Sprouts by Heather

I’m back with some more current fall and winter fashions…this week from The Gap. One thing I really love about Gap’s website is their “Looks We Love” tab under each category of clothing. Its so easy to go through and find great outfits for your kids whether you have an older boy or a toddler girl, or infant boy/girl twins. The do they work for you! What’s even better is the fact that you may already have pieces that are really similar to some of the layers, and it helps serve as a visual guide to putting together an outfit for your child (or even yourself!) from clothes that are already hanging in their closet. Or maybe you’ll find you just need one piece of the outfit to make it complete and you know exactly what you are looking for when you hit the store. If you ask me, that’s super helpful! Here are a few of my current favorite looks from those “Looks We Love” sections on Gap’s webpage.

If you peeked in my closet, you would find (probably) too many muted tones and neutrals with a few bursts of color here and there. So these looks with earthtones really caught my eye. They could easily be paired together to create a great sibling wardrobe for a photo shoot. I love the splash of the muted purple, just enough color while staying in the same color family. These are great winter colors if you ask me! And how cute is that aviator look on the left!

Another great color for winter is RED! Sometimes it is a little harder to figure out how to dress a little boy in red, so I thought these were fantastic examples. Navy blue and charcoal grey pair with winter red in a very lovely way. This is a great modern look for a brother & sister on the left, or a pair of energetic brothers on the right. Or this could even work all together for larger families with a van load of kiddos. These looks are great examples of the visual dynamic that layers add to a wardrobe. Layers photograph so well, and can take a simple color palette to the next level. I love the color accents that peep out from the bottom layers, and even the great touch of pattern in the little girl’s outfit. I bet you could even pull these together from the laundry pile this weekend.

Here I go with neutrals again. The most popular color in my own closet–grey! Grey is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I realized I had a problem when I packed for a recent weekend getaway and the entire stack of clothes I laid out were varying shades of grey. What can I say…I know what I like! These outfits full of tone-on-tone grey patterns and textures would look great this winter–especially in the snow! My favorite thing to do with a grey outfit is to throw in a dose of jewel tone like turquoise, mustard yellow, or hot pink as seen here. Such a cute look for those little elementary school kids out on winter break.

I hope this gives you some good ideas for your upcoming photo shoot. All of these principles can be applied to mom & dad’s wardrobe as well. All styles above can be found at The Gap.

Each season I fall in love with J Crew’s kids’ line all over again. The designers for Crew Cuts always seem to make the perfect decisions regarding colors, textures, layers, and details. So many of these looks would be fantastic for a photo session. When shopping for your next photo shoot, don’t forget to check out Crew Cuts, their sizes start at 2T. (All images via JCrew/Crew Cuts).

I can’t get enough of the stripes! From the tops for girls and boys, to the striped skirts and leggings for the girls. Their clothes have great details like the perfect-sized ruffles on jersey dresses, and a boys’ puffy jacket with arms that zip off to become a puffy vest. Crew Cuts also has great accessories and shoes. If you need help pulling together your family’s look for your session with Sprouts, let me know!

Have you seen the new summer line from Gap Kids? ADORABLE!!

The lovely weather last weekend, here in the south, put me in the mood for Spring. Then the weather took a turn and dumped some snow and ice on us yesterday. What  a surprise! And not the lovely -nice to see you- kind of surprise. So in celebration of Spring, which surely is just right around the corner, I put together some of my favorites from the Spring 2011 lines of my favorite children’s stores. Enjoy the aquas, corals, turquoise, and citron. I can’t wait for warmer weather to arrive!!

When J Crew launched its kids’ line, Crew Cuts, a few years ago it became an instant fave! Each season they produce beautiful pieces with great details and the best colors.

I LOVE part of Gap’s spring line and then I’m not too crazy about the other half, but here are some of my favorites. I adore the corals & oranges,just the right amount of ruffles, and the cute button and pocket details on the boys’ shirts.

Tea Collection has some really nice small patterned pieces that I really love, and some little girls’  dresses & skirts in the most perfect shade of citron. Beautifully made clothes for babies and children!

Mini Boden stayed trued to their style and uses the most bold and saturated colors this spring. I love the reds and blues, you could easily mix and match outfits to make them look nautical or not.

I can’t wait for spring photo sessions! I am currently scheduling through the end of the school year, email me to get on my calendar!

Its hard to think about wearing fall clothes right now. With the heat of summer, it seems like fall weather is so far away. I am looking forward to the temperature dropping several degrees (or twenty) because I hate being hot unless I’m at the beach, and I prefer hiding under a little more clothing than is comfortable in summer.

The best way (I have found) to plan out the wardrobe for a family session is to start with one favorite piece. This could your favorite dress of your daughter’s or a shirt you love seeing your husband in. I hope I don’t sound really selfish here, but right now I would be planning around something I feel great in and hides a lot of my new post-baby curves. So that is where I started this look. I really like the simplicity of this colorblock dress from Boden, although I would probably have it tailored so the sleeves hit just below the elbows. I love pairing simple outfits with a pop of color in the shoes or other accessories such as jewelry or a summer scarf.  So from this dress I drew a color palette of navy blue, gray, and raspberry. I put the dad in gray chinos because I didn’t want the palette to be overwhelmed with navy blue or denim, but to make sure he still looked a bit casual, I would roll the shirt sleeves up a bit (as shown). The girls could be in solids paired with tights in a contrasting color, or this would be a good place to through in a bit of a floral pattern if that’s your thing. I love shopping for little boy clothes now, and I love these two monochromatic looks for boys, accented by layers, pattern, and texture.

This is a look that doesn’t require all new purchases. You could easily find some of these staple items already in the closets in your home, then you could purchase a few new accessories if needed. It could also easily change to any color palette based off one of your favorite pieces.

The looks seen here can be found at:

Crew Cuts

Gap

Boden & Mini Boden

The most common question I get asked is “but what do we wear?!?!” (insert mom’s panicked voice) I tend to focus more on faces, expressions, and interactions in  my photography but I do agree that what you wear does make a big difference. I’m going to try to start this “What to Wear Wednesday” feature and post tips maybe two Wednesdays a month to help answer this question.

Thankfully since my schedule is currently controlled by a two month old, I am getting a little help this week from a great new children’s photography blog Inspire Me Baby. These mood boards are definitely my style. I always suggest not matching, but sticking to one color family. i.e. springy vibrant colors, jewel tones, earthtones, pastels. You pick your favorite because the images will ultimately be in your home. A good way to plan a wardrobe for a family session is to choose a favorite outfit of one of your children. If you have a little girl, its probably going to be one of her easy-to-wear summer dresses. Then you can choose outfits for the rest of the family to compliment that article of clothing. Here are some examples from Inspire Me Baby.

These are two beautiful examples of staying within one color family, the first being jewel tones and the second neutrals with a light rose accent. Also notice the accessories. Don’t forget to accessorize! Layers and Details add so much to your wardrobe, it is so much like interior design!

For a few more tips check out these two guest posts by Destin photographer Marla Carter on the blog Fly Through Our Window. I definitely agree with all of Marla’s key points in blog post #1.

1) When choosing a hair bow, less is more! Hair bows are meant to be cute accents to help hold your daughters hair out of her face. You don’t want them to steal the show!

2) Outfits should coordinate but everyone should not wear the same thing. The days of khaki and white are over, dead and gone!

3) Color, patterns and texture make photos pop both in color and in black and white.

4) “Should we dress fancy? Heck no! Dress like you normally would but cleaner and more well put together!” -Marla Carter

Also check out her second guest post here with some examples. I couldn’t agree more with all of her tips. It is exactly what I tell my clients all the time. Especially when it comes to babies….I loooove photographing those baby rolls and they always end up being Mom’s favorite images. So remember that when choosing clothes for your baby, don’t cover up the sweet stuff!

Hopefully this is helpful to some, or all.  Please let me know if there are any other photography related topics you would like me to post about.

Happy Wednesday ya’ll!!!!