Austin Children’s Photographer – Foodie Kids

What do you get when you have a city full of foodies and their Whole Foods born & bred progeny? If you’re lucky enough to be an Austin resident, you get Foodie Kids, a haute cooking school & party pad for your wee chef in training. How charming is this place?

austin photographers | family, children, newborn foodie kids

Before you fill your head with visions of children being force fed organic free range fun free alfalfa sprouts or similar, here’s the thing about Foodie Kids – it’s not only a pretty place for kids to learn about cooking,  it’s also *fun*. A lot of fun, in fact:

Not only is the food preparation fun for the Foodie Kids chefs, Owners Barbara and Kaley know the secret to keeping your young foodies engaged for the hour of class – constant motion. The owners and instructors manage to be both creative & entertaining as they expertly guide the kids through each dish:

We parents of tots know this universal truth, but it was poetry in motion watching these ladies lead the kids (including my own personal wild child) through the preparation of three different meals:

Can you think of a more fun, more Austin-y place for your little gourmet to celebrate a birthday or take cooking classes? Speaking of birthdays, little Miss J sure enjoyed her mock birthday celebration for this commercial photo shoot. {She turned five today!}.

austin cake smash portraits birthday photography

austin cake smash portraits birthday photography

In fact, our photographer-in-chief Ziem loves Foodie Kids so much, her adorable baby girl Zara is celebrating her 2nd (2nd! How?!) birthday there soon.

Think of a Foodie Kids class as an investment in your future that your kid will actually enjoy – after all, if you’ve birthed the next Franklin’s BBQ founder, maybe you can skip those pesky three-hour lines . . . ah, Austin #firstworldfoodieproblems

See more austin children photography on the blog.

ziem photography | contributor

 

Austin Cake Smash || Nora’s First Birthday Portraits

“The details are not the details. They make the design.” – Charles Eames. True words when it comes to many things, perhaps especially when it comes to photo shoot design. Yes, even wonderfully wild cake smash ones involving (messy) toddlers and (even messier) cakes.Austin Cake Smash

austin cake smash photographer
austin cake smash photographer

Darling Nora, this freshly minted one-year-old and big sister, is of course the best detail of all. But notice those perfect background bits too. From the Marvelous Tea Parties chandelier to the vintage high chair to the bunting custom made by mom Christina to the bubbles that delighted the baby & camera alike, the  details of this shoot are the frosting on the adorable cake.

I know, I know – that joke was terrible. Here, let me quickly distract you with some more cake smash goodness.

austin cake smash photographer
austin cake smash photographer
austin cake smash photographer
austin cake smash photographer
austin cake smash photographer
austin cake smash photographer

Ziem had a blast planning this shoot with Christina, a former event planner who knows how those little details can make a party or a photo shoot sing. Speaking of parties, Christina was able to use photos from this shoot at Nora’s birthday party, which thankfully happened just before Baby #2 arrived. Do we think baby Nora may have had an inkling of what was to come?

austin cake smash photographer

See how those little details just take the cake? (Sorry.)

Austin Cake Smash

ziem photography | contributor

Shooting for Success, Part 3: How to Dress for Holiday Cards, Neutrals ed.

Today’s post is the third in our ongoing “Shooting for Success” series, intended to help you get the most fabulous Austin family photos possible. Check out our first installment on holiday card fashion here and our second on holiday card trends (complete with three FREE card templates) here.

****

Show of hands – who remembers those matchy-matchy holiday card outfits of yore, the ones that included identical white shirts & Mom Jeans on everyone, not just Mom?

 

[sample photos redacted to protect the innocent]

 

For those of us who are old grew up traumatized by the Olan Mills school of holiday photos, the recent family photography trend of coordinating colorful outfits that aren’t identical – and identically unflattering in photos – is a relief. How then to incorporate fashion’s latest trendy neutrals without falling back into the dread matchy-matchy zone?

Thankfully our chic photographer-in-chief Ziem is here to advise us, handpicking some of her recent neutral favorites with textures and accessory accents that pop on camera:

neutral holiday fashion

Modern winter whites are more subtle than the identical polos of our holiday card past. Mix in different textures and trendy gold, grey, or black to break up the look, or take a walk on the wild side & add a pair of leopard flats.

Not an unfortunate Mom Jean in sight, right? For those of you still just too traumatized by matching polo shirts past, however, stay tuned for next Monday’s tutorial on updating traditional holiday colors for your photo wardrobe . . .

ziem photography | contributor

Austin Family Photographer – Things in Motion a.k.a Toddlers

A great family photographer knows that a shoot involving a toddler requires “the three ps” – preparation, patience & prayer:

austin family portraits | austin photographers

austin family portraits | austin photographers

A toddler mama herself, Ziem offers a consultation to all family clients, helping with location selection & wardrobe as well as getting to know the family’s children. She knows one essential to working with a kid is to know what (if anything) will distract that particular child from the dread Toddler Tantrum. Ziem has worked with longtime clients Dana & Jay here since their little boy Matthew was in utero, so she knew just the right airplanes, cars, and books to keep Matthew smiling through his second birthday shoot:

austin family portraits | austin photographers austin family portraits | austin photographers austin family portraits | austin photographers

One other toddler trick Ziem employs is keeping her young clients – and, yes, their poor parents – in motion. You can’t always outrun a tantrum, but between some quick thinking and even quicker feet, Ziem snapped some fabulous, fuss-free action shots in the fading light, complete with nearly-fall foliage (and a lot of alliteration, apparently):

austin family portraits | austin photographers austin family portraits | austin photographers austin family portraits | austin photographers

Not a tantrum in sight, wow! Think we could ask (beg) Ziem the secret to that for non-photo situations too?

ziem photography | contributor

Shooting for Success, Part 2: Holiday Card Trends & FREE Templates

Today’s post is the second in our ongoing “Shooting for Success” series, intended to help you get the most fabulous Austin family photos possible. Check out our first installment on holiday card fashion here.

****

Now that we’ve got your holiday card fashions sorted out, it’s time to start thinking about the perfect “frame” for the picture of your unusually good looking & well-dressed family – the holiday card. With SO many options out there, however, how do you narrow it down to one card to show your friends and loved ones just how happy / successful / important / etc. your gifted & talented family is?

Lucky for us, our Photographer-in-Chief Ziem not only identifies this year’s holiday card trends here, she’s come up with not one, not two, but THREE FREE CARD TEMPLATES CAPS LOCK!!! for you to download. How easy is that?

CARDS

TREND THE FIRST (This being Monday, it’s a CAPS LOCK, high caffeine sort of day): Use fashion’s trendy black & white or metallics for your card – or better yet, all three! – to punctuate a neutral wardrobe:

holiday photo card | austin photographers DOWNLOAD your free “nifty neutrals” card here

TREND THE SECOND: Let the photo be the star of your card, with minimal font & no border:

holiday photo card | austin photographers DOWNLOAD your “stunning simplicity” card here.

TREND THE THIRD: Incorporate of-the-moment fashion florals in updated holiday colors – instead of the traditional Christmas-y green & red, think mint & mauve:

holiday photo card | austin photographers DOWNLOAD your “hint of mint” card here.

Three free cards – it’s like Christmas/or-fill-in-the-holiday-of-your-religious-choice in September! Now that you have these perfect “frames” for your holiday card photos, and your wardrobe set for the photos, all that remains is to actually book your photo session, right? *shameless plug alert* Contact Ziem to book one of her TWO last remaining holiday mini-session spots!

ziem photography | contributor

1 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 81