No plaid here! Photo from Bain News Service, circa 1915, George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
Hark! The time for holiday portrait-taking is nigh among Hill residents, families or couples who want just the right note of casual bonhomie, ironic urbanite and transplanted plains folk captured in photo form to send onward to relatives and friends far and wide and across the park this season.
The Hill is Home’s fashion scavenger has compiled a few tips from some local pros to keep you and yours as cozy and warm and photogenic as the baby in a Gap ad and not consigned to Awkward Family Portraits, whether you get a portrait professionally done, grab a neighbor who took great shots of the Grand Canyon on his last vacation or you just click the remote.For portraits, says Stuart Hovell of his eponymously named photography business, pastels, blacks or whites are always good. Hovell is known among legions of Hill parents armed with hairbrushes, sticker rewards and baby wipes who have shepherded many a tot into his studio at Moto Photo on the 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, for his patience. He sees lots of get-ups, including those on my kids, and does he says taffeta, silk and crinoline love the camera? He does not.
“I love jeans and black or white sweaters either in the studio or at the [U.S.] Arboretum,” he says.
The wrong way to go? “NEVER WEAR PLAIDS,” he says, apparently, loudly. One expert subject takes this further, allowing no patterns (except Christmas where you have to have a pattern, usually,” she says, and further warning against beloved stripes and my daughter’s favorite, polka dots. Who does not love polka dots?! The camera.Hill resident and professional photographer Amanda McClean of Amanda McClean Photography stresses comfort and confidence, and menu advice, as well:
Clothing: Choose something you really like, for example, the shirt that always makes you happy/feel good. The most important thing in a portrait is self confidence. If your clothing makes you feel stiff and awkward, you will look stiff and awkward. Give your poor photographer a fighting chance! Also, if it cold out, bring your warmest coat and take it off at the last minute.
Clothing Kids: Make sure the labels won’t scratch of irritate their skin. If you know that the shirt always hangs a little funny- choose a different one!
Kids’ snacks: Snacks are always a good idea but….Please for the sanity of your photographer don’t bring a snack that involves cheese powder. Yes, photo retouching is always a possibility, but no I don’t want to remove Cheetos crumbs off your kids’ face on every image, when you could have packed little Johnny Cheerios instead!
Got it? No Cheetos. Amanda, thanks for the retouching last year, by the way!
I also asked one former Hill resident and mom of four young children whose family portraits come out so good, and would be even if taken by the family hound, that she moved away from us for a larger backdrop! Or so one would think.
“Ok, a few things I do,” she says. “Coordinate colors. They don’t have to be the exact same but in the same shades.” This sounds like the shopping needs to be coordinated, as well. “Soft solid colors are your best bet.”
Sitting pretty requires behind-the-scenes work, too, when it comes to kids. This picture-perfect mom has a few things up her non-striped, non-polka-dotted, unpatterned sleeve: “I am all about the bribes,” she adds. “The older ones understand that they have to smile (normal smile, not the typical goofy one) or they won’t get X. Younger ones are usually entertained by Mom or Dad jumping around behind the photographer. Keep it short and your expectations in check. Someone WILL be crying (it may just be Mom behind the scenes). That is ok, you just want to capture your children instead of capturing your children in a pose.”
When it comes to locations, McClean and Hovell both favor the Arboretum.
“I like open outdoor spaces without a lot of people. Going to a place with great holiday decorations never ends up well,” McClean says. First, “You are never the only one with the idea to go there which means, two, you either feel crowded or are distracted by watching the people around you. Crowded and distracted are not adjectives that tend to describe portraits that people want to show their friends.”
The Arboretum, McClean says, is good because it is “very pretty and underused,” Garfield Park can work well, she says, but “Lincoln Park usually feels too busy to me.”
But don’t worry–the route to a great holiday portrait, which should appear effortless in composition, color and expression, is also a free pass to jsut relax and celebrate the loved ones beside you in their favorite sweaters, no matter what they have chosen: “I recommend bright colors and to just be yourselves,” said longtime Hill family portrait photographer Elizabeth Dranitzke of Photopia.