Peter: Phoenixville High School Photography

A few weeks ago I spent an afternoon with Peter downtown in Phoenixville.  Peter is a senior at Phoenixville High School, and is headed to Nashville this fall to study music and business.  I think he is headed for tremendous success in the music industry, and I had a blast getting to know him a little bit.

Here are a few favorites from our portrait shoot.

Thanks for a fun afternoon Peter (and mom, Chris!).  You are one talented young man and the music world is in for big things with you!

And I'll have the first album cover to shoot someday, right?

Hee hee!

Jen

2014 JLP Seniors: Meet The Team / Pottstown Senior Portraits

April is here and with it comes the start of the 2014 JLP Senior Model Program! 

Woo hoo!

This year's models are an amazing group of teens, coming from half a dozen different high schools, and excelling at everything from sports to academics to drama, and so much more.

Here are just a few of the faces I'll be showing off this year.

(please note that not all of these are JLP images, but just snapshots provided by the models)

Spring Sessions for my JLP Senior models have already begun, and this month is going to be filled with fantastic modeling sessions at new and exciting locations.  They may be in black and white here, but these teens are full of vibrance and spirit, all of which we'll be capturing in their images this April.

I cannot wait to share these teens and their stories with you!

Here's to an amazing year!

Keep smiling!

Jen

Spring Break Special: Senior Portraits>> Collegeville and Pottstown

New Treats: Custom Session Albums

For the past year and longer I've been working completely digital.  I loved the simplicity of it all, creating beautiful images for my clients, and then being able to offer them a CD of high resolution digital files for them to keep and create their own pieces.  It was a win win situation for both my clients and me- or so I thought.

Throughout this past year, I'd get the same email or note over and over.  A client had misplaced her disc and was hoping for another copy.  Or six months after the session (sometimes longer) the client was at a loss as to what she should order and from where.  I was shocked that so much time had passed before discs were discovered lost, or images were even being considered for print, and then I realized that I was at fault.  

The more I thought about this, the more I realized I was short changing my clients.  After all, isn't it my job, my responsibility, to walk my clients through every step of this amazing portrait experience, from our first phone call, until that very last image is displayed?  Shouldn't my clients be able to rely on me to advise them on how best to show off these precious portraits?  They've trusted me to create beautiful pieces for them- is it ok then for me to just hand them a disc and say "Good luck with that!"?  No way.

And so I decided to change things.

Now rather than offer the moon and the stars and every single product under them, I decided to start simple so as not to overwhelm us all!  I thought long and hard about what types of products my clients would like- both my family clients and my high school senior clients.  And through this process I have begun putting together a fantastic menu of amazing goodies for everyone.  I plan to showcase them, bit by bit, here on the blog.

A few weeks ago, I showed off the new sticky albums, which I know my high school seniors will love!  Today I am sharing my Custom Session Album!  This is definitely a piece that we ALL will love- my seniors, their moms, my family clients, and me!

I cannot wait for clients to see this album.  The pages are super sturdy and thick, yet delicate and luxurious in texture.  I love the rounded corners, and I love that I can customize each album to fit the style, colors, and personality of each client and each session.  

And check out how the binding lays flat!  This allows for gorgeous full page spreads and also lets my clients display their albums open, on portrait stands, like a classic art piece.

This is definitely one of my favorite new pieces, and I cannot wait to start creating them for my clients!  

And for those of you still wanting those digital files, don't worry.  They're still available.

The menu is truly fabulous, complete with options to order a la carte, or even create your own package!  It's all about customizing your portraits, and then your pieces, for YOU!

This year is going to be amazing!

Keep smiling!

Jen

Location, Location, Location! Creating Portraits that are truly YOU!

Late winter is one of my favorite times of year!  As a photographer, NOT as a mom, and certainly not as a mom with cabin fever!

But I do love this time of year as a portrait photographer, and more so, as a high school senior portrait photographer.  This is the season when some seniors like to book their portrait sessions, and this is the time when current juniors begin making their portrait plans.   Spring is just around the corner, and so are the next group of wonderful high school faces!

But with those new faces must come new places!

If there's one thing that remains consistent with every single high school session, it's that these guys do NOT want to look like everyone else.  They want to be unique!  And a huge key to that is finding a unique location when shooting.

So start thinking about that now.

When you are planning your senior session, consider your personality and brainstorm places that suit that.  For example, Jackie (below) has a sunny and bright personality and it seemed perfect to have her portraits reflect that (literally).  Not to mention that this was taken at Hill, which is home for her.

Sometimes it's fun to take that personality and play it against an opposing location.  Below we've got Alec dressed rather traditionally for his senior portraits.  But knowing that this is one senior whose personality extends far beyond what you see, I thought it fun to play the shirt and tie agains the grungy, rusty staircase and alleyway.  It was one of his (and mom's!) favorite shots.

Sometimes the ideas are pretty basic and pretty obvious, but can complete an image like nothing else.  Here, Taylor wanted to showcase his passion for running, and track & field.  The choice to shoot at a track was an obvious one, but an effective one.  A shot with him simply holding his running cleats would never have worked as well.  

And think outside the box.  Sometimes the most random places make the coolest settings. Here, we shot right on High St, in the middle of Pottstown.  Busy traffic, ecclectic store fronts, and colorful busses made for a super fun backdrop to Nancy's feminine and soft look.  Don't rule out a location based on preconceived impressions.

 Of course, it is my job as the photographer to have a whole bunch of fabulous locations to offer as suggestions, and I love scoping out new spots for my clients.  But nobody knows you better than YOU!  So start thinking about locations that compliment your style, locations that are special to you.

Where's your favorite hangout?  What places in town best show off your style?  What are the most beautiful, most vibrant, most "YOU" spots around?

Whether it's the local diner, the high school pool or ice rink, or your back yard, I'm game for it.  I'm always excited to find new locations!

Jen

Fabulous New Stuff: Sticky Albums

I am in love with a new product! 

Last month, at an amazing trade show, I discovered Sticky Albums.  These albums are awesome!  They are albums that you can share, with tremendous ease, right from your mobile phone.  Particularly fun for high school seniors, who do everything from their phones, these albums are the new "it item" for JLP.  

No longer do my seniors need to carry around rep cards or printed wallets that might make them feel a little lame when handing them out.  Now they just pull out their phones and pull up their albums (which by the way, are an app on their phones with their face as the app- how cool is that!)

The album looks like the image below when it's pulled up on your phone.  You simply click on any image, and then slide back and forth to view the rest.  At any point, clients and their friends can click on my logo to check out my website, they can contact me by phone or email with a simple click, or they can share with their own friends via FB, Twitter, Pinterest, or email.  So easy!!!

Want to see how easy it is?

Then just click HERE from your mobile phone and download this album yourself.

Then share with anyone and everyone.  It's so fun!

Even better than that, how about your own album?

For my past clients, I'd love to offer this new product to you with the images that you've already purchased.  I'll be offering these albums at a special price through the end of February.  Consider it my Valentine's treat, since I'm absolutely IN LOVE with these little treats!

Contact me now and let's get you your own Sticky Album!

Let's share those images with everyone!

Keep smiling!

Jen

Bloom Where You're Planted: Being Grateful for Home

I had an idea this past weekend and I thought I would share it with you.  Many of you might not know this, but I am the wife of a boarding school teacher.  What's more, I once was a boarding school teacher myself.  I have spent the last 15 years living this boarding school life, six years out in Colorado, and the other nine here at The Hill School.  

Now, many of you are not familiar with this life, with this type of environment, so I thought I'd try to explain it.  Simply put, we live on a campus together with about 500 high school students, some who are "boarders" and live in dorms with us all school year long, and some who are day students, and come from home daily to attend school here.  

Our home is unique and most likely not like yours.

You see, this is our house, this beautiful old stone dormitory.

Mostly, our home is just like the typical home.  We've got our kitchen (most often NOT this clean!), and our living room, and the kids' rooms, and our room, and so on and so forth.

This is our front door, which is just like any other.  We come and go, often in a rush on weekday mornings, some days even forgetting it's not your "everyday house".

But see here?  This is where it gets interesting.  This is our back door.  And unlike your back door, which most likely opens up to a back yard, or a garage, or something like that, our back door opens up into a hallway- a hallway usually bustling with 12 high school boys who are, at times loud, at times stinky, and at most times super awesome and great with our kids and our family.

So why am I sharing all of this with you?

Well, for years I have gone back and forth with how I feel about living the "boarding school life", how I feel about being a dorm parent, and how I feel about a life so "not normal"!  I've fought it, stressed about it, questioned it, and most recently, I've truly and completely embraced it.  

I love our home.  I love our dorm.  I love Hill.

I love that our kids can go run and play anywhere on campus and be completely safe and secure.  I love that this door shown above can ALWAYS stay open (and it does) because we have 12 teenage boys who might need us or want to talk or want to come in for some chocolate chip banana bread.  I love baking for their birthdays (got one this week), watching them take our kids under their wings, and watching them learn how to be responsible and maybe hold their tongues in front of little ears.

And recently, I've come to love the realization that living this "not so normal life" allows me to connect with the subjects that I am most passionate about photographing.  How many other senior portrait photographers out there actually LIVE with 500 of their favorite models?  It's an absolute blast being a part of their everyday lives.  And it tricks me into thinking I'm still young!

In embracing this crazy part of who I am, I thought it would be really fun to share with you some of the quirks, the treats, and the challenges of living the boarding school life, and being the boarding school wife/mom.  I'll share with you the chaos of dining hall life (no cooking, no dishes!  Woot woot!!!), the friendly faces that make Hill life so awesome, and the situations that make this crazy place unlike any home I've ever known.

Ever wonder what's beyond those Hill gates?

Have questions about this life?

Let me know what you want to know about!

Let's have some fun together!

Jen

Fall of 2012 Recap

Happy New Year!  And I'm only about a month late!

Forgive me for being so behind in my blogging, but it's been for good reason.  As you can see, I've been working on some changes for Jen Lebo Photography, one of which is the new look of my blog!  Thanks to the ladies at Smitten Blog Designs (Christine you rock!), I now have a blog that truly showcases my images and stays true to my style and my brand.  I'm loving how easy it is to post now and am hoping to blog a lot more.

January of 2013 has truly been about new ideas, new goals, and new plans for Jen Lebo Photography.  Exciting new things are on the way for JLP and I cannot wait to share them with you, beginning with the JLP Senior Model Program, which will launch in the coming month!  High School juniors, this fabulous program is for you, so get ready!

But before we get into the exciting new plans for 2013, I wanted to remember the highlights of 2012, mainly those of the fall portrait season.  October and November especially were insanely busy, but more fun than I'd ever had behind the camera!

Here are a few of my favorites from the past few months.

I'm gearing up for a fantastic 2013 and hope that you will join me in celebrating what I hope to be JLP's best year yet!

Keep smiling!

Jen

Beautiful Kailey: High School Senior Session

I have come to LOVE high school senior portrait sessions!  For me, there is nothing like spending a couple of hours with a senior, finding that perfect location, and getting lost in the fun and the fabulousness for a while.  High school seniors are like no one else, they are so special, so vibrant, so beautiful.  They are about to take on the world, and yet, still have that young child inside of them.  That combination brings out amazing beauty, and on this day, with Kailey especially.

Kailey is one of my JLP Senior Reps and this was our final session together.  We spent the early evening at St. Peter's Village and enjoyed the time until the sun set.  I could have spent another hour with her, but the day ended on us.  

Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:

Thank you so much Kailey for being one of my Senior Reps this year!  I loved every single minute of our time together.  You have such a bright future ahead of you and I wish you so much joy and success!

Thanks too, to great friend and make-up artist, Shannon Dimichele of Classic Bella, who did Kailey's hair and make-up and stayed on site with us for touch ups and assistance through the session.  You rock, Shannon!

Fabulous hair, gorgeous make-up, a fantastic location, and of course, a stunning beauty.  It simply does not get any better!

Keep smiling,

Jen

Class of 2013 Senior Rep Program: Meet Jackie!

Back in the early spring, I featured a handful of fabulous high school juniors who were my "Class of 2013 JLP Senior Reps". I wrote a blog post about each student, sharing a little bit about them, and some of the favorites from our shoot. But I was one rep short. A junior from The Hill School, Jackie was studying in Spain on a year abroad (wow!), but wanted to be one of my reps. I gladly accepted her request, knowing what a great young lady she was, and also what a beautiful batch of photos we would create together!

(I'm also a little biased when it comes to Jackie, as she is one of our "go to" baby-sitters, now our neighbor, and someone our kids absolutely adore!)

Jackie, like the other senior rep ladies, had her hair and make-up done at Gwendolynn's Salon & Spa, and then we headed back to Hill for her evening session, capturing some gorgeous sunset light.

Here are a few of my favorites, along with her list of 25 fun facts about Jackie!

1. I am President and CEO of my own non-profit organization.

2. I am fluent in both Spanish and English.

3. I hate pizza.

4. I play on an all-boys Spanish field hockey team.

5. I love kids.

6. I have three brothers, all younger.

7. I have moved 13 times because my Dad was a Navy commander.

8. I have lived in Chile.

9. The longest time I have ever lived anywhere is 3 years.

10. My favorite food is rice.

11. I can't watch scary movies without crying- I'm kind of a wimp in that area.

12. I have ridden an elephant.

13. I hope to go to Australia someday.

14. I am very unorganized.

15. I can spiral a football.

16. "How I Met Your Mother" is my favorite TV show.

17. My parents are my biggest role models.

18. I can't raise one eyebrow or whistle.

19. My brothers and I used to (and still do) make master plots in order to sneak candy into the house.

20. I'm absolutely terrible at math, even though my Dad teaches it.

21. I've never gone to the beach without getting sunburned.

22. I want to be a teacher after college (I think).

23. I love to read.

24. I am terrified of cats. They freak me out.

25. I am fascinated by Marine Biology.

Thank you so much, Jackie for being a part of my JLP Senior Rep Program! (And special thanks to younger brother, Matt, who humored me for a quick shot at the end of our session. Soon enough, Matt, you'll be one of my reps too!)

To celebrate the last of my fabulous senior reps, I'd love to offer any rising seniors out there something special!

Contact me and mention this blog post, and Jackie's Senior Rep Session, and you'll recieve 50% off your own senior portrait session!

Fall is right around the corner, and it's the ideal time to have senior portraits taken (wait until winter and you lose the gorgeous weather; wait until spring and it's too late for yearbook pics!).

You have until August 31st to take advantage of this special, so book your session now!

Let's make a date and celebrate your senior year!

And thanks again, Jackie! I had a blast!

Jen