Bellemore Blog

As a photographer, I love doing weddings in Chester County, PA. The scenery there is gorgeous. You can get some great formal wedding poses. Sometimes though, the best photos you get from a shoot are the ones that occur right before or right after a posed shot. You can catch people laughing or making faces. These are from a wedding I did recently in West Chester, PA. We went to take the formal portraits at Goose Creek Park. I gave direction for how to stand but before they were ready and after the pose, I kept shooting and got some really great, natural pictures with genuine smiles and a bit of fun too. Also, if the group has their own ideas, you can tell them to do something silly and they tend to have a silly pose that they do when taking their own photos. In this case, there was a particular face all the girls made. These types of photos are the ones that show the true feeling of the day and the spirit of the people you are photographing.

To see more candid photos from this wedding check me out on Facebook.

Contact me today to schedule your portrait shoot or to book your wedding.

This is why I love doing what I do. Backyard portraits! It's quick and easy and your older children won't fight you too much on it. I took pictures of this family in their backyard in Burlington, NJ and it took us less than an hour to get some amazing pictures.

Check out my Facebook page for even more pictures. Bellemore's Page

Contact Bellemore Photgraphy for your portrait session: Email Bellemore

What a great way to spend Valentine's Day! So this wedding was particularly fun to shoot. Partly because the couple and their families were a lot of fun, partially because the Glen Foerd Mansion is absolutely gorgeous, and partially because it's supposed to be haunted. Conroy Catering does the catering at the Glen Foerd Mansion and they had a formal sit down dinner set up in the main room of the Glen Foerd Mansion. The ceremony was held in the drawing room and the after dinner dancing was in this gorgeous solarium off the back of the Glen Foerd Mansion. This took place right after the two big blizzards we had so the property was covered in a thick blanket of untouched snow, leading right up to the Delaware River. It was just so beautiful all around.

Glen Foerd Mansion offered so many wonderful PA Wedding Photography moments to count, but here are some of my favorite Philadelphia Wedding Photographs to share with you. I didn't see any signs of the Glen Foerd Mansion being haunted but see if you can find any uninvited guests lingering in the background of the Philadelphia Wedding photos.... 

Recently, I had the privledge of photographing my friend and her twins. Her mom and sister were there too and we were able to capture some really precious moments. By the end of the sitting we were all laughing and having fun! They were great to photograph and I'll share a few of the photos I liked best.

It's time!! Time for scheduling your holiday portrait sittings. This year I am offering holiday cards as package add ons.

Contact me today at bellemorephoto@gmail.com to schedule your appointment. 

Package A: $50
Choice of 4 portrait sheets

Package B: $65
Choice of 6 portrait sheets

Package C: $125
Choice of 12 portrait sheets
All digital proofs on CD

Add cards to your package:

60 5x7 glossy photo postcards and envelopes- $60

30 5x7 glossy photo postcards and envelopes- $30

50 5x7 folding photo cards and envelopes- $100

25 5x7 folding photo cards and envelopes- $50

Portrait Sheets :
(1) 8x10
(2) 5x7
(2) 4x6
(9) Wallets

We are two weekends into October and we are having fun meeting all of you out at the orchards and pumpkin patches! This weekend we are doing fall photos in Lansdale, PA and fall photos in South Jersey. I hope you will come and join us!

Here are the dates left for fall photos:

It's not every day you get to meet a movie star, let alone a movie star as famous as Kevin Bacon. Scott and I went to the Bacon Brothers concert this weekend in Phoenixville, PA to benefit the Colonial Theatre. The concert was great and both Kevin and his brother, Michael are amazing musicians.

So, I am now one degree from Kevin Bacon, making all of you 2 degrees away for knowing me. So glad I could up my Bacon number! To hire Bellemore to photograph your next get together- famous or not- contact us today: www.bellemorephotography.com

I'll leave you with a picture of me as a Bacon sandwich.

So far we've been to the apple orchard in Bordentown, NJ and the pumpkin patch in Tabernacle, NJ.  At Conte Farms in Tabernacle, NJ we rode a cart out to the pumpkin fields, picked pumpkins, played in the corn fields, then took the wagon back to the farm stand. After our pumpkin picking we enjoyed apple pie custard, fresh pressed apple cider, and HOT apple cider donuts. It was a little bit of heaven. They have picnic table there under the trees and we spent some quality time eating our fall goodies and refelcting on the day. Casey asked what time it was because he didn't want the day to end.

If you are interested in having as much fun as we did, check out Bellemore's Fall Photo days. I will be at farms in South Jersey and Pennsylvania during the month of October. Contact me to set up a time.

Upcoming Dates:

Here are some of the pictures we took this weekend. (The picture of me was taken by my 8 year old son, Dillon!)

I just wanted to share some photos of the wedding I did recently. Michelle and Steven were married at St. Steven's Church in Beverly with the reception at Georgine's in Bristol, PA. They couldn't have had nicer weather! What a great day for pictures. Also, I got to start the wedding photography in New Jersey and end the night in Pennsylvania. We did the formal portraits at Bristol Park, PA overlooking the Delaware River. It was a gorgeous location, there were even a few sailboats out on the river that day, adding to the ambience. We took pictures while people stopped and admired the beautiful couple and their families.

We always try to have a bit of fun while taking the formal portraits and at one point, Steven picked Michelle up and acted like he was going to throw her in the river. Too cute! I was even able to get some good candid shots in between poses. I've added some of my favorites here. Enjoy!

~Suzanne

There is nothing more whimsical than family portraits taken on the beach. I took my family to the beach this weekend and had a great time taking pictures, playing in the sand and splashing in the water. (Even though the water was only about 40 degrees!) We even attempted one of those jumping photos. I have found that my family does not have the best sense of timing though so they were all jumping at different times. It was great fun to watch them all jumping through several takes!

I hope you enjoy these NJ beach family photography pictures!

One of the first things I tell parents when I go to their houses to take portraits is to let their kids be themselves. I put them in front of the backdrop and let the kids do their thing: twirl around, be silly, look off at the wall. Why? Because these real kid moments make great portraits.

Take my sons as examples. They are pretty sick of seeing me with a camera and they both have different reactions when they see me coming to take their picture. Casey hides and Dillon pastes on this cheesey disinterested grin. So now I have to find creative ways of taking their picture besides saying, "Look at the camera and say Cheese". Some techniques I have used are as follows:

1. Set up the Shot and then let them relax

Put your kids in the position you want them in, in front of the background you want them in and then give them a few seconds to forget you are taking their picture. Put the camera down, but keep it accessible so when they are finally looking in your direction, you can quickly snap the picture.

Here's the boys "posing" for the shot I want:           

 Here's the boys in the same shot after about 10 seconds:

2. Take pictures of them doing something

Often, if they are involved in an activity, they won't notice you trying to take their picture. Then you won't get the typical pose from them. Also, this helps tell the story of the moment. In the picture below of my kids, they were picking apples and Casey didn't have any apples in his bag yet, so Dillon gave him one. It was a very rare moment of sharing between the two of them and I was happy to catch it.

3. Hide!! Be like the Papparazzi

You think I'm joking, but in this instance, I was hidden in the apple trees and just snapping pictures of them picking apples. Find a place to hide or sneak into a room when they aren't expecting you.

4. Set up the pose and let only the kid be the candid shot

Take the picture with an adult or an older kid and let them hold the props. Then let the younger kid in the shot and let them think they are just talking to the other person. After a few seconds, call their name and snap the shot.

Forced pose:                                                                 

 Setup pose with Casey as the candid:

Are you looking for a way to upload, edit and share photos easily? Well, I have found a program that is great for everyday use. And it's free! It's a product called Picasa by Google. To get it just go to their website and search Picasa.

The program will help you upload, edit and enhance photos. Once you've edited your photos, you can email them, add them to your blog or make a movie featuring your photos. My favorite feature is the ability to create your own collages. This gives you the same effect as putting your photos in a collage frame without having to buy the collage frame. You can select up to 50 photos to display.

My Collage:

Here are some examples of the effects you can add to your photos:

Original photo:

Soft Focus Added:

Warmify and Glow Effect:

Black and White:

Focused Black and White:

Are you looking for a new camera? With all of the choices that are out there now, it can be really confusing to choose the right one for you. Owning several cameras of my own, I know that each one serves a certain purpose for me. Being that most of you are parents though, I'm thinking you're going to be looking for a camera that can take decent pictures and has a quick response time. There's nothing worse than trying to take a picture of your kid doing something adorable and finding the camera has a 4-5 second delay between the time you press the button and the time it actually takes the picture. I know a lot of people who have pictures of the sides of their kid's head or a picture that's just a streak from your kid running out of frame.

To prevent this, look for a camera with a fast refresh time. Most of the new cameras are better at this than they used to be. For instance, I bought my mom a new Kodak Easy Share and it is a vast improvement over her older one. It was fairly affordable too. Plus, it fits her older Easy Share printer. You really need to think about what your needs are in a camera before thinking about which type of camera to buy. Do you need something that is fairly simple to operate? What a camera that will dock into a printer and print the pictures instantly? Do you need a small lightweight camera that can fit in your pocket and go just about anywhere? Or are you looking to get into the digital SLR field but still want the capability of putting the camera on auto pilot?

Once you decide what you need, then you can decide what brand you want. Do you already have a certain brand of camera that you are happy with? Are the lens, memory cards or printer interchangeable? Are you happy with that brand? If you like the look and feel of your current camera, then I'd recommend sticking with the same brand but upgrading to a newer model with more capabilities. If you are looking for a solid digital SLR to start with, I'd personally recommend the Canon Reel XTI. They recently came out with the newer Rebel XSI, so you can pick up the XTI for a great price. It's controls are easy enough to understand if it's your first SLR and it has enough capabilities and megapixels to take some really amazing photos.

If you are looking for a review on ANY camera, this is a good website: http://www.dpreview.com/

If you are particularly pleased with the camera you have and want to share or want a specific opinion from me on a certain camera, email me and I'll share it in a future newsletter: bellemorephoto@gmail.com

If your kids are anything like mine, they are getting a bit punchy from being inside all winter. With these cold temperatures, it's not always possible to get outside, but you can switch things up a bit with some neat crafts. Even boys will like this one because it involves painting glue! Plus, the craft can be given to friends and relatives as a gift.

Photo Flower Pot

You can make this in a few different variations: real flowers or silk flowers and foam flower photo frames or wire picture holders. You start with a basic terra cotta flower pot. Paint the pot with a base coat of craft paint in any color. Cut out pictures of the kids to affix to the flower pot. Using craft glue, glue the pictures to the flower pot. You can also embellish the flower pot with stickers and painted designs. Once all the decorations have been glued or painted on, water down some of the craft glue and apply a top coat with a foam sponge brush over the pictures and designs. You can also use decoupage medium that you find at the craft store. Let the pot dry beforre putting any flowers in it.

Once the pot is dry, you can add floral foam in the pot and create a silk flower arrangement. Or you can put a live plant in the pot, like pansies or a geranium. Leave the plant in the pot it came in and just slip the decorated pot over it. To make the picture holders, you can use floral wire and curl over the end to form a paper clip holder or you can buy metal picture holders from the craft store. To see the full directions, refer to the kodak website: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/picturecd/welcome/piccd_projspringtime.jhtml