Card Collection...Happy New Year

I just love the holidays. It's funny in a way because I am so busy before the holidays arrive with sessions and cards and processing, that one might think that the holidays would be a hassle. But actually for me, each holiday session and holiday card is a new celebration. Each family is different and I love how we work together to express love to their friends and family though their individual holiday card. Below is a small collection of some of this year's cards. (Note: Many of the cards are 2-sided or open up, so this medium does not do them justice.)

Happy Holidays to you and yours...

5x5 Tri-Fold Card

                           Flap                                              Back                                           Front

Inside

5x7 Folded Card

Front

Inside Top

Inside Bottom

 

  

Moms, Give Your Child a Treasure. You.

Okay Moms (and Dads), this is a "Must Read". You do everything you can for your little ones, you go the extra mile, your pour your heart into being a parent. You always "show up" for the little and the big milestones and events. Your kids know you love them. Why not give them something they can literally hold onto? This is a great article to which I personally really relate. A year ago I hired a colleague to do a photo session with my family and I got on the other side of the camera! I cherish the results. One of the images she captured is of my daughter and I on the beach. I am kissing her head. The image brings tears to my eyes. (And that is not because I still need to lose that extra 15 pounds...) It is because it shows our love. She will never be 6 again, but we have a treasure to remind us of our sweet day at the beach. Moms rock. Now stop fussing about not looking like you did when you were 18 and get in the picture! (And look at these great Moms who have done just that!)

Please read this great article...

The Mom Stays in the Picture
Reprinted with Permission From the Huff Post Parents Blog
By Allison Tate (www.allisonslatertate.com)
(Added Photos by Sue Ogar of Just So Designs)

Last weekend, my family traveled to attend my oldest niece's Sweet Sixteen party. My brother and sister-in-law planned this party for many months and intended it to be a big surprise, and it included a photo booth for the guests.

I showed up to the party a bit late and, as usual, slightly askew from trying to dress myself and all my little people for such a special night out. I'm still carrying a fair amount of baby weight and wearing a nursing bra, and I don't fit into my cute clothes. I felt awkward and tired and rumpled.

I was leaning my aching back against the bar, my now 5-month-old baby sleeping in a carrier on my chest (despite the pounding bass and dulcet tones of LMFAO blasting through the room) when my 5-year-old son ran up to me.

"Come take pictures with me, Mommy," he yelled over the music, "in the photo booth!"

I hesitated. I avoid photographic evidence of my existence these days. To be honest, I avoid even mirrors. When I see myself in pictures, it makes me wince. I know I am far from alone; I know that many of my friends also avoid the camera.




It seems logical. We're sporting mama bodies and we're not as young as we used to be. We don't always have time to blow dry our hair, apply make-up, perhaps even bathe (ducking). The kids are so much cuter than we are; better to just take their pictures, we think.




But we really need to make an effort to get in the picture. Our sons need to see how young and beautiful and human their mamas were. Our daughters need to see us vulnerable and open and just being ourselves -- women, mamas, people living lives. Avoiding the camera because we don't like to see our own pictures? How can that be okay?

Too much of a mama's life goes undocumented and unseen. People, including my children, don't see the way I make sure my kids' favorite stuffed animals are on their beds at night. They don't know how I walk the grocery store aisles looking for treats that will thrill them for a special day. They don't know that I saved their side-snap, paper-thin baby shirts from the hospital where they were born or their little hospital bracelets in keepsake boxes high on the top shelves of their closets. They don't see me tossing and turning in bed wondering if I am doing an okay job as a mother, if they are okay in their schools, where we should take them for a vacation, what we should do for their birthdays. I'm up long past the news on Christmas Eve wrapping presents and eating cookies and milk, and I spend hours hunting the Internet and the local Targets for specially-requested Halloween costumes and birthday presents. They don't see any of that.



Someday, I want them to see me, documented, sitting right there beside them: me, the woman who gave birth to them, whom they can thank for their ample thighs and their pretty hair; me, the woman who nursed them all for the first years of their lives, enduring porn star-sized boobs and leaking through her shirts for months on end; me, who ran around gathering snacks to be the week's parent reader or planning the class Valentine's Day party; me, who cried when I dropped them off at preschool, breathed in the smell of their post-bath hair when I read them bedtime stories, and defied speeding laws when I had to rush them to the pediatric ER in the middle of the night for fill-in-the-blank (ear infections, croup, rotavirus).



I'm everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them. Someday I won't be here -- and I don't know if that someday is tomorrow or thirty or forty or fifty years from now -- but I want them to have pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother.



When I look at pictures of my own mother, I don't look at cellulite or hair debacles. I just see her -- her kind eyes, her open-mouthed, joyful smile, her familiar clothes. That's the mother I remember. My mother's body is the vessel that carries all the memories of my childhood. I always loved that her stomach was soft, her skin freckled, her fingers long. I didn't care that she didn't look like a model. She was my mama.


So when all is said and done, if I can't do it for myself, I want to do it for my kids. I want to be in the picture, to give them that visual memory of me. I want them to see how much I am here, how my body looks wrapped around them in a hug, how loved they are.



I will save the little printed page with four squares of pictures on it and the words "Morgan's Sweet Sixteen" scrawled across the top with the date. There I am, hair not quite coiffed, make-up minimal, face fuller than I would like -- one hand holding a sleeping baby's head, and the other wrapped around my sweet littlest guy, who could not care less what I look like.

..........

When I suggest Moms get in the photos at my session, I sometimes get excuses and push back. Whether it's a professional session or just a family moment and your iPhone, get in the picture.


And Here Are More Mom's Who Rock...

Family Portraits...Preserve the memories in your life.

Family Moments

Sometimes the little moments are the best moments.

Fall 2012 Just So Designs Portrait Day

This Year's Just So Designs Fall Portrait Day is October 13!

Don't miss the opportunity to get your holiday card photos and gifts 

wrapped up early this year!

Join us on October 13, 2012 in Northborough

Sessions are $150 and include a choice of either 

a $50 print credit or 25 custom-designed holiday cards.

Space is limited, so book your session today!

What to Wear to Ensure a Good Portrait Session

Earth Tones

You have taken a great deal of time to select a date for your session and get everyone organized. Now...what should you wear? Don't let this be a stressful part of your preparation. Follow these simple guidelines and you and your family will look polished and put together.

• Your portraits will look more professional if you choose similar colored clothes. We don't suggest that you need to be what we call "matchy-matchy" but similar clothes styles and color tones are helpful. Solids work best.
• Choose clothing in the same tonal ranges so that no single member of the family stands out because the clothing is too light or bright as compared to the rest of the groups.

More details to consider:

• Clean nails and fresh nail polish is encouraged.
  
  
• When wearing white tops, nude toned undergarments photograph much better than white undergarments.
  
  
• Sleeves are recommended unless you are thin.
  
  
• Cover up any body parts you don't like.
  
  
• Avoid transition glasses since we shoot outside and the lenses will look dark and not show your eyes. The best solution is a pair of glasses frames with no glass--if you have them.
  
  
• Turtlenecks or V-necks can be flattering, but they must not be exaggerated in style. Avoid very wide or particularly deep V-neck garments or bulky cowl-neck sweaters that completely hide the neck.
  
  
• Women should avoid bare knees in order to keep the eye from being directed toward the legs and away from the face.
  
  
• If feet are to show in the portrait shoes and stockings should be in keeping  with the visual intent of the portrait. Bare feet can be appropriate in beach and casual settings.
  
  
• Men should have their hair cut about one week before the portrait session.

White, Blue, and Denim

Warm Autumn Tones 

Solids

Announcing the Fourth Winner of the "Just So Favorite Photos Contest"...

I love certain images that I shoot, but that might be for different reasons than you do.
I wanted to know what makes YOU love an image.

And the fourth winner is...Shari Matza!!!

Shari picked 2 photos of her twin daughters from a session we did on the beach 
on the North Shore. Below are the Just So Designs-Susan Ogar Photography images 
Shari selected, a quote from Shari about why she chose these image, as well as 
some additional shots from the session. 

Samantha

Morgan

"We had our photo shoot at the beach (one of our favorite places to be). I loved the way Sue caught my daughter Samantha's expression. The way the light hits her face, her red hair and cute freckles. Her hair is partly in front of her eyes as she looks to the left and it is by far, my most favorite photo of her to date.

In addition, Sue also captured a beautiful photo of my other daughter Morgan. It is also at the beach 

(our favorite place), with the water in the background. Morgan's smile is beautiful. I didn't realize how beautiful, until viewing the 16 x 20 print I ordered from this photo shoot. She too is looking to the left and the natural 

sunlight off her face is stunning.

Thank you Sue for capturing the essence of my girls' in a very happy place!"

Congratulation to Shari! One final winner will be announced next week.