My talented friend Pam of Casual Moments Photography posted this great blog article on displaying large portraits several months ago.  Coincidentally I had a chance to see her beautiful home and all the amazing LARGE prints on display in person this past summer, when I saw her article I immediately thought “DUH!  I should share this.”

Pam really did such an amazing job with decorating her home ESPECIALLY by creating the feeling of family within the four walls of where she and her husband call “home”.  It’s apparent that family is her number one treasure and has chosen to showcase her favorite people as art.  I absolutely love that!

Since many of my clients have these large spaces -great rooms (family rooms, if you will) -to fill up with art work I thought it would help to visualize how a photographer has chosen to fill her amazing & beautiful space with family art.  I hope you enjoy Pam’s article as much as I did.  Enjoy!  DISPLAYING PORTRAITS IN YOUR HOME

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pet photographyKim Basinger once said (of Alec Baldwin): “That was the first time I knew I loved him.” when he saved a boxer from potentially being hit by car by rescuing (and then keeping) the dog.  While we know how THAT love story panned out-the point is true.  We tend to love those that share our same passion and affinity for animals.

That’s not my quote today but I think it speaks volumes about whom we choose to bring into our lives: both people and animals.  Alec may have not been Kim’s forever love (and again we know how THAT turned out) but he endeared himself to her by his gentle and kind nature towards animals.

My daughter has a new best friend.  For this I am grateful for.  She grieved heavily (and still does) for our old dogs that we had put to rest this past winter.  It was brutal on all of us, but especially on her, the kind, gentle animal lover that she is.  I am so glad our new addition has been so well received, so well loved.  I am happy (more than you can imagine!) that they are bonding – as a parent one worries about these things (especially when said pet seemed to like others in our family a bit more in those early days! 🙂  )

This was taken on one of the nicest days this spring, yesterday.  I am thankful for warm weather, long walks with best friends + daughters and beautiful scenery.  I am thankful for like minded relationships and the companionship of animals.  I am thankful for life and the little pleasures of the day to day.

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.  -Samuel Butler

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  • Sylvia - May 9, 2011 - 10:38 pm

    Beautiful Mare.

  • Brandy Anderson - May 26, 2011 - 10:52 am

    Love love love!!!!

  • tangie - June 1, 2011 - 12:43 pm

    so very sweet!!

A huge thank you to the L Family, a Marmalade Favorite Family from a few years back.  They came out from Vernon Hills to one of my nature locations last weekend – the day seemed to match up our last session, overcast and the threat of dark clouds but we still made some magic happen!!

Since I last saw the L Family they’ve added another little member, the sweet & beautiful Little A.

Aren’t they adorable??  I was so happy to catch up with them and hang out with the whole family for a couple of hours.  What a fun, sweet and happy set of siblings!!

Posted in Chicago Professional Photographer and Suburban Chicago Professional Photography, Chicago Relationship Photographer and Suburban Chicago Relationship Photography
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  • Jill Smith - May 8, 2011 - 12:49 am

    Gorgeous children! The picture of the little one is so expressive!

  • PamN - May 10, 2011 - 9:48 am

    Now THIS is what a portrait should be – artful, natural images of your precious children that will never look dated or trendy. These children are so beautiful! They deserve to be photographed well, not by a chain studio next to a giant rubber ducky, lol!

  • Lisa Kelly - May 10, 2011 - 4:37 pm

    These images are so natural and happy. Love them.

I had the absolute pleasure of working with Little Z and her beautiful parents this past weekend.  They took a trip out to the studio for a Marmalade Urban Session – even with the threat of rain we created some beautiful imagery together.  I want to thank them for entrusting me with these precious moments in Z’s life – I am so proud of these images because I feel they truly capture the fun of having a little girl this age.

On with the sneak peekage:

Skokie Photographer

Little Z’s mom picked this chair out of my studio – I don’t think I’ve used it much since 2006.  Hello chair!  I forgot how well you photograph!

Father Daughter Photo

I absolutely *love* this father – daughter moment here…and the expression!  My heart melts!

What a happy girl!!  And look at those beautiful weeds!!  (I wish my neighborhood association would let me have this in my yard.)

Posted in Chicago Children's Photographer, chicago family photographer
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  • haniyyah - May 4, 2011 - 2:02 pm

    Thank you, Marianne! These pictures are beautiful! My baby is positively glowing! We had such a good time and i CANNOT wait to see more!

  • Tara - May 4, 2011 - 2:18 pm

    Beautiful Mare!! Such a beautiful girl, I love her bracelets! And I love how mom’s clothes tie into the scenery so well.

  • Norfolk Photography - May 5, 2011 - 1:50 am

    So sweet. Such a nice and cute smile your baby has, just love it.

  • Therese Marie - May 28, 2011 - 6:00 pm

    Mare these are beautiful… great work.

Once again a group of my friends, some of the best children and family photographers that I know, have gotten together to do the Blog Carnival. You can see my prior entries here & here. This time we are posting images that coordinate with the theme: MONOCHROME.

As soon as I heard we were doing a monochrome themed post, the theme centering around shades of one color, I had an idea in mind. My subject (aka our new puppy) had a different idea when I finally took her out just for this challenge, it was done SOOOO last minute that truly this could’ve been an EPIC FAIL!  😀   I had to put my thinking cap on so I could “find” images with this theme in my recent archives.  Putting my thinking cap on resulted in a win, thankfully, crisis averted. Luckily I had taken this photo of our newest family member just over a week and a half ago.

Meet Thumper – my entry for the Monochrome Blog Carnival, I think the shades of tan & brown qualify this into the monochrome theme.

Now for the next stop on the Blog Carousel.  My friend Anna-Karin, Baton Rouge’s Children’s Photographer of choice.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •

One last thing, I want to thank the good people over at Thumbtack.com for asking me to participate in their vendor spotlight.  Thank you Thumbtack!

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  • Dena Robles - May 2, 2011 - 8:08 am

    Oh I think I am in love with your puppy and those sweet eyes. Perfect example of monochrome. I wonder if we choose our pets to fit our style in life…my black dog loves to melt into all my black furniture!

  • Marianne - May 2, 2011 - 8:24 am

    lmao – yes Dena. Perhaps we should do a pet or animals theme for an upcoming Blog Carousel?

  • Anna-Karin - May 2, 2011 - 8:25 am

    What a beautiful puppy! This is a perfect example of monochrome.

  • Corey Sewell - May 2, 2011 - 8:29 am

    Love this, Mare – and your new puppy is adorable!

  • teri mason - May 2, 2011 - 8:36 am

    awwww, thumper is so cute! i love your take on it. those big brown eyes – no one can resist them!!

  • Lauri - May 2, 2011 - 8:52 am

    Not only does this fit the monochrome theme beautifully, but the look you caught in his big brown puppy eyes is so sweet!! Definitely a WIN! (and not in the Charlie Sheen kind of way.)

  • Amanda Padgham - May 2, 2011 - 9:18 am

    Adorable!! Love the name too! Beautiful image. Thumper is lucky to have you:-)

  • Lisa M - May 2, 2011 - 9:23 am

    LOVE LOVE LOVE! And congratulations on the new addition!

  • Leah Profancik - May 2, 2011 - 9:45 am

    Mare, she is sooo adorable! She has the sweetest eyes. I love your take on the theme!

  • Brandy Anderson - May 2, 2011 - 9:55 am

    Mare, I adore this image! What beautiful tones, you should thinking about adding pets to your specialties!

  • Julie - May 2, 2011 - 10:14 am

    She is so stinkin’ adorable!! I LOVE how she perfect coordinates with her surroundings. Wonderful photograph!

  • alpana - May 2, 2011 - 11:02 am

    What a cute puppy with his soulful eyes. Fun play on monochrome.

  • Melody Hood - May 2, 2011 - 12:02 pm

    Gorgeous image! And gorgeous puppy too! Love the color.

  • Simone Hanckel - May 2, 2011 - 12:14 pm

    That’s a puppy? LOL Thumper is huge!! I love this shot, that look in her eyes is priceless.

  • Mary Beth - May 2, 2011 - 12:24 pm

    Oh, I think I’m in LOVE Mare! Stunning photo… perfect for the theme and I can’t help but just say awwwwwwwwwww! 🙂

  • Marianne - May 2, 2011 - 12:29 pm

    Simone, yes, she’s about six months old. We got her from one of the local Humane Society shelters. She is incredibly sweet, very patient for a puppy. She’s finally falling in line with the family. I’m so glad we got her!

  • Ruthi David - May 2, 2011 - 1:52 pm

    Just gorgeous, Mare!!! How perfect this is.

  • Danna - May 2, 2011 - 2:36 pm

    awwww look at the sweet new baby 🙂 just beautiful!

  • PamN - May 2, 2011 - 2:52 pm

    That puppy does NOT look as ornery as you claim he is!

  • Rebecca Mudrick - May 2, 2011 - 4:01 pm

    Gorgeous shot of your new baby! Those eyes are amazing … love all the browns too. So earthy and soothing.

  • Marianne - May 2, 2011 - 4:59 pm

    @Pam, she isn’t ornery, she just likes to pee on my brand new rug. LOL She’s a sweet sweet girl, probably the most mellow dog I’ve ever had. If we can get her trained to sleep past 6 a.m. I’ll never complain about her again.

  • Je Neuhaus - May 3, 2011 - 5:16 am

    Love your take on monochrome. And look at those deceptively innocent eyes ; ). Beautifully smooth colors with a luminous quality that is so pretty.

  • Samara - May 3, 2011 - 9:02 am

    I love your puppy!!! You lie, he is perfect just like the image. 😉

  • Jim Davis - July 29, 2011 - 11:53 am

    I’m a sucker for pet shots. This totally qualifies for a monochromatic theme. Wish we had taken more photos of our St. Bernard when he was a puppy!

  • art photos - August 5, 2011 - 4:14 am

    Nice image, it really fits the monochrome theme.

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