The Bechtels: A Family Portrait Session

I have been photographing the Bechtel family for about 3 years now and I'm telling you, it gets better every time.  Jen and Chris are such a wonderful couple, but truly, their boys steal the show!  We met a couple of weeks ago at The Hill School to shoot our annual fall session, and it was crazy fun from the very first photo!

I love to come into my sessions having done some prep work.  I love to browse magazines, or check out Pinterest for inspiration in lighting, posing, and fresh ideas.  It helps me to have a game plan going into my sessions, and assure that I get all the family combinations needed.  However, most times, the session will take on a life of its own, bringing out images and poses that were even better than planned.  

Below are some of those wonderful surprises, mixed in with those prepped for.  Either way, with a family this wonderful, the portraits are going to be fantastic!

Jen and Chris, once again, you have brightened my autumn with your family.  It's so clear during our time together how much you love your boys and how proud you are of them.  And what's more, it's always so clear to me during our time together the reasons why.  They are beyond adorable, beyond fun, and beyond precious!

Thanks for the awesome time!

Keep smiling!

Jen

Fruit of the Spirit: JOY

So I've been working on a personal photography project, as some of you might remember from a recent blog post. Each month, I am focusing on one particular fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). December's focus was on JOY. I figured that would be pretty easy as the month ended with my three kids tearing into tons of Christmas presents- surely I could capture tons of joy there, right?

However, God had something different to show me with respect to joy. And it came on the Monday morning after Christmas.

On this sunny morning, we took our little girl to get her ears pierced. It was one of her Christmas presents, and boy, was she excited! Talk about joy! This was something she'd been waiting a long time for. And she had a whole crowd of family to share in the joy with her. Of course, mom and dad were there, but also Grandma, Aunt Tara, and cousin Hannah who is just the coolest person in B's world! She was beyond excited, beyond joyful!

She sat as still as possible as the lady marked her little lobes, pre-determining the perfect spot for the pretty little earrings.

This was such a wonderful, joyful moment for our Brady girl. She was just seconds away from getting something so special, something that she'd been hoping for for so long. However, what Brady didn't know was that she was going to have to endure a little pain in order to enjoy having a life time of beautifully pierced ears.

The first earring went in with a little pop, and I saw her face crumble. We had not told her about the pain, knowing that she would have been too afraid to endure it. She would have missed out on the joy of having her ears pierced simply because she was too afraid of the pain. So instead, we chose to keep it from her, knowing it would be worth the pain.

And sure enough, after a few tears, and one more pop, my beautiful little girl was enjoying her beautiful new earrings. The pain had been worth it, as we knew it would. She was again filled with joy, sporting pretty little pink flowers in her ears, which sort of matched the color of her tear-stained eyes and cheeks.

That morning with my sweet B got me to thinking about God's joy for us, and it reminded me of the Bible verse that I chose for Brady's life verse years ago.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Our Father knows the plans that He has for His precious children, just like I knew the plans that we had for our precious little girl. And just like that morning and our plans for Brady, God's plans are never to harm us, but to prosper us, to give us hope and a future. His good plans for us sometimes mean enduring pain, physically, or otherwise. His good plans for us don't always feel good. Sometimes we even cry and wonder how any joy can come of this pain.

But we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, (Romans 8:28), and in the end, our tears bring forth great joy and great hope and great blessings. If we only choose to trust Him through the pain.

All that from a morning at Claire's getting a 6 year old's ears pierced? Really?

Yup. God has a wonderful way of teaching me through my precious children, as He whispers to me "See how much you love them? I love you and them so much more."

Have a blessed and joyful day.

Jen

Precious Portraits Contest! Let The Voting Begin!

Earlier this month, I teamed up with Lori McHale of Designing 4 Hope, and Susan Malampy at Pride N Joy Hair Salon to launch the first annual Precious Portraits Contest, a fundraiser for Lori's nonprofit. The contestants were absolutely beautiful and I had the best time!

Here are a few portraits from our day together.

And now the portraits are up and ready for voting!

Voting is open to anyone and it's a simple process:

Go to www.jenlebophotography.com

Click on "the website"

Click on "clients" on the top menu

From there you'll be brought to a password protected page- the password is "contest"

This will bring you to the gallery of contestants.

Portraits are labeled by letters. You simply click on your chosen portrait and then select the number of votes you wish to place.

Vote as many times as you like! It's $1/vote and all voting proceeds go to Designing 4 Hope!

There are two easy ways to pay:

1. There is a paypal account set up in the gallery which will go directly to Designing 4 Hope.

2. You can opt to send a check made out to Designing 4 Hope (mail to PO Box 845, Royersford, PA 19468)

You have 2 weeks to vote and spread the word to your friends and family. The portrait with the most votes will win her family a free family portrait session with Jen Lebo Photography, which is a win for her, a win for me, and a win for a special child in need of a bedroom makeover! What could be better?

Remember, voting ends on November 30, so spread the word and start voting!

A special thanks to all who participated in our event! What a special way to use your children's precious smile to bring a smile to another precious child!

Happy voting!

Jen

Monthly Monday Mommy Playdates: One Lesson Leads To Another

Yesterday I enjoyed another great morning sharing photography tips and letting my little guy explore a new playground. This month's Monthly Monday Mommy Playdate took us to Anderson Park in Collegeville. The little guy and I had never been there before, but we were not disappointed! Not only was there a wonderful play area for him to run around, climb, slide, and explore, but there was great opportunity for a wonderful lesson in open shade.

I had planned to talk to the moms about perspective and how to get at our kids from all angles. But before we went on our assignment to "think perspective" one mom asked a great question about light and how to escape those harsh contrasting highlights and shadows on her daughter's face. We talked a little about open shade, and then went off in search of fun perspectives.

I began climbing along side my little guy shooting him from crazy angles.

But I began to notice those harsh highlights and shadows. The light on the playground was just too bright.

There was no open shade near the playground, he was either in direct sunlight or running across crazy shadows. So even the fun perspectives I tried were overshadowed (pun intended) by the harsh light. Something had to give.

Then I noticed that Sedona had crawled underneath into some open shade. I shot, exposing for her face, and blew out the entire play apparatus. But it showed us something. Even at mid day hours, with harsh direct sunlight, if we can find open shade, like under a play set, we will get great exposures, and great images!

Here's the original shot, uncropped to show how harsh the light was from above compared with the nice even light in the shade.

And here it is cropped. Great image in that same harsh setting. Ah, the joy of open shade!

So I decided to go exploring and invited the others to join me. We found a wooded path with great open shade and we plopped our kids down on the path and saw the light!

After enjoying the lesson and the great images, we turned to head back to the playground. I snapped this shot just before we hit the harsh sun again. You can see where the shade drops off and the harsh light begins. Where would you want to be shooting?

Back to the playground we went and back to the harsh conditions. No matter where I took this little guy I could not find good light. It was hard enough to find the shade on this playground with no trees, but to keep a 2 year old seated in tiny pockets of shade for more than 5 seconds? Well, that's just downright impossible!

I tried and tried, but hated every shot on this playground. So I gave up on this spot, and let my little guy explore again, gently guiding him to another area with open shade, the west side of a great building, shown to the right of this image.

And there we found the light! It was gorgeous directional light, falling beautifully and evenly on us with no harsh spots. And there my little guy was able to plop down with his snacks and his choo choos and play in the grass for a while.

And there I was able to have fun with my perspective, getting down low with him, and enjoying his world for a little while.

I learned a few lessons during this hour. First, it truly is all about the light. You can work on perspective, or fun angles, or compositions all day long, but if you're not in the right light, you're just not going to get the shots you want. Second, I learned that sometimes the locations dictate the lessons learned on our mommy dates, and that is so fun for me! And that every location offers new places and pockets of light to explore if we just look around a bit. And finally I learned that sometimes, just sometimes, it doesn't matter if the light's great or not, that sometimes it's about the kids having a blast and a snapshot will do JUST FINE!

I can't wait for our next Monthly Monday Mommy Playdate! Not quite sure where it will be next, or even if it will be on a Monday (I've had some requests to mix it up a bit), but I'll let you know! And until then...

KEEP SHOOTING!

Jen

Precious Portraits Contest! A Fundraiser for Designing 4 Hope

A few weeks ago I blogged about a friend of mine, Lori McHale. Lori runs the non profit organization, Designing 4 Hope, which helps critically ill children by giving them beautiful bedroom makeovers. I had the privilege of photographing one of these makeovers this summer and was moved by the entire experience, from the volunteers who gave so much of themselves, to the extraordinary bedroom designs created by Lori, to the talented work of her contractor, Steve. And let's never forget the amazing spirit and heart of the little man behind the mission, Gavin, who is fighting leukemia at just 4 years old.

Lori has a wonderful talent and she is using it to bring hope to children who truly need a reason to hope and a reason to smile. As a portrait photographer who specializes in all things children, I have been looking for a way to join Lori in her work, to donate my time and services to an organization that I can stand behind. And so together with Lori, and our new friend Susan, owner of Pride N Joy Hair Salon, this is what we've come up with!

Join us on Sunday, November 6th from 1-5pm at Pride N Joy Salon in Chester Springs for this super fun fundraiser!

For just $29 you will receive a complimentary styling with Susan, and a 10 minute mini portrait session for your child with Jen. The portraits created from all mini session that day will then be displayed in a protected gallery (no names given out for the safety of your children). For $1 per vote (unlimited voting) you and your family and friends can vote for the most precious portrait!

The winner of the Precious Portraits Contest will receive a FREE family portrait session with Jen Lebo Photography!

The best part? ALL proceeds from these sessions and the voting will go to Designing 4 Hope so that Lori can continue to touch the lives of children in our area.

Please join us for this special event! Let us celebrate the beautiful smiles of your children in order to bring some smiles to other precious children.

Contact Jen Lebo Photography for more information or to book your mini session in advance. We're hoping that the sessions fill completely up and you'll want to make sure you get a spot!

610.504.6151

www.jenlebophotography.com

Lori, Susan, and I sure hope to see you there!

Jen

Experiencing Growth: Family Portraits

One of the best things about being a portrait photographer is experiencing growth. Some days the growth I experience is on one side of my camera, that of the little ones growing up before my eyes. Like Sophia here. I first photographed Sophia when she was just 8 months old, not yet crawling away, just content to sit with me. Watching her grow from year to year has been so fun, especially during our past session as I watched her grow into the role of "big sister".

But sometimes the growth I experience is on the other side of my camera, like it was this very day. As I watched Sophia and Olivia interact with each other, and their parents with them, I began to enjoy photographing them just doing their own thing. I stopped instructing them, stopped forcing them into a connection with me, and simply photographed their connections with each other. It was a lesson I had already heard, and even shared with others. But this was the day I got it myself.

Of course I still love to connect with my families, and love to see them smiling back at me. But I think I've found that balance between interacting with them, and letting them interact with each other. And it's wonderful to be experiencing growth from both sides. Just goes to show you that you never stop growing.

I can't wait to see what the next few years with these beautiful girls will bring... for all of us!

Keep growing,

Jen

Loving Autumn: A September Recap

I hope your September was as wonderful as mine was. I spent my month celebrating newborns, goofing around with some great kids, and enjoying some quality time with some quality families! Here are a few of my favorites from the last month!

I was smitten with newborn Cecelia, just 4 days old here!

I hung out with some really cool kids, Graham, Sadie, Gracie, and Lucia... and their parents are pretty cool too!

Had the awesome opportunity to photograph Evan, and his sisters, Emma, and Elisabeth.

Was smitten yet again, this time with Colbie Grace, just 6 days old here!

And went out for a family session with Rich, Melissa, and their little dolls! I've been photographing this family since Sophia (now almost 3) was just 8 months old. Now she's big sister to Olivia, who turns 1 next week!

October is already booked and I'm looking forward to the great times ahead!

Happy autumn!

Jen