KaylinaNorton.com

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How to Prep for Your Couple Session

5 easy tips to get the most from your couple session.

What to wear for Senior Portraits

A few tips and styles you should look out for.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Wedding Photographer

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Sunday, February 23

The Real Questions to Ask your Wedding Photographer

If you've read my blog before, you might have noticed something: I'm a big fan of Pinterest. If you check my Pinterest page you'll see that it might border on "addiction". I have not one, but four boards, dedicated to weddings. Everything from wedding photography that inspires me, to decor ideas, to info graphics on how to properly plan a wedding.

The other day I found a pin linking to a Buzzfeed article titled "These Diagrams are Everything You Need to Plan Your Wedding". While I found most of the info graphics interesting and helpful, I had to laugh when I got about halfway down the list and found two related to choosing your wedding photographer. You can see them below.

 questions to ask wedding photographer

questions to ask wedding photographer


I think it is important to get an answer to the questions mentioned above and to have an idea of what sort of photos the photographer will be capturing throughout the day. But what scares me about these graphics is that I get an overwhelming feeling that the relationship between the bride and the photographer is nothing more than a business transaction.

My "meetings" with clients are not business meetings, they're get togethers that allow me a chance to get to know the couple, their style, and how I can best serve them. I want to establish a friendship with my clients so that my services are less about an exchange of goods and more about capturing the love and emotion of their special day in a way they can cherish forever. 

I have no problems talking about how many weddings I've done, the kind of camera and lighting I use, or how many pictures the bride will receive after the wedding, but what I really want to establish in our first meeting is that the couple and myself are a good fit. That we'll get along. Because a wedding can be a little awkward when you have a complete stranger with a camera following you all day instead of someone you trust and shares common interests with you. 

So I would encourage any bride out there looking for a wedding photographer to not only get the answers to these questions, but to dig a little deeper. Are you a huge Netflix person? Then find out what the photographer likes to watch on TV. Love animals? Does your photographer have any pets? Yes, these answers might have nothing to do with their skills as a wedding photographer, but it will make the day more enjoyable as this person spends hours with you and your closets friends and family.

And please, if you don't trust your photographer enough to capture "the couple's first kiss" without having writing it on a list, find another photographer.

Keep smiling!
Kaylina

Sunday, February 9

Limiting my focus...

I launched my new website a little over a month ago and several people have noticed something missing... I no longer have a gallery dedicated to family, baby, or senior portraits. I'd like to take a quick moment to talk about the new direction I've decided to take Kaylina Norton Photography.

I started a full-time job in August. As much as I love doing photography, I'm not a point in my life right now to be able to be a full-time photographer.  Taking on a full-time job gave me both an option and a restriction at once: I did not need to accept every shoot that I was offered to me for monetary reasons and I no longer had the time to shoot them all anyway. So I decided to narrow the focus of my business on the shoots I felt were the best fit for me, not necessarily my most profitable shoots.

I have decided to focus my business on couples and senior portraits. An odd combination, I realize, but they are the shoots I enjoy the most and feel most closely represent my style and skills. I absolutely love getting to know the love stories of the couples I get to know through their engagements and weddings, and the personalities of the high school seniors I have the honor of capturing at such an important time in their lives.

It's not that I don't like getting to know the families and babies that I've had the pleasure of shooting in the past, I just feel that my skills are better aimed towards older subjects. I honestly feel more comfortable referring inquiries and clients to other local photographers who specialize in those areas. And that's what I've been doing for the past couple months as I've received inquiries about doing family and baby portraits.

I want to thank each and every client I've had over the past few years who helped my business grow. Especially those who did trust me enough to capture your family's and children's special moments- you allowed me to hone my skills and learn more about myself and my style and your trust in me means the world to me. I will miss the cheesy smiles, sticky hands, and sugar rushes, but I'm sure I'll change my mind in a few years when I have an adorable mess of my own.

As a temporary goodbye, here are some of my favorite pictures of little ones...






Keep smiling,
Kaylina

Special note: I no longer have examples of senior portraits on my website, but you can find galleries on my Facebook page if you're interested!