Locations for Sessions

I am often asked what locations do I recommend. My response is most of the time; What is your vision or what type of look are you wanting? If I know what you are looking for, I can match you to an ideal spot! Salem has so many options for sessions. Tall grass, trees, vintage house, rose garden, fields of flowers, barns like buildings, and yes downtown vibes! I have given you some small samples of sessions I have taken around town and I have labeled each locations and time of year if multiple locations.

It doesn’t matter if you are having an engagement session, maternity session, family or senior session, we can find you some great options here in the Willamette Valley! As I was going through some of my sessions, I had so many great options, I wanted to share these with you as the “Family collections”

I have added some summer and fall looks for the same park so you can see different options for different times of the year.

What to Wear: I have to mention clothing selection just for a moment. As you notice is most all of these photos for family photos, everyone did a great job on their outfits! My suggestion is to find a color family of 3-4 colors and try to stick with solid outfits (limiting your prints, plaids, patterns). You will be so much happier with your family pictures if you stick to this concept. If you need help with this, I am happy to give suggestions, color palettes or links to my Pinterest pages.

Time of day: I get asked this a lot, I always try to schedule any session at GOLDEN HOUR. This is 1-2 hours after sunrise or 1-2 hours before sunset. We are lucky in Oregon we have a lot of days with clouds. This can work in your favor! Clouds are a great filter!! So don’t be disappointed to not have a “blue bird day”.

I will say one big exception to this: if you have littles, I want to take pictures when they are the happiest! We will find shade, or use a shield to help with some of the glare.

I hope you find this useful! I am in the process of doing one for senior sessions as well so make sure to check this out as well! Make sure to follow me on social media to check out more fun locations!!

How do you celebrate a birthday?

Every 10 years this family celebrates special birthdays by doing a special photoshoot. The Bidney boys get cleaned up and put on tuxes and have a little fun for their special birthday!

Today was Gabe’s photoshoot to celebrate his 20th birthday. We went to Willamette Valley Vineyards on a beautiful afternoon and the cherry blossoms and camilla’s are in bloom and the smell of wine was in the air! We made the steep drive up the hill for the most gorgeous view! People filled the inside dinning room and spilled out on to the patio areas where people had filled almost every table and they were enjoying friendship, food and wine together. It was so wonderful to see this after the very long 2 years of COVID restrictions.

Gabe wore a blue tux, when I first heard he was going to wear a blue tux I had pictured in my head that 80’s baby blue tux with ruffled shirt and black piping, boy was I wrong! It was a very handsome navy/dark royal tux, he wore a white shirt and navy brocade vest, with a blue tie and blue silk pocket square. As we walked around he got so many compliments. I think everyone should do a photoshoot like this a few times in their lives! It is a great confidence booster!

Gabe at Willamette Valley Vineyard

We started Gabe’s photoshoot in a casting room were we asked for permission to take some photos with all of the wine barrels waiting their fait. It made for an amazing backdrop! Next we went out to the patio where the people were soaking up the sun! We found a corner that had the most gorgeous view of the valley!

the view of the Willamette Valley

Willamette Valley Vineyards has beautiful areas throughout the grounds, they have a lot of different sitting areas that you can have sun, shade, sit by a fire place or even in their bubble in the rain. They even have suites you can rent and stay there for the night or even make a weekend out of it. Willamette Valley Vineyards have other locations as well, Vancouver Waterfront, Happy Valley, Lake Oswego, Bend and soon to be the Dundee Hills. We found a few little areas that were perfect for this handsome fella!

If you have young ones you should start a tradition like the Gibney family has done. Marking special birthdays by a photoshoot in a special way, wearing something special, trying on a family heirloom, documenting a milestone. Make those traditions special in your household too!

I encourage you to take special moments and document milestones of each season of yours and your kids life. They don’t stay “little” long and you will be shocked at how fast it goes!

Millie’s Birthday Session

I know that some of you like photos that are people centered or little to no background but
when you are shooting at the beautiful Adelman Peony Gardens you can’t help but get some of
those gorgeous flowers in the background!!! I was so excited when Danelle wanted to shoot at
the Peony fields for Millie’s 2 nd birthday session.

Millie and her baby

Millie showing dad a bird!

Just in case you missed Millie’s 1 st birthday photoshoot, here is the link to her super cute cake
smash and session with mom and dad! Millie is such a great little model, she is a good sitter,
she listens well and she’s use to looking at a camera~ bonus!!!

Millie’s cake smash from her 1st birthday

I brought a few things with me for our session in the field, a small chair and a bench and a solid-
colored blanket. These three are great options when shooting little people and families, as it
will give you some good options for sitting when there aren’t options for this. One word of
warning for you, other people will love to borrow your items if you have left them out, I had to
chase someone down wanting to take my little chair. Whoops!

walking through the peonies

sitting with mom on the grass

flying high with daddy

singing to me “Inka Dinka Doo”

The first location we shot at was the test garden area, which has a little shade and a water
feature, lots of color but lots of people on a sunny day, so if you’re a photographer, you will get
really good at editing!!! The test gardens are beautiful and you have a lot of options and could
do the entire session there but you know me, I like to move around and give you different
backgrounds.

The second location is out in the fields. Adelman’s have 25 acres of gorgeous flowers from May
1st to June 15th . This is the only time frames their fields are open so put this on your “must-see”
list! I have even asked off season to come out and take photos and they have turned me down
(insert sad face here)! The fields have nice wide walkways and isles with lots of room to shoot.
Millie loved shooting out in the fields because she could sit on the bench, sit with mom and
dad, sit on the blanket and run around, and her favorite fly up in the air! Millie is soo smart, she
said her ABC’s and sang a song for me and counted to 10!! Did I mention she also puts her own shoes on herself!!! Danielle and Jack give her lots of love and attention I can’t wait to see her blossom!

Happy Birthday 2nd birthday Millie! Go check out Millie’s full session or check out my social media for more of Millie’s session: Facebook and Instagram

Don’t forget to follow my blog or even book your next session!! See you soon in front of my camera!!

Photo Sessions with Toddlers

Toddlers are so stinking cute but BOY are they FULLL of energy!!! I often get asked “how is it that you get great shots of little people?” I am here to tell you my secret of a photo sessions with toddlers!

Emments 1st birthday/cake smash

Whether it’s a 1st birthday cake smash or a spring mini session, I highly suggest you have set up your session by creating timed zones. What you say ??? If this session is a cake smash, I would have 3-5 areas, a chair to sit in with balloons 5-10 minutes here, a cute sitting area with a blanket/toy that is their favorite 5-10 minutes, some photos of the little with parents, maybe grandparents 10-15 min here. HINT: you want to save the cake smashing for the very end. These zones will keep them interested in what you are doing, what you are asking them to do, and keeps them engaged.

I would really try to keep sessions with littles at 30. It’s great to “sell” a 60 min session but kiddos don’t last very long, which then makes for unhappy kids, parents and yes you are stressed out by not getting the perfect shot. Later on in this blog I will talk about mini sessions. You don’t want kiddos to hate getting their photos taken. When I have sessions like this, they grow up having their photos taken often and get used to being in front of the camera. They will come to realize these aren’t so bad and I can be good and do what mom wants for 30 mins. It’s a huge win for the parents!!!

Sophia 2nd birthday

When I have sessions with littles, I make sure to get there early and set up my zones. Like above for Sophia’s sessions, Zone 1 is: a little play tent, with pillow, a blanket, and her stuffed animals and toys. Zone 2: tea party with her dolls and tea set and cupcakes. Zone 3: pretty party dress with pearls on, you can add fancy shoes, crown etc. Just have fun in your zones and make them special!

Some of the items I have for these photo shoots, some items I have borrowed from a friends, the parents might provide some items or you can rent things like this too! Check out For the Love of Pete they have all kinds of items to rent for parties or photoshoots!!! She even has space to rent too!

Emmett’s 1st birthday/cake smash

With this Emmett’s (yes another Emmett) 1st birthday/cake smash we had him sitting on a family made quilt, his newborn baby pictures, mom brought some initials from his bed room and we had a fun little box & balloons with a pendant in the background. The cake smash photos are priceless!!! Mom made a super cute monster cake and put googly eyes and he LOVED it!!

Let’s talk Mini Sessions! For me, Mini sessions are 15 min small sessions that are set up for 1 day that I book these at one location. One day fast and furious day and multiple client sessions in 1 day, I usually make these a special deal and book the full day. These are super for: Christmas, Fall family, Tulip fields, mommy and me, Spring fling sessions. I have found a great location to be able to do some of these in the bad weather so people can do these more often for less money and time! BONUS!!! See the link to For the Love of Pete above.

Here is a little vlog of me shooting a spring mini session with an adorable 2 year old! We did zones, they might not be quite as noticeable but they are there. We had her sitting on the rug, sitting in a chair, on the booth, behind the booth, dancing, even Easter egg hunting! Click HERE to watch the Spring Mini Session.

If you are a photographer and struggle with little people, let’s connect and talk about how to make things go more smoothly for both you and the customer!

Don’t forget to follow me here on the blog and my social media!!! Now get out and enjoy that sunshine!!!

Tips to Find the Perfect Photo Shoot Location

Do you need help choosing a location? Do you want to leave the choice up to me (the photographer)? Choosing a photo shoot location might seem like a big deal but it really doesn’t have to be difficult. A location usually drives some of the other decisions (clothing choses, any props, how much walking involved, driving etc) you will need to make about your shoot so it’s important to choose the right place. Here are some tips to find the perfect photo shoot location.

Fall family photos with beautiful fall colors to match.

What kind of theme do I want? If a particular building or natural backdrop would work well with your theme, look around your area for spots that meet your requirements. If you don’t know what kind of backdrop you want, take an afternoon drive around your city for inspiration. It’s easy to overlook beautiful spots that are practically in your backyard. Ask family, friends or your photographer for ideas too. If you don’t have time to do your own scouting for the perfect location, ask your photographer, go ask or look at some of your friends photos, look at Pinterest for idea. I have a webpage you can look at some of the past photoshoots for different locations that I have already shot at.

Deepwoods Estates have a lot of beautiful locations in the center of town!

Are you allowed to take pictures there? Make sure that you can legally take pictures at the location that you have in mind. If it’s not public property or available to the public you will need to get permission first. Some towns, counties require a special permit to take photos in their town, city or location. Your photographer should know these requirements. If you are a photographer, you can usually find this information on the location website.

Minto Brown Park

Is it accessible? Consider that not all outdoor locations may be available all year round or you might not be able to get to them at all. Your safety is also an important aspect to think about before you decide on a location. Taking pictures on a mountain ledge may look neat but it’s best not to put yourself in harm’s way.  Another thing to keep in mind, or ask your self, it is accessible for all of your family members or clients. If you are a photographer reading this blog, you might want to ask your client(s) if everyone is able to get to this xxx location.

Minto Brown Park

How do you get to your location? Will it be easy to walk to the session location and if not, are you able to change your clothing and touch up your hair and makeup before the shoot? You should also find out whether there is a restroom that’s close enough in case you need it. I have to admit, most of the locations that I shoot at don’t have bathrooms to be able to change. I do have a small SUV and often offer it to people to change in. If you are shooting at a location at that’s not possible sometimes dressing in layers might be needed.

Dallas OR

Will the photo session be in a public place? If the location you have chosen has a lot of foot traffic, you need to ask yourself whether you are comfortable being photographed in front of others. If not, you might want to rethink your choice in location. Make sure that your location doesn’t become a distraction and that there is shelter nearby if you need it. Your location tells a story so it’s worthwhile to choose a meaningful spot. Sometimes as a photographer, you also need to know how to clone out people that might be in the background if you are shooting the a public park or area that might be highly popular.

Dallas Park, Dallas OR

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