Tips & Tools

Creating magical memories : Capture those memories between the photos sessions

Creating magical memories : Capture those memories between the photos sessions

Pamela Salai photography branch stars logo twinkle twinkle

I am a mum, a wife, a sister , a daughter oh and a photographer .

You probably think I have the most amazing photos of my kids going to the zoo, baking cookies , playing etc…

Eh’ not really.  90% are cell phone photos

27365f69-5b8f-4209-b5de-76582749823d9eba2496-854d-4eab-aeb5-832841a9f3018ac5078b-f607-49f9-91bb-ab23a82a54d3

LOL. Ok , so they are amazing in the fact that I have them & that I have saved them . Not so amazing that I don’t “always” have my “big girl camera” with me to capture these moments. It’s ok! I am ok with it – you should be too.

Today’s blog was inspired by my friend Heather & Sarah  (both fellow Pittsburgh photographer’s )

The conversation started with Heather messaging Sarah and I .

“Ok. So I’m having a moment right now where I’m stressing out over capturing more “in the moment” photos. I suck at this!!! I’m talking even with my own family. I never pull out the camera.”…

Sarah following to say that she has attempted a couple times already & her tween wasn’t quite corroborating  “I’m even planning something with (her daughter) this evening for the 3rd time. The other 2 were a disaster”

This is what I said…

Hey ladies !!!
I totally get it too . There are a few ways to try to tackle this issue .
( insert take my own advice because I suck at it too )
Leave your camera out .
Don’t be afraid to shoot in jpeg – this eliminates “more” extra work . You can still edit … if you get it straight of of camera as best you can editing in jpeg isn’t a big deal
Don’t be afraid to use your cell phone.
You can export photos from your phone into an editing program too.
Lastly don’t beat yourself up . Don’t compare yourself to others .
It’s great to follow others for inspiration keep it as that . They have now inspired you to capture more life moments .
So move forward with that . Staged or not staged .
Don’t get upset on what you didn’t do or could’ve done.
It’s your life !
We have no clue how difficult it is on there end … sometimes the grass looks greener & it not always is.

P.S.

1/2 of my vacation last year was captured on my iPhone .

(lol)

Children, Family, Maternity, Mini, Published, Styled

Creating magical memories: DIY boho teepee

branch stars logo twinkle twinkle

Creating magical memories: DIY boho teepee

Anyone that knows me or my style knows that deep inside I am a boho mermaid 😀 ha ha.

I love styling sessions. It’s kinda my thing…If you don’t know that already. I love the planning of it & sketching out ideas & I also love shooting from the hip with ideas. For this partial session I styled the little girl in a Joyfolie dress in cream & a joyfolie flower crown. The cream dress was made of chiffon so I knew I wanted to carry that look through out the session. It inspired me to create this teepee using chiffon fabric instead of your standard teepee cover ( which I do have from other sessions …just didn’t want to use for this session). I also knew that this session was going to be outside in grass & back lit so all these factors played into my fabric selection.

What do you need ?

Dail rods or birch branches <–That is what I used

Fabric <– I used Chiffon to match the dress (experiment try different fabrics ) I had about 2 1/2 years cut

Flowers: I used fake flowers that I had from a ton of other sessions. I save everything ( well until I have used it so many times it’s time to move on …than I sell it). I bought my flowers at a local craft store. For the most part I didn’t need anything to secure them . I did end up using a few zip ties .

Rope /hemp

Wire cutters

Than … from her it’s pretty simple. Use rope (to tie the top of the 3 branches) I fanned the branches out until I was happy with how big the space was ( this is to taste or desired look)

Than I took the fabric & tied it to the bottom of the outside 2 branches. At the top I actually just tucked it in to give it that flowy – blow in the wind look & feel.

As for the flowers … you can do this to taste too. You can add more or less or experiment with different items ( it doesn’t have to be flowers) . There was no real science here. I just played around until I liked the look ( cutting the stems as needed). I did have my friend Soozie on hand to tell me how it looked & help with adjustments. She also let me borrow her awesome vintage blanket that you see as the base.

And … that’s it ! You now have yourself a teepee as well as materials that you can use over & over again for other projects ;-D

ENJOY !

oxo

teepee topperDIY teepee