Category Archives: Blog

Newborn Baby [Midlothian VA Lifestyle Photography]

 

NEWBORN LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY

newborn photography

Since you’re not getting much sleep anyway, I’ll come over (coffee in hand, if you’d like) and try my best to freeze time. One thing that is certain in a new momma’s life, nights turn seamlessly  into days–somehow, yet in a flash it’s time for a first birthday. Professional prints of your newborn baby in his or her newest and earliest days (which are so hard to grasp in their fullness) are not just an investment now, they’re a treasure forever.  See these beautiful images? That’s a newborn lifestyle session (and siblings) with Tamara Henion Photography-email me soon.  You’ll fall in love over and over again. Contact me now to book your session.

Book any session in Jan. or Feb. and receive a free 16×20 print!

 

Professional Photography? [Midlothian VA Lifestyle Photographer]

 

Professional Photography Questions?

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This weekend I had a great class with a bunch of women and their cameras. I love teaching (spent my life doing so thus far), and I love photography from back in high school and film days. Any time I get the chance to teach others about photography and how to use their cameras, it’s a good day.  Saturday was no exception.  More on all of that later and how you can sign up for the next class coming soon. Stay tuned here or contact me now using my contact form  ^up there!

Then, on my way home I got a facebook message that I  responded to on my phone. I now realize why many photographers choose not to answer fb messages, it’s easy to get lost in them.  Not to mention that “other folder.” Do you know about that? I had a LOT of people trying to get a hold of me in that way, I just never knew. Sadly, for them and for myself, I missed their inquiries.  Back to this recent occurrence.  After it was said and done, I realized that as a profession, even though we are able to explain our ways to clients who are sitting in front of us, there are a few things we need to spell out for the general public…in case they just don’t know-even before an inquiry.  I mean, they’re not the photographer, so our terms aren’t necessarily common to them.

Sessions with Tamara Henion Photography are print productive when you choose from any of my three specialty options:  Senior, Wedding or Portrait.  While each of these sessions are booked independently from the other, with each commission I help you from the very beginning decide on where you want to showcase fine art photography in your home, and we organize your session with those goals in mind. Do I offer digital files? Sure, but they’re not the focus of my clients’ desires. Beautiful portraits to display in their homes for generations, is.

There’s always an exception:  at select times throughout the year, I offer mini-sessions. Minis are different and actually do include digital images.  They are available only  to families, children and couples (no weddings or newborns).

The next question quickly comes: Is there a difference between a mini session and a full session?  YES, and they are grand differences. You will  get professional quality images either way, but besides that, there are few  similarities.  Time, outfits, connection, lighting, grouping, and quantity of files are all  limited by default of time during a mini-session which means less opportunity. Oh, just thinking about it makes it hard to just sit here and type;  regular  sessions are so full of life, getting to know each other which is important in front of the camera, finding new little places with delicious light, taking our time with artistic and genuine posing, using some props or changing outfits up to make one session appear to take place at different times and in different places are just so special!  You leave after 90 mins to an hour, or more, of a full session a bit worn out possibly, but also on a high with anticipation of viewing your large  gallery of images soon.  However,  minis are a good way for those clients who need just a few images or  when budgets are tight but great images are important.  Currently, my mini sessions are 15 minutes and are the only sessions I do that include {5} digital images.  Because I book them back to back all on one day, time constraints limit everything else; they’re both easier and more difficult for me to do for those reasons.

Here are a couple of important  terms to note when looking for a photography session to fit your needs:

When a session includes a GALLERY of images, that is like  walking through an art gallery and viewing the photographs on the walls that you have not purchased.

When a session includes an album of  DIGITAL IMAGES for printing and sharing, those images belong to you-you’ve purchased them with your session.

So, if you’re not sure, ask your photographer if you’re receiving a viewing gallery or a set of digital images that belong to you for printing and sharing.

Of course, all of this will be made clear on the contract you sign with your photographer; this is just to get you started as you search for your sessions.

I hope that helps you when thinking about exactly what you want from your photographer and photography session. They say, there’s a photographer for everyone. I’d love to talk to you about your next session. If you have any other questions about photography, leave a comment and  I’ll be happy to answer!

 

 

 

Portrait Minis last only 15 minutes

 

Pocahontas State Park Wedding [Richmond VA area Wedding Photographer]

{Perfect} Pocahontas State Park Va Wedding

What I can tell you, from the very first meeting with this pretty bride to the night she and her husband drove off for their honeymoon, all the details came together. I love the look on her face as she’s dancing: pure contentment. All the budget bashing shopping, painting thrift-store finds and dreaming big while spending small was worth every penny. 😉  Happy Marriage to Mr. and Mrs. I was as proud of how everything came together as they were happy. <3 See ALL of their big day HERE.

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Cancer Cannont [Midlothian VA Photographer]

What Cancer Can’t Do

 

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love,

It cannot shatter hope,

It cannot dissolve faith,

It cannot destroy peace,

It cannot kill friendship,

It cannot suppress memories,

It cannot silence courage,

It cannot invade the soul,

It cannot steal eternal life,

It cannot conquer the spirit.

(I can not find a source for this sign I saw)

Can you guess where I’ve been?

I’ve been loving, hoping, exercising faith. I’ve been finding peace,

 being comforted with true friendships, reliving and even making precious memories.

I’ve been digging up courage from deep down places, protecting my soul in all  the Lord is and longing for Heaven.

I’ve been fighting to have the same spirit that I see in my mom as she fights for her life. Hospitals, Cancer center, nursing home. Home. I’ve been with my sweet Mom.

And let me tell you something, that will change a person.

It hasn’t made me who I am not; it’s been said that what’s learned in the light shines in the dark.

It has, however, allowed me to reevaluate my time, my priorities and my life.

It has brought to a place where the overflowing cannot be contained.

Cancer. Time. Family. Faith. Friends. Memories. Inspiration.

It’s time to share my all with you.

 2015…

from the

middle

hang

on

.

 

midlothian va photographer and writer

Uprooted. Brain Tumor [Midlothian VA Photographer]

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June 8, 2014.  For a couple of weeks it looked like Mom was having a bad reaction from an overdoes of pain meds-it was text book ‘too much’ followed by the same ‘withdrawal’, but it wasn’t that. Visits and phone calls were leading me to realize something was wrong.  After a few hours in the ER that Sunday, it hit me that something was really wrong-and we were soon t to find out just how wrong it was.  There’s a lot to this story, and it’s still unfolding day and night by day and night whether we want it to or not, and though I do want to share it with you, I don’t want to tonight.  Since that day in the ER 3 weeks ago, it seems to have been one loooooooong day, but tonight’s story is a little off track of Mom and all her brain tumor has-very sadly and unwillingly- enlightened us to.

Dad was born today 76 years ago: June 29, 1938.  Gram died this same date– what seems like yesterday but has been years. Even before this year, this news, this tumor, June 29th was a bittersweet date on our family calendar…I was just praying we’d make it through it with no more to add than Happy Birthday, Dad.  Today a meal was delivered to Mom and Dad’s house. This is something that others have been doing for a week now.  In and out the door they will come as they drop off wonderful meals to sustain my beloved parents in this time of need. It’s always easier to be the giver than the receiver, but as it turns out, my mom does both with the utmost graciousness. In fact, she’s a blessing to all who are meeting her in her cancer journey already. I’m not surprised…and neither are you if you know her.   I was holding up to the window some old x-rays when a little purple jeep pulled in the driveway. Soon, my husband led the sweet woman in the front door and to the kitchen.  No one knew her. She dropped off a hot homemade dinner of salmon, steamed veggies and pound cake with mixed fruit (yummy).  Somewhere in the mix she shared that she doesn’t cook much at all, yet here she stood in Mom’s kitchen (where she’s spent the better part of her life sharing her own love of baking and cooking with all she knows) delivering a meal.

“Is that your mom in the car with you?” my husband asks.  And then we heard her story.   That jeep was on its way to the Peaks of Otter where a cemetery held residence of her late sister who died, not too long ago, from cancer.  She and her siblings were getting through these tough months in a different way and with more steps forward than her mom was able to manage. So it was another trip to the cemetery for her in hopes that her mom could somehow find enough strength to make it through a few more weeks without her daughter.  Until she pulled away and my husband used the wall behind him as a bit of a brace, I didn’t know she loved rescuing dogs (we LOVE our dogs), or that she was looking for a new place to live, or that she didn’t even know my parents.

Money wasn’t flowing freely through her hands.  Cooking isn’t one of her passions.   Her schedule wasn’t empty.  She had no steadfast friendship to foster with Mom or Dad.

She just signed up and showed up.  I don’t even know why, but I’m sure glad she did.   This is how great our God is…he sends angels right to our front door.  Thank you, Lord.

Thank you to today’s special angel.

I hope you didn’t get rained on at the cemetery today.

I pray you get the return blessing 100 fold.

Psalm 42:8
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me– a prayer to the God of my life.

 

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