Christmas Portraits

Are you interested in a beautiful, professional family portrait for Christmas this year?    Give us a call!

I take the photographs while tethered to a large high-definition monitor.  This allows customers to see the images right away and together we make some adjustments.  Then I take more pictures till the perfect shot is achieved.  You choose your favorite image and I send it to you with the right to print. 

Gift cards of $50 or more are available. 

James Studio is located at 2611 University Avenue in Madison.  Directions:  If you are heading east on University Avenue (toward downtown Madison), stay right on University when Campus Drive splits off from Old University.  Then park in one of the three spots in front of the studio.  Ignore the sign stating a 10-minute limit.  If the spots in front of James Studio are filled, go straight ahead on Old University for 1/2 block; there are usually parking spots available on both sides of the street. 

Map to Studio Christmas Portraits

Deforest Family Portraits and Marketer

If you are interested in photography or videography, you might be hearing from Vicki Stagliano.  She is my new marketing person!  She is ready to meet you and introduce you to my style and product line.  So let me introduce you to Vicki and her family.  One of the things that attracted me to Vicki, besides her organizational prowes,s is the fact that she loves people.   She enjoys communicating in a variety of ways–in person, over the phone, e mail, Facebook, or text message.   She is imaginative, creative, and is a pro at customer service.  I look forward to her work at James Studio.  

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Vicki Stagliano

 I recently did a photography shoot with her children.  Andrew is the oldest, Nicholas is next, and Olivia is the youngest.  

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I met Andrew for the first time on this shoot.  He enjoys working at the Madison Airport, in one of the gift shops.   Andrew has some pretty cool blue eyes (pun intended). 

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Vicki did a nice job of matching the children’s outfits.  She used primarily solid colors, which is what I prefer for pictures.  Nicholas has a very active personality, which common among boys his age.  He is a cute kid, with warm greenish eyes.  

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Olivia is 5 years old and is super cute.  She has already started her modeling career as a real paid model.  

As a photographer, I like to make people look their best.   Nobody is perfect; not even me.  Hah!   In the case of Olivia I chose to improve the appeance of her teeth.  I don’t mean just make them look whiter or fill in a tooth that might be missing; it was more than that.  If someone does not want to have a certain type of correction made, I honor that.  

I have a daughter, too.  Though she is perfect to us, she does not have perfect teeth.  I touch them up in her portraits.  When people look at her portrait, they admire its beauty and do not even notice the touched up teeth.  That is what I like–it is part of my style.  

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I love this image below.  I think its cute.  What do you think? 

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Vicki and her husband and children live in Deforest, Wisconsin with lots of open spaces.  They have a cornfield in their backyard.  I wanted the kids to run slowly and fly like an airplane.  It worked, sort of; it was a little hard for Olivia to run slowly, but I got what I needed.  

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Again, Vicki did a nice joy of coordinating their colors even to the point of having the same shade of blue shirts.  

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After so many pictures, it was time for a good pig pile and to blow off some steam.  

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Then to blow off even more steam, the kids got on their two trampolines.  Now getting them to coordinate their jumps so they were all up in the air at the same time was not the easiest thing, but we did pretty good with this shot.  Andrew also got a chance to show off his flips, which was fun to see.  

If you get a chance to talk to Vicki, tell her that you saw her kids’ photos.  I think she would like that. 

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Studio Photography of 5-year-old child Dylan

I am on the video team at my church.   A few weeks ago I was shooting with Chris during the morning worship service.  It was still very early, so Chris had his son, Dylan, with him.  As we were chatting, we talked about updates to my new studio on University Avenue and portrait photography of kids.  A few days later Chris made arrangements to have Dylan come in with his mom, Kelly, for studio portraits.  The following are some of my favorites from our session.   

Dylan is showing off some of his Kung Fu moves.  This could come in real handy as a Yankees Fan. 

Dylan 1 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

In every session I try to get unique poses and looks that I have not done before.  As in the image above, it is great when people show their personality and some spontaneity.  Even so, I always get the traditional poses too. Here is one with mom.

Dylan 5 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

Dylan is a bright kid.  He has bright eyes and lots of personality.  I think the photograph below reveals some of his spunk. 

Dylan 2 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

One of my favorite backgrounds is made of barn wood.  The multi-toned wood provides an interesting character to the photograph. 

Dylan 7 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

I like this up close look at Dylan while his legs and feet are fading in the background. 

Dylan 6 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

I have a variety of stuffed animals in the studio.  I also have a rubber chicken.  As I was holding the chicken, I asked Dylan to mimic what he guessed the sound of the chicken would make.  I had him do it a couple of times and then I squeezed the chicken.  It does not crow or go, “Bawk, bawk”.  No; it howls!  This was hilarious to Dylan, which resulted in the following shot. 

Dylan 3 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

Back to showing some classic boy personality.  Here is Dylan doing the splits. 

Dylan 4 Studio Photography of 5 year old child Dylan

Family Portraits

Rebekah and her children came in to the studio for family portraits on July 22, 2010.   The youngest child was a live wire at times and at other times super cute and cooperative.  With a little help from the studio toys and some patience, I got some nice photographs.  Rebekah wanted the look to be casual.  Below is a sample of our time together. 

There was some Photoshop manipulation to get this picture to work.  Can you tell which person was radically changed and how?  Go to the bottom of this post to see the answer.

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The studio cow made his debut in this photo. 

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Now when you have a kid acting this cute, you’ve just got to show it off. 

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Her gentle expression nicely matches her personality.

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This was taken in the studio, though it may not look like it.  I wanted the look to be like a regular home rather than a studio with a backdrop.  We have many nice backgrounds, but this time I wanted to show a natural look and the family was game for the idea.  

Sherman Family 1 Family Portraits

The family has quite a bit of history in countries outside the United States.   The boy’s hat illustrates their continental flair. 

Sherman Family 5 Family Portraits

In the top picture of this post, the original picture of  the girl in blue was unflattering, so it was replaced with another picture.  It is not a simple cut a paste but with Photoshop it looks pretty seemless.

Kids

The people I love to shoot more than any other, kids. They have those bright eyes, soft skin, cute freckles and little noses. OK, kids are beautiful. But they are squirrely and unpredictable too and that is half the fun. One moment you feel you have them where you want them then before you know it they are off doing something else, looking away and are somehow distracted.

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Did I mention that kids are difficult to photograph. Some kids are perfect angels in front of the camera. They give you that “cheese” smile that looks like a “cheese” smile. Those are easy. The ones I am after are those elusive shots that are in the midst of action. The child is into something and has unforgettable expression and body language.

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It takes time to capture the awesome photographs. Its like waiting for the eagle to leave its nest. When it happens and you get the shot it brings the greatest satisfaction. I want the child to feel comfortable with me as much as possible. So I will play a game with them, chat with them and create a bit of relationship.  With younger children I have a few other tricks.  I use a long feather and a rubber chicken.  I also have a monkey that is sure to grab their attention.

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Some of best kid pictures are when they are reacting to or enjoying their parents. The interaction between them is precious. When pictures of children reveal insight into the relationship they have with their parents it is a treasure. It is rare and worth more than jewels.

Seager900 1 Kids

As a portrait photographer in Madison Wisconsin I like to include all the family members if I can. The following are two of my family members, my daughter Sarah and our dog Annie. I thought you might like to meet them. Be sure to view the video.

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This video was completely shot with my Canon 5D Mark II.  It includes both video and stills.  It gives an example of what can be done creatively with a high quality camera and excellent lenses. 

The following was one of those photographs that I consider to be really special. It is of my daughter Sarah and was taken in the fall of 2008. Across from our church was this grassy field with huge boulders and trees in the background. My wife was skeptical that this would be a good place for pictures of a 10 year old girl in a pretty dress. It is true the overall scene had a grunge look that one might more likely find in Senior portraits. But as we moved around I was able to capture several pictures that will be with us throughout our lives. This is one of them.

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I love to take natural looking photographs of children and their families. If you like what you see, give me a call so we can talk about your family. You can reach me at (608) 233-5556.

Jim