Tag Archives: Bergen County professional photographer
In this edition of Throw Back Thursday I bring you a summer family photo session that I did with a great family in Wyckoff – enjoy!
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you may noticed that I often write how much I loved a certain session or a family… and it may sound redundant when I say that time and time again but it does not make it any less true – I do love my families and the images I create for them.
Case in point is family/session – this was my first family photo shoot with them but I’ve known them for a while – big sister S. is my Alexa’s best friend and because our kids get along so well we met up with the parents and would not you know – we get along great with them so now we are family friends! And if that was not perfect enough – they also have a wheaten terrier and you know that since getting our Millie I’ve been obsessed with all things dog related:)
It seems that every parent comes to a photo session worried about their kids ‘behaving’ and I always reassure them that kids just need to be themselves – they don’t need to pose or smile on command at their photo sessions with me. And once parents let go of their expectations of that their children should be doing we all start to have fun!
At this Wyckoff family photo shoot the parents were relaxed from the very beginning and their mood reflected in their kids. The kids were being kids – happy, silly, loud, loving and I got to capture just that. And while every family session I photograph is unique in its own way, what is common among all my family photo sessions is that I capture emotions and love and it makes me so happy to do that!
Looking at these images makes me smile and what’s even more important it made these parents smile:) At their viewing/ordering session there were so may ‘awwwwws’ and at the end this Mom told me that these photographs were exactly what she wanted captured. And to me there is no higher praise than that!
Being a Bergen County family and children photographer for close to 8 years I’ve photographed many many many families over the years. I do my best to blog these sessions and share what I think makes each family and session special. As result there are probably hundreds of blog entries on this website and of course you can view them in Archives on this website but really, who has time to look through that, right? 🙂 So I’ve decided to introduce Throw Back Thursdays to this blog! I am so excited that old family and children sessions will get to see the light of day again as part of Throw Back Thursday series:) So without further ado I present to you a Ridgewood family photo session I did with one of my favorite families – enjoy!
Can I just say how much I LOVED this Ridgewood family photo session? This is my fifth session with this awesome family – every time I photograph them I feel that the session I just did is my favorite session. And of course this was the case this year – I absolutely love the images we got and now this is my favorite session of this family:)
This year we decide to split up the session between their Ridgewood home for fun images with their house and downtown Ridgewood – for some urban shots. That’s a great thing about my Signature sessions – they don’t have to take place in the same location and so many of my clients take advantage of that – and get a great variety of images and capture places that are meaningful to them!
This family loves lifestyle family photography and so do I – and I had a blast photographing parents and kids doing what they do best – having fun together. There were kites and bubbles, chocolate chip cookies and peek-a-boos, hugs and cuddles and even some upside-down action:)
I love looking through these images – I think they capture an idillic childhood and an immense amount of love these kids grow up with!
Lena Antaramian of Live Love Laugh Photos is a nationally recognized family photographer located in Bergen County New Jersey. She specializes in authentic lifestyle family images that are not posed and capture precious family memories. If you are looking for a professional photographer to photograph your children and family and are located in Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Franklin Lakes or other towns in Bergen County please reach out to us to schedule your session.
I am so grateful for my Ridgewood photo studio during winter months – it is absolutely perfect for newborn and kids sessions especially when it is cold and grey out. But my first love is on location family photography and by April, after spending months photographing at the studio in the winter I am so excited to be heading outdoors for family sessions. This session was my first outdoor session of the year and it was glorious! The trees were starting to bloom, daffodils were out and there was no snow in sight!
I’ve photograph these guys for a few years now and I love seeing them year after year. Ms. K. was a bit shy at our first session, then less shy a year later and this year all the shyness was gone – she was holding my hand, ‘helping me’ make her brother laugh, and singing her heart out! And her brother slowly transformed from an adorable toddler to an equally adorable little boy who was entertaining me with a very interesting rendition of Feliz Navidad – crinkly nose and all:)
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you may noticed that I often write how much I loved a certain session or a family… and it may sound redundant when I say that time and time again but it does not make it any less true – I do love my families and the images I create for them.
Case in point is family/session – this was my first family photo shoot with them but I’ve known them for a while – big sister S. is my Alexa’s best friend and because our kids get along so well we met up with the parents and would not you know – we get along great with them so now we are family friends! And if that was not perfect enough – they also have a wheaten terrier and you know that since getting our Millie I’ve been obsessed with all things dog related:)
It seems that every parent comes to a photo session worried about their kids ‘behaving’ and I always reassure them that kids just need to be themselves – they don’t need to pose or smile on command at their photo sessions with me. And once parents let go of their expectations of that their children should be doing we all start to have fun!
At this Wyckoff family photo shoot the parents were relaxed from the very beginning and their mood reflected in their kids. The kids were being kids – happy, silly, loud, loving and I got to capture just that. And while every family session I photograph is unique in its own way, what is common among all my family photo sessions is that I capture emotions and love and it makes me so happy to do that!
Looking at these images makes me smile and what’s even more important it made these parents smile:) At their viewing/ordering session there were so may ‘awwwwws’ and at the end this Mom told me that these photographs were exactly what she wanted captured. And to me there is no higher praise than that!
I am taking a break from blogging adorable kids that I photograph at my Ridgewood photography studio to bring you something completely different but equally adorable – if I may say so myself:) My girls just turned 8 (pictures from their 8 year old photoshoot are still being edited!) and all they wanted for their birthday was a slumber party. Now I personally think that 8 is a bit too young for a slumber party but they begged and begged and begged and I finally gave in. To make it manageable (and to make sure that I maintain my sanity) we decided to keep it small and invited only 5 girls.
My sister is an AMAZING party planner (you can check out her party planning website here) but unfortunately (on so many levels) she lives in Atlanta. The girls and I were visiting her a few weeks ago and when I confessed that I was so stressed about the whole party planning side of it she took matters into her own hands and after half a day of brainstorming we had a clear plan of what to do. So with almost everything planned out and purchased (thank goodness for amazon.com) I was ready for the party. And I have to say it was pretty AWESOME!
It started with these beautiful hand-made (by my sister) spa-themed party invitations – they were so cool I almost did not want to give them out! And things only got better from there:
There were matching PJs and robes for all the girls and color coordinated turban towels:
and a ‘spa station’ with cucumber and lemon sparking water, non-toxic nail polish and foot shaped toe separators:
There was yummy food by Catchy caterer (think deep fried mac-and-cheese bites and cheddar sliders) and there was plenty of dessert including a giant chocolate cupcake cake made from scratch and decorated by yours truly. The cake actually tasted better than it looked but my kids were very impressed with my cake decorating abilities nonetheless:)
and of course there was popcorn because no slumber party is complete without it!:
After the initial screams of excitement died down and everybody had their dinner, Mia and Alexa made their wishes and blew out their birthday candles:
and that’s when things really got interesting! There were plenty of games:
and lots of giggles:
There were adorable girls in matching PJs:
and organic yogurt and banana facials (which did not stay on for too long):
There was nail-painting:
and scary stories reading:
lots of chatting:
and present-opening:
There was movie watching:
and an impromptu ‘photoshoot’ by a budding photographer:
and all-around craziness of having 7 eight-year-olds together in one room:
And there were a breakfast of donuts, waffles and milk served in old-fashioned diary bottles and happy girls giving me ‘thumbs-up’ for a great party!
This spa slumber party loud and messy and chaotic and EXHAUSTING and so much fun! My girls already told me that they want the exact same party next year:)
Lessons Learnt:
And now to the serious stuff – coming from a Business and IT consulting I did an internal ‘debrief’ of the party and collected some lessons learned that I am happy to share with you. So if you are a brave soul who wants to attempt to throw a spa slumber party for your daughter (or any other type of a slumber party for that matter) – I hope these will help you to maintain your sanity and learn more my mistakes:)
- The most important thing you can do is to hire a babysitter to help you and entertain the kids. I had a sitter help me out for 3 hours and that made a huge difference. Don’t get me wrong – I was still EXHAUSTED at the end of the evening but I cannot even imagine how tired I would’ve been without her help. If I ever throw a slumber party again I will definitely consider asking her what her nightly rates are:)
- 8 is probably a bit too early for a slumber party because 3 out of 5 girls who to the party ended up crying at some point at night missing their Mommies
- If you think having an at-home party is less expensive than having it at a party place – think again:)
- If you are foolish enough to have an agenda as to what to do and when (like I did!) – just tear it up and throw it out – the party will NOT go according to it
- Be prepared not to get much sleep. This party brought me back to the days of having newborn twins – when you are tired and finally calm everyone down and go to sleep only to be up many many times tending to crying children, soothing and calming them down.
- Watching your kids and their friends have fun and hearing them say that it was the BEST PARTY EVER will make you forget all the hours of work you put into it and all the hours of sleep you did not get and you will be glad that you did something for your children that they (hopefully) will remember for a long long time!