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.

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

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….

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!

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

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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!

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.

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.

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.

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New Milford Portrait Photography – Abbi

New Milford Portrait Photography

Abbi

Abbi is a member of the Planet Photo Tribe so I asked her to meet me at the studio so that I could try out a couple of new outfits and techniques. Well of course that turned into a crazy dress up, fun afternoon,when I didn’t even want to put my camera down….. You’ll be seeing more of the photos but here is a little taste of some of the things we experimented with.

Backlight. You’ve seen my studio window and you know how wonderful the light is in the studio, but by shooting in front of the window we get an incredible rim of light in Abbi’s hair. I am crazy about this look!

I had seen her in her “little black dress” at a New Milford High School awards dinner at the end of the school year so I asked her to bring that along for a couple of shots – I love her in it!

Who doesn’t love to play dress up?
Portrait sessions can be held in the studio, on location or a combination of both. Contact me to book your ultimate portrait experience.

Thanks Abbi!

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.

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!

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)

What 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

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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!

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

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Sweet as Sugar – Teen Photography Concept Shoot

Sweet as Sugar!

A teen photography concept shoot

The Planet Photo Tribe have been looking forward to the sweet as sugar concept shoot for a while. We were invited to shoot at Tasty Waves on Main Street in New Milford so lots of candy AND frozen yoghurt. Tasty Waves has become a New Milford staple so the tribe was happy to shoot there. Thanks to Abbi for helping the rest of the Tribe with some sweet make-up!

Sweet as sugar Cold as ice. Hurt me once, I’ll Break you twice

I looked into the expression Sweet as Sugar and found a song by an Australian song writer called Lenka. You really can be everything! And work on your simile skills at the same time!

As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox
As fast as a hare, as brave as a bear
As free as a bird, as neat as a word
As quiet as a mouse, as big as a house

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As mean as a wolf, as sharp as a tooth
As deep as a bite, as dark as the night
As sweet as a song, as right as a wrong
As long as a road, as ugly as a toad

As pretty as a picture hanging from a fixture
Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be
Bright as day, as light as play
As hard as nails, as grand as a whale

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As warm as the, the sun, as silly as fun
As cool as a tree, as scary as the sea
As hot as fire, cold as ice
Sweet as sugar and everything nice

As old as time, as straight as a line
As royal as a queen, as buzzed as a bee
Stealth as a tiger, smooth as a glider
Pure as a melody, pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything at once

Thanks to Abbi, Katelyn, Madie, Audrey and Sam for wearing lots of candy for our shoot. Have a sweet summer everyone!
Janet

A Connecticut Senior Concept Shoot at Five Guys

Connecticut Senior Concept Shoot

You know when an idea starts to form in your mind and you get completely carried away and excited with all the amazing possibilities? That’s what happened with this concept shoot… it started with the color RED. Then the brainstorming began and it turned into a game of work association…. red, Five Guys, retro, roller skates, graphic t’s, athletic shorts, high tube socks, RED! the car wash in New Milford, retro again, laundromat, 70’s, converse, Baywatch, RED!

A call went out to the Planet Photo Tribe for a last minute concept shoot and we were off and running. I tried to get the roller skates, they actually became a bit of an obsession I will readily admit, but it was just not meant to be 🙁

I think we managed to pull it off though – what do you think?

UPDATED! Seniors Ignite thought we pulled it off – we were featured on the Seniors Ignite website!

Five Guys was opening a new store in New Milford so we arranged to meet for lunch there and then the heavens opened for one of the many crazy heavy rainstorms we have been having of late in Connecticut – what is going on with the weather? It feels like we are living in a rainforest!! We moved indoors to the new (and much nicer than any laundromat I ever used) Stay Fresh Laundromat down the road to finish up our retro, red, 70’s vibe shoot.

Thank you to Abbi, Nora and Haegan who were amazing with their styling and their willingness to jump into my crazy concept.

If you are a Connecticut senior and want to schedule a session before you go off to college then I would love to hear from you!

Trumbull Animal Shelter cutest pet contest

Vote for the Cutest Pet!

The Planet Photo Tribe is raising awareness for Animal Shelter Pets this month. We visited Lynn at the Trumbull Animal Shelter and got to meet some of the current visitors. The cuteness factor was very high with a litter of puppies, 2 litters of kittens and a couple of the more mature dogs who had some serious personality. The shelter is clean, very well run and the animals there are the lucky ones. They have been taken in by the group to get them healthy, to get them out of dangerous situations, and to find them kind and loving homes. Lynn explained that donations are always needed though and gratefully accepted. At the moment they need have the greatest need for:

Kitten or Puppy Chow, Kitty litter and canned cat or dog food.

So how can you vote for your cutest pet pick?

Write the letter of your pick in the comments below for one point, but we will also be counting votes by taking donations! You can donate directly to the Trumbull Animal Shelter at 300 Church Hill Road in Trumbull or you can drop off a donation at the Planet Photo Studio at 53 Bank Street on June 17th (or call/text if you want to come another time)

If you want to donate to your local shelter that is fine too. Take a photo of your donation and text (203 313-1303) with the letter of the pet you would like to vote for.

For example, if you want to vote for Payton’s adorable dog then write the letter A on the bag somewhere and drop off your donation – it’s as simple as that!

One can of food = 5 points

One bag of puppy or kitten chow = 10 points

One container of kitty litter = 10 points

An ENORMOUS thank you to Lynn Dellabianca at the Trumbull Shelter for showing us around and coming into work on her day off to help us out. Now please help the Planet Photo Tribe to get some donations for all our local animal shelters.