Little Ones...Photography Post for Destin, Florida photographers

My connection with people is what I attribute to my success as a family/children photographer.  I have approximately 200 portrait sessions a year, and 99% of them are environmental sessions....meaning we meet outside for the photo shoot. And, of course, being a tourist destination, most all of you want your pictures taken at the beach!
Of those sessions, most all are of families--versus, say, couples (although I love being with the "big kids" too! :)
And within those families are several children each. So needless to say I photograph hundreds of children a year. And with all that experience under my belt, I can pretty much tell what is going to go down on a photo session.
There have been many times when I meet up with the families and one or more of the children are shy, crying or don't want to have anything to do with me whatsoever....but it never ends like that. I always have success in winning the little ones over. Most important, I believe, is due to the fact that I am VERY patient with them. And I try to build them up: "You're so handsome....look how pretty you are; you look like a princess..."etc.
You see, they are just little people, and they have feelings too. So I make it my goal to have everyone involved in the session experience a good time. And we have laughs before it is all over.
A couple of things I have learned over the years:
*When on the beach, little boys ALWAYS put their hands in the sand when I have them sitting for a pose...ALWAYS!
*I will always take the posed pictures first...then, I just let the little ones do what they do--be themselves. They are playing and having fun and I am shooting away.  Parents are always pleased with the results.
*Children always make the cutest, funniest faces when I don't even ask for it.
*I guess my background/training as a journalist/photojournalist has me always looking for that unique moment, when I can snap away!
*When there are many people/multiple families in the photo session, just let me be the focus when photographing the children. I find that the little ones especially, tend to be overstimulated when there are four or five adults in different places behind me trying to get their attention. That oftens winds up in a teary session for the child!  If parents will turn away, and just talk amongst themselves, I quickly grab that child's attention and get some great candid shots!
Just always know that I treat your children as I would my own. I have fun with them; they have fun with the beach session. And that results in happy children and happy parents!

:) Melanie

Time Flies...Destin, Santa Rosa Beach--personal post

Oh, shame on me!! It has been about six weeks since I last posted! But here is why: WE MOVED!! I am still unpacking boxes and still have some furniture in storage and still don't know where a lot of things are!
We finally finished building our dream house in Santa Rosa Beach. For those of you who don't know where that is, it's about 30 minutes or so east of Destin, past Sandestin. We live off 30A, which is a county road that runs through the beach communities of Dune Allen, Santa Rosa, Blue Mountain, Grayton, Watercolor, Seaside, Seagrove, Seacrest, Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach--parallel to Hwy 98.
It definitely is a different life out here. We moved from Fort Walton Beach, and prior to that, I had lived in Destin since 1993.
We live in a two-story house built on stilts...we describe it as a "rivercamp" house. It's not really like the beach houses out his way, like at Seaside and some others. Behind our lot is a state forest that encompasses thousands of miles. People mountain bike, hike and hunt out there. And yes, there's bears in them thar woods! And coyotes!!
Our carpenter is still with us, working upstairs to finish that out, so we can finally move the rest of our furniture out of storage into where it belongs! He had to finish laying the hardwood floors and trim, and now is working to complete our bathrooms. We wanted to go ahead and move it once the downstairs was complete, so we didn't have to wait any longer.
All during this time, I still have had weddings and portrait sessions to focus on. So while I have been shooting and editing and unpacking, I have let my blogging go to the wayside.
But now, I will play catch up.
In the meantime, I try to get in my exercise along 30A. This is a very active community. There is a wonderful bike path that invites joggers and cyclists every morning and evening; and it is very pet friendly with doggies on the bike paths with their owners and also on the beach. Property owners out here in Walton County can pay to have beach permits for their dogs. Just this morning Marley and I went for a bike ride to the beach, which takes 5 minutes. And then we went for a jog on the beach for about 30 minutes or so. By the way, I sure can tell summer is almost here...it is HOT!!!
At night my husband, Craig, and I like to sit out on our porch (his man cave) and watch tv and listen to the frogs and sometimes, whiporwills. And if it's really windy out at night, we can even hear the waves crashing at the beach 7 blocks away.
Life is good.