Style Guide

Hello Friend.

Hello! I am Lindsay, I’m a lifestyle and newborn photographer currently based in Ottawa, Illinois.

I’m passionate about what I do and love creating and capturing genuine, candid moments. I’m there to capture the joy, laughter, emotion, and beauty of your family.

I love to make my clients feel the magic in the perfectly

imperfect moments that happen everyday.

What to expect

Thank you for choosing me to capture your family's precious moments! To help you prepare for your upcoming photoshoot, I've put together this prep/style guide. I have a lot of fun getting to know my clients story and photographing this time in their lives.

My main goal is to transfer that attitude to my client - so you walk away loving your experience. This style guide helps alleviate the stress of what to wear with color palletes and even places to shop.

This is going to be way easier and fun than you probably expect. I start by getting to know your family before we even start photos. I sent a questionaire so I can learn your family’s story and get an idea of what vibe you are looking for. When it comes to session day, I start with hanging out and chatting so we can get comfortable. Once we’re ready to take photos, I follow cues on how everyone is feeling and try to make it fun! Having real life moments in front of the camera really helps keep everyone happy. Snuggling, playing and dancing can put a genuine smile on everyones face and keep things super natural to help capture the connection between one another.

Any additional information added on the questionaire notes can help me prepare to give an amazing photoshoot. If a kiddo (or husband) takes a while to warm up, I will plan time for that!

Three tips for Lifestyle Sessions

  1. Have Fun!

    First and foremost, getting your photos should be fun! I know it can be stressful to figure out what to wear or figure out the best location for your family, but hopefully I can take the stress out of that for you and share ideas for What to Wear. Although styling greatly enhances the photos, what matters is that your family has fun. Have fun! Lifestyle sessions take much of the pressure off getting photos done because they aim to capture true life moments.

  2. Be Yourself

    My favorite images are always the ones where you just do what feels right in the moment. Whether that’s picking flowers, kissing, going on a walk, just be yourself!

    When it comes to couples or maternity photos, I will prompt you into various poses or positions and then just follow each other. Act as if I wasn’t there and be with your partner, hug, stare into each-other’s eyes, it all add to the emotion of the final image.

  3. Engage In An Activity

    It can be fun to plan an activity, whether it’s getting ice cream or playing by a creek. Add your favorite things to do to my questionnaire, we can plan a specialized session with fun things. You never really know where a session is going to take you, I let the activity naturally unfold. I allow space for people to engage in these special little moments that bring joy to our lives. Just prep the stain remover in advance...I can’t wait to meet you or your family and take unique photos that help to tell your story.

    Couples photos work great doing an activity you both love or just want to try for fun! You could have a picnic, go on a walk, or go cliff jumping….I don’t know! All of it makes the images represent you!

    One of the most common questions I get asked during the planning stages with my clients is "What should we wear?" Neutral earth tones work best with my editing style. They give a natural, creamy & dreamy look to the photos. If everyone wore some form of cream, black or white with pops of color, I’d be a happy camper. I am more than happy to discuss your clothing choices, help you narrow down your decision or give you a direction to focus on as well as make sure that your clothing coordinates well with the locations chosen for your photo shoot! I much prefer to see outfit selections prior to the session so I know what I’m working with.

    Choose Your Pallet First

    Pick a palette of 3-4 colors. Let this be your starting place. Think in terms of tones: sage tones, earth tones, neutrals, pastels, etc. Everyone in the family can express their own sense of style within the chosen color palette, and the whole group will coordinate beautifully.

Don’t Match. Coordinate.

Now this doesn’t mean everyone has to 100% match with khaki pants or jeans and a white shirt! You want to complement each other’s outfits by choosing colors that work well together. I find that if everyone is wearing the same clothing, people will all tend to blend in together and there won’t be too much pop and life to the images.

Muted tones look beautiful together in a family picture. When picking patterns, choose smaller ones that won’t pull attention away from the main subjects, and only put one person in a pattern. When thinking about texture, choose different ones that will give photos some interest such as lace, corduroy, denim, and knits.

Color Matching Ideas

Layering

One of my favorite “tips” for clothing choices! In the Summer months, this may be more difficult to pull off but during all of the other seasons, definitely layer your outfits. Not only will it provide more visual interest in each photo but it will also allow a lot more variety in your shots and can add some flowyness to draw the eye. Have a ton of images of yourself in just your dress or cute top and jeans? Throw on a little sweater or jacket and a hat and you have entirely different look.

Fit Your Style To Your Location

Always keep your session location in mind when choosing your outfit. If you’ve selected a more natural environment for your session, choose something a bit more casual such as a maxi dress and opt for casual footwear like flat sandals, boots or barefoot. Base your colors off the location, if in a grassy field use lots of earth tones, if the shoot will be by water add some pops of blue.

Keep Makeup Natural

You will want to avoid using very heavy makeup, but a bit of color on your lips, eyes, and cheeks will help bring you to life in photos. Be sure to bring some lip gloss with you as well for touch ups as there may be lots of smooches in story from your partner and little ones! Bringing a comb or brush can be helpful too.

Be Timeless

For some fashionista’s, this may be a difficult concept, however you are going to want these images to stand the test of time. Pick outfits that aren’t considered too trendy, but will be able to be enjoyed and displayed for many years to come.

Plan Ahead

Make sure you have given yourself enough time to think about all of the details of your session. Plan ahead so that #1 you can truly think about your photos and everything you want out of the session, #2 you aren’t rushing and stressing out right before your session, and #3 if you have decided to go for a new look for your session or someone gets a bad haircut, you still have time to fix things if you need to.

If time allows it, more layers to add on or take off. Again, you will get a lot more variety in your shots so why not capitalize on the opportunity and get the most bang for your buck!

Shop All At The Same Store

Make coordinating family photo outfits easy by shopping at the same store or brand. It’s especially helpful when there are multiple children to dress. Just this spring, I found a dress for myself and then immediately went shopping at Just Kidding Around store in Morris. In ten minutes, I found outfits for all three of my kids! The colors not only coordinated with my dress but coordinated with each other as well.

Amazon, Target, Joyfolie, Shein, Baltic Born, H&M, Zara, Etsy, The Simple Folk, TJ Maxx Marshalls, are all good options for finding great photo outfits.

Accessorize

Accessories give your photographs that needed punch! They lend pops of color, personality, and interest. Everybody wears them well and they work for all ages.

Session Checklist

  • Set session date, time & location

  • Review guide for style tips

  • Select outfits

  • Pack a bag with extras

  1. Shoe for walking between spots

  2. Spare outfit or after session outfit

  3. Touch-up makeup

  4. Water bottle

  5. Coat (for colder sessions)

Your future memories are the most important thing to me, and I want your session

to be a time for you to just be yourselves and enjoy it.

Have fun together. Laugh a lot. And I’ll take care of the rest!

Special Offer

G e t d i s c o u n t s o f f p a c k a g e s w h e n y o u b o o k m u l t p l e s e s s i o n s . R e s r i c t i o n s a p p l y . P l e a s e c o n t a c t f o r d e t a i l s .

AND HOW TO WEAR THEM