or flight attendant immediately propelled you into the glamorous jet set category.

Thanks to Planet Photo Tribe members: Nora, Sydney, Katelyn, Taylor and Maggie for modeling for this. I wish we really were “leaving on a jet plane”

Janet xo


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Vintage Truck Group Photo Shoot New Milford

Vintage Ford Truck

Group Photo Shoot New Milford Connecticut

Take a blue/green vintage truck and five girls from the Planet Photo Model Tribe and drive out to a scenic road in the Northville section of New Milford. What do you get? A totally AMAZING group shoot with Nora, Katelyn, Maggie, Sydney and Taylor.

Country Roads. Take me home. To a place I belong.

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OK, I know New Milford Connecticut is not really the typical setting of a good old country song but you get the idea…. there is nothing like a truck on a warm late summers day on a beautiful country road. The girls in the Tribe totally rocked the styling for the shoot and we were all so envious of the vintage Ford truck.

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Styling a family or senior session is a great way to coordinate what everyone should wear and help to “tell a story”. Does your family love camping? Sailing? The beach? We can design your shoot around a theme and I can help you to style it.

Woodbridge CT Senior Portraits – Tory

Woodbridge CT Senior Portraits

Meet Tory!

I loved Tory’s senior session. No, seriously, I LOVED Tory’s senior portrait session. It was so FUN getting to know her and, of yeah, she was a dream to photograph.

Tory and her mom came to visit the studio and we talked about her interests; who she was, what made her unique, what will trigger memories of the high school years and we came up with a plan. Now, the planning stage is one of my favorite parts. It’s not just about what to wear and where to go, it is all about who you are. What makes you YOU? And how can I capture that in a few hours in a portrait session?

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Tory has a danced so we had to incorporate that, I thought the hip hop might be better outside so we picked the outfit and I started to pick the locations. Ballet was in the studio, can you believe Tory’s mom saved her first pair of ballet slippers?

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She used to ride all the time so we wanted to incorporate that somehow and she LOVES fashion so that crept in throughout the shoot. She was a model for the day and boy, did she bring IT! Thanks to Candlelight Farms for letting us shoot at the horse barn, it was a beautiful evening and the horses were very welcoming.

Tory had loads of great clothes, and I don’t really believe in going out and buying an entire new wardrobe for your shoot, but what girl can resist a little shopping before a portrait session? She found this perfect dress and I am so glad she did!

Tory, I am excited to see what the future holds for you. Good luck in your senior year!

Janet xo

How do you want to be photographed? I would love to help you plan your unique portrait experience. Contact Planet Photo to set up a free consultation!

 

CT High School Photography – Katelyn Class of 2018

CT High School Photography

Katelyn Class of 2018

Can I just start out by saying, I love photographing Katelyn.

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She has a classically beautiful face with creamy skin and expressive eyes, so the camera absolutely loves her! I have been obsessing about photoshoots in sunflowers for a couple of weeks (I know, I am weird, I get an idea in my head and I just can’t let it go…..) so I got a bee in my bonnet about finding a sunflower field and shooting there. Luckily Katelyn and her mom loved the idea. Buttonwood Farm was a bit of a drive and I have to admit, the closer we got the more nervous I was to see that it was worth it. Thankfully as soon as we turned the corner and saw the rolling fields of sunflowers I relaxed – it was TOTALLY worth the drive!

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Buttonwood Farm is family owned since 1975, and they’re famous for farm fresh ice cream and growing sunflowers for a good cause. Every year they raise funds for the CT chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation selling bunches of sunflowers and inviting the public to experience the sunflower fields over a two week period. I think the amount raised in 2017 is close to $130,000 so not too shabby. The fact that they had about 50 flavors of delicious homemade ice cream just made the experience even sweeter. (In case you were wondering I got coconut and coffee but the sundaes looked out of this world…. Katelyn picked peanut butter flavored ice cream which would literally be my 49th choice out of the 50 but it was her sundae and she liked it. If you are curious, then bubblegum would be my absolute last resort, I could only eat it if I absolutely had to, flavor choice)CT High School PhotographyCT High School Photography

CT High School PhotographyWhat will you pick for the back drop for your next portrait session? Would you choose a natural location or would you prefer an urban environment? I help each and every client to style their own unique shoot.

Amazing Make Up: Blush Couture 

Planet Photo for the ultimate CT High School Photography experience

 

 

 

Water, water, everywhere…. a CT Teen Photo Shoot

Water, water, everywhere….

a CT Teen Photo Shoot

So all good concept shoots start with an idea, I sit on it for a few days and then it develops into a Pinterest board where I gather all kinds of inspiration images and start to narrow the focus of what I want to shoot. A message goes out to the Planet Photo Tribe and this time Nora, Olivia, Taylor and Avery answered the call and we set the date.

In a week of sun and almost 90 degrees temps, of course we picked the day when the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the rain started. So the debate began… to reschedule or not?

On the plus side; I had four tribe members ready to go, there was a gap in the rain right at our shoot time and the weather would probably mean that we would have the place to ourselves.

On the other hand, the weather was supposed to be hot again all weekend but that would probably mean that the river would be teaming with people…..we decided to go for it.

I am so glad we did!

CT Teen Photo Shoot

Thanks to Avery, Nora, Olivia and Taylor for getting into the river for our water shoot. Judging by the images we got on our concept shoot, I really think that every portrait session should end with a dip in the river – what do you think?

Do YOU dare?


Taylor’s dress and Avery’s outfit came from Forever 21
Olivia’s pants were from American Eagle
Nora’s dress was her own 😉

Taylor helped with make up for the shoot and she rocked it – I think I see a future there….

If you are thinking of booking a teen or senior portrait shoot then we can incorporate multiple locations and concepts into your shoot. I personally plan all the sessions to be as unique and individual as we all are. You let me know if you are more of a wall art person or an album person, that helps to compose shots and make sure you get lots of choices. Don’t worry, I help with that part too. I can design a collection of portraits for your wall or a beautiful press printed album.

Portraits should never be boring!

Janet xo

CT High School Senior Photography – Mike

CT High School Senior Photography

New Milford High School Graduate Mike

When we were talking about locations for Mike’s senior session I asked the usual questions. What have been your biggest interests in high school? How have you spent most of your time? Which locations mean the most to you? What are your overriding memories of your high school career? We put all the answers together and it became quite apparent that we had to plan a trip to New York City.

You see Mike played baseball and golf and he also played and marched with the New Milford High School band. He was section leader for the low brass section, playing the sousaphone and the trombone, all great things to incorporate into his senior session, but what led us to New York city? Well every Sunday for his senior year Mike travelled into Lincoln Center and played jazz with a group there. Every Sunday in the Upper West Side in NYC? Well there we had it; we needed to go to Lincoln Center and we had to walk over into Central Park and capture that aspect of his senior year! An excuse to spend the day in the city? I love location shoots!

We met again a few weeks later because there were some New Milford hang outs that Mike wanted to include. I had a blast spending time with him and I can not wait to hear what the future brings for this bright, articulate and extremely talented young man.

Good luck at University of Hartford studying acoustical engineering and jazz!

Do not let the high school senior pictures represent your senior year! Each Planet Photo high school senior session is unique and designed to show your personality, your interests and your style.

Contact Janet to schedule your free consultation. It is not too late for 2017 high school graduates!