Photo by Maryland Photographer Robin Owen www.robinowenphotography.com

When people ask what my favorite session is, it’s usually the last one I did.  Every time I photograph people — kids, babies, families, high school seniors or weddings — I have the time of my life.  I try to encourage my clients to be themselves and have fun too, although I’m the first to admit it’s hard when you have a giant camera pointed at your direction…  I took this family out to a beautiful spot at a local park for their family photos and spent time talking, laughing, walking, and generally making a fool of myself in order to get everyone to feel comfortable and have a good time (and to forget about the camera around my neck…)  The images that came out of the session are by far some of my favorites of all time.  I mean, seriously — have you ever seen a swinging toddler go all the way around?!  I hadn’t until now!  My goal is to make each session better than the last.  So far, so good!

www.zomakphotography.com

Photo by Robin Owen Photography, located in Southern Maryland.

Yeah, you’re Pregnant! This is an amazing time in your life and you are going to want to remember everything about your pregnancy. Maternity photos have been popular since Demi Moore was featured on the front of Vanity Fair back in the 80’s, showing off her very pregnant belly. Soon after women everywhere followed Demi’s lead and started documenting their own pregnancies with professional photos. Dads and siblings often joined in on these shoots.  Many of our listed photographers also shoot maternity photos so if you are looking to have your pregnancy documented; you have come to the right place to find an awesome photographer!

Photos by Robin Owen Photography

“I met little Chloe a few weeks ago for portraits of her and her grandfather by the sea.  This little girl is the most fashionable, sweetest thing – she was quite content to wander around, discovering her surroundings and leading us on a little adventure.  I love classic clothing in my childrens portraits, and Chloe had the perfect wardrobe – her little dresses, jackets and shoes were absolutely darling.”

Shooting children can be a true challenge.  Many of the younger ones are apprehensive about a stranger following them around with a camera.  If they are very young they may not know what the camera is and it could scare them. The older ones can lose interest quickly and begin to misbehave or act out, effectively ruining your hope of capturing perfectly

 posed, smiling photos with everyone looking at the camera. A good children’s photographer will need heaps of imagination, creativity, energy and patience to keep the child’s attention and capture those magical moments. You can’t just put a child in front of the camera and expect them to perform.  Maybe your photographer won’t be able to capture the idyllic family portrait with everyone in the perfect pose, looking into the camera with a big smile on their face. But, even with the most difficult children the photographer can most likely capture photos of them being kids, laughing, playing, and interacting with each other and with you.  By engage the kids in something they like to do, you can capture images that will show their personality.  I’m a big fan of bringing bottles of bubbles to children’s photo shoots.  Kids love blowing bubbles, it distracts them and makes them smile. Parents can blow the bubbles for the younger children and have them try to catch them.  The biggest mistake parents make is to yell at the kids during a shoot. This never works and makes it much more difficult for the photographer to engage the child. You want them to view the photographer as someone fun but if they get yelled at every time a photographer shows up, they will learn to dread the prospect of having their photos taken and the whole professional photography experience.  Also parents please don’t tell your kids to smile, it will look fake.  Let the photographer handle that. Don’t give too many directions on how to pose, try to stay out of the process as much as you can. Let the photographer do their job. One big complaint I hear from photographers is that the parents interfere too much; causing the kids to give fake smiles or look in the wrong direction.  If parents are giving instructions to a child or interacting with a baby the baby or child is naturally going to look at the parent and away from the camera.

This senior photo was taken by Robin Owen Photography. Robin’s studio is located in Southern Maryland.