Michael – story and soul by Michael Justin

Westchester Family Photographer – Jen, John, and Jordy

Westchester Family Photographer – Jen, John and Jordy

I recently photographed a beautiful in-home session with John, Jen and their baby girl Jordy. I’m extremely proud of the photographs and final artwork that are now up in their home. But before we get to those, a little background on them and their session.

John and I go back a long time – he and my brother have been childhood friends for as long as I can remember. His wife Jen is good friends with a few of my past Michael Justin Studios clients. In fact, you can see both Jen and John in one of my recent wedding films from Nantucket. When they reached out to me in late 2020, they had the unfortunate story that most of my recent clients have: due to Covid they don’t have any great photographs of their children/lives from the past year. These moments in their lives are so fleeting, we needed to do a session ASAP.

THE DESIGN CONSULTATION

The first step in any of my sessions (after the initial phone call of course), is a design consultation. This is such a valuable and important part of the process – it’s where we lay out the blueprint for the whole session. We pick out the wardrobes for each person, I get to meet the whole family, look through photos and get a sense of the desired look/aesthetic the client wants, and also see sample products.

THE WARDROBE

Before I arrive for the design consultation, I ask [usually the moms] for one or two outfits be selected. I typically build off the mom and coordinate the colors from there. Then we lay down each outfit on the floor and see how it all fits as a cohesive set.

Outfit 1: We ultimately changed Jen’s pants to black and opted to leave the jacket off Jordy.

Outfit 2: For outfit 2 we wanted Jordy to stand out a little more so we put her in a pink colored shirt.

THE SHOOT

Included in the session fee is professional hair and makeup. After the long and hard maternity period plus delivery, this is my way of saying “thank you” and giving moms a little R&R before the shoot.

Little Jordy was AMAZING. She barely made a peep and smiled on command. I was shocked at how good she was, really. Since we had the session planned out from the Design Consultation meeting, the session lasted about an hour and a half.

THE PHOTOS

On reveal day, Jen and John ended up ordering 2 large framed prints for either side of Jordy’s crib, and an 8 image collection of matted prints. All images received master retouching, another service I’m happy to include for my clients.

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THE WALL ART

During the design consultation I make sure to take photos of the spaces where wall art may be placed. Taping a piece of computer paper to the wall gives me the scale I need to accurately design the wall art to the space. Taking the photo wide enough to include furniture and other decor, allows me to design pieces that will seamlessly fit into the room.

Here’s the image I took during the design consultation:

The 4 framed prints that were already hung above the crib were going to remain, so I went with a white frame that matched but opted for a deckled edge print and a standout backing to give it a 3D look. I really love how they fit with the room but also stand out! After the images were framed by my local framer, I hand delivered them and hung them in their home.

So there you have it – a complete look at the experience, photographs, and wall art that Jen, John and Jordy received from me. What do you think? Is this something you or someone you know would enjoy? Let me know!

-Michael Justin

Story & Soul in HamletHub’s Why Small Business Matters

When we moved to New Canaan back in July, I told Jackie that I wanted to become the family photographer in New Canaan and the surrounding area. That’s a tall order – and I have a long road ahead – but it’s a goal of mine and I plan on achieving it over the next few years.

The first step is to be known: known by the community to which I will service. That means getting story & soul’s name out there. I plan on doing that by shooting as many families, newborns, and portraits as I can – spreading the quality service and experience I built my successful wedding business on. Doing so will create a legion of satisfied clients who spread story & soul way farther than any advertisement or paid marketing initiative could do. But as we’re currently dealing with the stay-at-home order due to the Corona Virus crisis, that part of my plan will have to be on hold.

Another way to get noticed in New Canaan as a premier Family Photographer is to be written up in news articles, blogs, and print publications. I’m not quite ready to start that kind of outreach (I’m still tweaking the website and getting it up and running) so you can imagine my surprise when I received an email from Dan over at HamletHub saying they wanted to feature story & soul in their HamletHub feature “Why Small Business Matters.”

I was asked a few questions about the business and voila! A few short weeks later, they published the article. If you’d like to see it, you can check it out here:

https://news.hamlethub.com/newcanaan/places/5074-why-small-businesses-matter-in-new-canaan-story-soul-photography

Fairfield CT Family Photographer- Mckenna

When my best friend from high school told me he and his wife were expecting their first child, I was ecstatic! Tim and I were inseparable growing up and I was looking forward to him joining the parenthood collective. Although we weren’t able to make a maternity session work for his wife, I made sure to get them all in front of my camera when baby Mckenna was born. Tim, Kaitlyn, and Mckenna headed up to my home studio in New Canaan, CT where we shot a combination of in-studio portraits against my hand-painted canvas backdrop, and more environmental shots around the house. I enjoyed watching my friend in his new role and can’t wait to have our children play together!

New Canaan Fall Family Photo Session – Royce Family

Alexa and Ryan were past Michael Justin Studios clients that I had the pleasure of working with back in 2014. Fast forward to 2019 and they now have two beautiful boys. I shot these portraits of the boys during a beautiful fall day at Waveny Park in New Canaan, CT.

New Canaan Family Photographer – Gulielmo Family

This past spring I had the pleasure of photographing the Gulielmo family at Waveny Park in New Canaan, CT. What a beautiful and fun day we had!

New Canaan Newborn Photographer

Jaclyn & Ryan are past Michael Justin Studios clients and when they reached out to let me know they were pregnant, I was so excited to get them back in front of my camera! After we did their maternity session, it wasn’t long before I got the email that they had their baby boy and were ready to take newborn photos!

I always start newborn sessions the same way: 5-10 minutes alone with the baby while Mom and Dad get a few minutes to relax. I let mom feed the baby right before I arrive so that when it’s time to photograph, the baby is nice and sleepy – just the way I like it! Well Christopher was having NONE of that! He was the most alert baby I’ve ever photographed! What a beautiful baby boy they have and I can’t wait to get them in front of the camera again in 6 months!!

New Canaan Maternity Photographer – Jaclyn & Ryan

Jaclyn and Ryan are past Michael Justin Studios clients and as soon as they emailed me to let me know the wonderful news, I was counting down the days until our session. Two of the nicest and beautiful people you’ll ever meet – I can’t wait to see them become parents and to meet their little bundle of joy!

Rye Brook Senior Photos: Amanda

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