Fire and Ice - Kansas City Portrait Photograher

I photographed this little beauty a couple of days ago. She had been sick for her "ballerina portrait" session the week prior so her mom brought her in to the studio for her make-up session and we had a great time. I even convinced her mom to let me work on a different backdrop for some, and I know she will love what she sees :)
I like to think of these as the "fire and ice" portraits. I'm sure you can figure out why. But when she came in, I told her, with her blond hair and blue eyes she reminded me of an "ice princess" but later, when she was in the fall colored tutu and in front of the warm backdrop, there was nothing cold about it!

Thanks, Jill, for bringing her in and for loving my work - I appreciate that so much!

Cold But Worth It - Kansas City Portrait Photographer

The session could have been miserable. Yesterday was so cold and dark. But when I get to photograph two little girls who love the camera, add in two wonderful and helpful and involved parents, a cute dog and an amazing environment, the session was anything but miserable. Sure it was only 40 degrees, but we all had fun and I am so looking forward to showing Shelly her gallery. Choosing ones for the blog has not been easy - I love them all! (FYI - click on the images to see them bigger/more clearly).

I have give a special compliment to the girls' dad, Clint. He's just the type of dad I like in my line of business. Instead of acting bored, or hiding out in their SUV, Clint was encouraging to the girls, drove us around all over the West Bottoms, never once looked bored, and he even carried around my antique yellow sofa.

Thank you, Shelly and Clint, for choosing me, yet again, to photograph your girls - it was a pleasure.

Sunday's Girls - Kansas City Portraits

Here's a preview for all of the families who came to the Oct. 4 portrait day at the Center Stage Studio. I saw a lot of traditional ballerinas, and then some not-so-ballerinas - all beautiful!

I did want to say that I'm so happy that so many of you brought your tweens. So many people, it seems, have portraits done of their small children, but once the kids turn 6 or so, they stop having them photographed regularly. But look at the many tween beauties I've photographed over the last couple of weeks. They absolutely love having their portraits done - much more so than the 2-year-olds - and look at them! Their beauty deserves to be photographed as well, and their personalities really shine.

Your galleries should be online by Monday. Until then, enjoy!

The Beauty of Dance - Stephanie

I've wanted to photograph Stephanie, now studying dance in New York, ever since she was one of my daughter's dance teachers. She was on a little break in Kansas from her bi-coastal life last week and so I finally got a chance to put her in front of the camera. She brought along a friend (who I have photographed many times) and we had a good time in the studio. Besides dance portraits, we had fun with headshots, and other things, too. Stephanie - I'll have your gallery ready soon!

This first one below is my favorite of her. It's not my traditional dance portrait, but I love it. I've always thought that Stephanie is very cerebral about dance. When she taught her classes, I could see her thinking - this portrait shows that side of her, I think. (click on it to see it better).


Fun with Marky!
I love this headshot of Stephanie - she looks like she's ready for Hollywood, doesn't she?

And my favorite headshot of Marky! I love showing women how beautiful they are!

Experimenting with Light - Kansas City Portrait Photographer

So, you all recognize this young woman - Gwen is one of my favorite people to photograph. She's sweet, fun, beautiful and talented (and I'm leaving out some adjectives just so my gushing doesn't get embarrassing).

I have wanted to use studio light outdoors for a while now. What's called "OCF" (off camera flash) is very popular in the portrait photography world right now. While no self-respecting portrait photographer uses "on camera flash" - that is, the camera's built-in flash, for portraits, the use of a flash unit (be it a small portable one or a large studio light) outdoors can create a whole new look, and also make night-time portraiture possible.

So, I grabbed Gwen, and off we went to some land just north of my studio door, and I gave it a try (using a long extension cord to plug in my light). How cool is this? I can't wait to try this again (and will do so at my parents' farm this weekend - if my kids will cooperate...if not, my parents, sister and husband may be forced to be my models. Watch my blog for an update on that - lol!)

I have one more to post - my own favorite - that has some very different qualities - I'll do that once my hosting site is back online.

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Allison - Kansas City Maternity Portraits

I was so excited to get to do maternity portraits for Allison. You all know how I love to photograph dancers, and you all know how I love my maternity sessions, so this session was off the charts for me! Allison is a professional contemporary dancer (see some from a previous dance session here) as well as a dance teacher, and every time I photograph her, it's such a pleasure because she really understands body positions and what looks beautiful on camera.

Here are a few - I must say, choosing a few for the blog has been hard!

Congratulations Allison and Aaron!

The Beauty of Dance - Jenna - Kansas City Portrait Photographer

Young, beautiful, sweet, talented. Yeah, Jenna's got a lot going for her. Just look at her - I mean, what can I say? The images speak for themselves. Jenna! I had such fun photographing you! Enjoy the preview.

Kansas City-area dancers - I do offer special pricing for adult dancer sessions - email me for information.

A winning weekend for these pretty girls - AND Center Stage

This weekend, the Stage One dance competition was in town and three girls from the Academy of the Arts dance studio won Photogenic Awards with Center Stage Photography portraits! I'm very tickled for the girls, and happy I could do my part to get them recognition and a trophy.

Gwen, one of my favorite dancers to photograph, won the Senior Photogenic award with a senior portrait I took of her last fall;

My daughter Paige won first place in the junior division (it was a repeat for her as she won first place last year as well);

and Ashley, won second place in the petite division with a portrait I took just a couple of weeks ago!

I can do headshot sessions for your dancer as well - $125 gets you the 20-minute session and an 8x10 to enter at the competitions (weekdays only - contact me for details).

Congratulations, my pretties! =)

High Key Dancer

Over spring break I had a chance to work on some high-key dance portraits. "High Key" is a photographic term for portraits that consist of mainly light tones. I don't often create high key portraits, but have been wanting to work on that for a while. One of my favorite dancers, Marquette Shannon, served as my model - we had such fun! I also used gels on my white backdrop to create some interesting silhouettes and different shades in the backdrop -- all very interesting - I am looking forward to working more with gels. I also photographed my 10-year-old, but she's forbidden me to put any of her on my blog (oh, wait, she okayed just one - and she chose it).

Thanks, Marky! I hope you are enjoying New York.
Gels:
Silhouette with gels: