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Award Winning Family Photographer | From Maternity & Babies to Seniors & Underwater Space Coast - Brevard County FL Jacksonville Beach Family Photographer | Extended Family Session on Big Talbot IslandThe beach is by far my most favorite place to take pictures. Ok, it's my favorite place to be in general! So when this special family talked about loving the beach, we clearly needed to do their session there! The beach on Big Talbot Island in Jacksonville, FL is full of drift wood and made for fun exploration for the boys. It was the perfect time with all the family together to have some pictures taken; and thankfully the rain held off until the boys had had enough of pictures for the evening.
This sweet baby loved flying high in the air. Look at that face!
Such a sweet family.
I just love grandparent shots!
My dear friend with her hubby and boys. Love them to pieces.
Even adult children need a picture with their parents <3
Grandma and Grandpa with the newest grandbaby.
Another fan of flying high!
Mr. A loved exploring the beach.
Thank you for allowing me to capture these images! I especially adore when grandparents are part of the session. Those boys are going to cherish not only having pictures of their family, but the ones with their grandparents in them too.
<3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Interested in a family or extended family session? Contact me today for more information! St Marys Baby Photographer | Miss C is 9 Months!It has been such a joy watching this adorable, sweet little girl grow! When Miss C turned 9 months, it was the perfect time to try and catch some of the beautiful azaleas in bloom for her backdrop and we got to them just in time! And her outfit just so happened to match the color of these azaleas perfectly. She was way more into the mulch than the flowers, though!
This is my favorite image from the session and it took bringing her over to the slides to finally get a great smile. And thankfully, there were plenty of azaleas over there to give us a colorful background.
The slide was definitely a big hit!
And here is Miss C's 9 Months In | 9 Months Out comparison! Momma had this beautiful wrap at her maternity session so we brought it back out to wrap Miss C for a fun before and after. Gorgeous Momma and baby!
Miss C's first birthday is just around the corner! Time flies so fast when they're little and I'm so honored this family has chosen me to help capture these memories for them!
<3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Interested in a baby plan to capture baby's first year? Contact me today for more information! Project 52 | Images of Inspiration | Weeks 9-12Ok, so I'm slightly behind on my project 52, partly due to being busy (which is a good thing) and partly due to getting stuck on one of the themes. I'm almost caught up and have plans for the next 2 images so hopefully I'm caught up soon! One good thing is that even though I was a little stuck, I was still taking pictures and taking pictures of my son that weren't just on my iPhone, so I'd say this project has still been successful! Hope you enjoy these next four images!
Week 9 | Shapes - Wall of Circles My family and I visited the Children's Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth and I brought along my "good" camera, knowing there'd be an opportunity to capture an image for this theme. I captured several fun images of my son having fun exploring the museum, which is very hands on and one of the best children's museums I've visited so far. I tried a few different times to get something with a shape in it, but was very much drawn to their donor wall up front that was full of colorful circles with the names of museum donors on them. I managed to get my son to count the circles so that I could get him in the image, and not just the wall of circles. I ended up liking the black and white version better!
Week 10 | Reflections - Car Show My son is obsessed with cars, so when I heard there was going to be a car show in Kingsland, I knew we had to go! I also knew it would be a fun place to try and get an image for this theme. All that chrome! I had an image in my mind of what I wanted to capture, but with the clouds blocking most of the sun that morning, and my son not wanting to cooperate, I didn't get quite the image I had imagined, though I still captured a fun moment. My son wanted to bring his camera along too and proceeded to take pictures of all of his favorite cars (most of which were red). It was adorable! So I knelt down with him and we took a picture of this car together. Future photographer maybe?
Week 11 | Night - Holding the Moon This was the theme that I just couldn't get past for a couple weeks. I had a few ideas of what I could do for the night theme but with night coming later after the time change, by the time it gets dark, I am getting my son ready for bed and am too tired to attempt to do much at the end of the day (I know most of you reading this can relate). Normally my son has no problem staying up later, but he's been skipping his naps so bedtime was early and I was exhausted! Then when the moon was full, we finally had an evening that was warm and clear and we stayed outside until dusk and watched the moon. My son wanted to hold the moon so I told him I would take a "magic" picture for him so he could see the moon in his hands. I wasn't thrilled with the technical aspects of the image but my son loved it so it's a success in my book.
Week 12 | Break the Rules - Fun in the Sun This theme was all about breaking the rules. The interpretation could look like an image of someone breaking a rule or breaking a rule of photography. (Here's a look at breaking a few photography rules.) I was leaning towards breaking a rule of photography, but I wasn't sure which rule. We had a hot day recently and it seemed the perfect day to break out the pool for the first time this year. My son was having so much fun playing in the pool so I went to grab my camera. It was noon so I broke the "time of day" rule and shot at noon in direct sunlight. Because fun doesn't always happen first thing in the morning or during golden hour in the evening!
Thanks for following along with my project! <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography
P.S. If you would like to see some of my fellow NAPCP photographer's Project 52, check out these links: ShutterBEAN Photography, WojoImage Photography, Close Your Eyes Photography, JG Images, Marena Beck Photography, Songbird Photography, H. Wilson Photography, Defining Moments Photography, Gina Holt Photography, Floyd Family Photography, MZ Photography, Chrystal Cienfuegos Photography Project 52 | Images of Inspiration | Weeks 5-8I'm happy to say that I'm still going strong with my Project 52. I have fallen a little behind a few times, but not too far behind and I'm fairly caught up at the moment so at least there's that! I am love, love, loving this project. I love having complete freedom in my creativity and trying new things and I've captured some really great images (a few of which I have entered into competitions). Here are my next four images...
Week 5 | Low Light
Week 6 | Abandoned
This one came to me while prepping our garden beds for late winter/early spring planting. We have two young red maples in our backyard and one of them has something wrong with it that has been slowly killing it over the last few years. It's going to have to come down but before we cut it down, I wanted to get a photograph of the little bird nest for this project. It was just so perfect and alone in the bare, dying tree, abandoned for the winter. I took several angles before deciding on this one with the branches leading you in to the nest. I'm going to be so sad when this tree comes down.
Week 7 | Black & White
The weekend I took this image was beautiful and was the perfect time for our first beach day of the year. It wasn't the typical time of day that I like to shoot, so it really made me think about the light and trying to get the right angle for the best light without using my reflector that I normally have for sessions. My son loves playing in the water, chasing the sea foam, and running from the waves (despite that the water was way too cold for me or my husband). We hadn't planned on playing in the water so we didn't dress for it, but that didn't stop him! I played with perspective and composition and ended up with a lot of great shots showing how much fun my son was having. This one was one of my favorites from the day and lent itself well to being black and white. The beach is my favorite place to take pictures and I'd love to do a full fun family session like this where everyone plays and I capture the moments. Anyone game?
Week 8 | Same but Different
This theme was a little more challenging but I settled on getting an image of my husband and son together. We were sitting down for movie night and I decided to pull out my camera first and snap a couple of quick images. I love how they are both intently watching and waiting for the movie to begin. They aren't identical, but they share so many similarities I figured it would work as a loose interpretation of the theme. Thanks for following along with my project! <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography
P.S. If you would like to see some of my fellow NAPCP photographer's Project 52, check out these links: ShutterBEAN Photography, WojoImage Photography, Close Your Eyes Photography, JG Images, Marena Beck Photography, Songbird Photography, H. Wilson Photography, Defining Moments Photography, Gina Holt Photography, Floyd Family Photography, MZ Photography, Chrystal Cienfuegos Photography Saint Marys Child & Family Photographer | Grandma and MeIf you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen me use the hashtag #existinphotos, inspired by the amazing Sue Bryce (you can read more on the CreativeLive blog). It's so important that no matter how many pounds lighter, or years younger, or however else we wish we looked, that we still allow ourselves to be in photographs, if not for ourselves then for our children and grandchildren, family and friends. I have very few photographs of my grandparents, let alone me with my grandparents (all of whom have passed), so I make sure I take the opportunity to capture pictures of my son with his grandparents whenever I can, even if they aren't a fan of the camera. And if you aren't a fan of the camera, hire a professional who understands light and angles to make sure you look your best, you won't regret it! Or if you're the one in the family always behind the camera, make sure you get in the pictures too. Hand over the camera to someone and ask them to take your picture (or better yet, hire a professional!)
So you can imagine my excitement when my good friend talked to me about surprising her mom for her birthday with a session of just her and her grandkids. What an awesome gift, not only for her mom, but for her kids too. They will cherish these pictures for many years to come! Here are a few of my favorites...
These two had the sillies that evening so we saw a lot of tongues.
We still managed to get super sweet portraits though.
This one may be my absolute favorite from the session. Their laughter is infectious!
After the giggles, I was able to capture this sweet portrait.
At the end of the session we went down to the waterfront as the sun was setting. It was such a beautiful sunset!
And now I think it's time to do a formal session with my mom and my son when she comes to visit next! I would love to do more sessions like this with grandparents. It was so much fun!
<3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Like what you see? Contact me today to schedule your session!
Saint Marys-Jacksonville Child Photographer | Miss G Turns 2!It's hard to believe this cutie pie is 2 already! This isn't Miss Glory's first time on the blog, but it is the first post dedicated just to her! She was the first newborn I photographed after starting my business (pictured here) and you can see her on the blog here and here. Miss Glory is a big fan of all animals so it only made sense to do her birthday mini at the zoo. You can see she definitely had fun!
Miss G, I have loved watching you grow and turn into such a sweet little toddler. Just slow down a bit, you're growing too fast!
<3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Like what you see? Contact me today to schedule your session! Five Ways to Get Better Smiles | Saint Marys Child & Family PhotographerSmile! Say Cheese! We've all been programmed to automatically say these things when taking someone's picture. Adults can usually pull off a decent looking smile on cue, but let's be honest, most kids can't! And even if they give a decent smile, it's usually clear that it looks forced. All we want is to capture that pure joy and genuine smile in a photograph, so how can we do this? First, let's ditch the "Smile!" and "Say Cheese!" Removing them from your picture taking vocabulary is the first step. It's hard, but you can do it! Here are my top five tips for getting better smiles from your kids. 5 - Get them to do something silly. This one is usually one I use with older kids when other things haven't worked. Teenagers who don't feel like having a conversation with you, especially when you're holding a camera, and give you no smile or a fake smile, might just crack a real smile or laugh if you tell them not to smile and give you their angry face instead. They'll feel silly and end up laughing like these two!
4 - Act silly. This one is especially good for the little ones. Do something goofy or silly to make them laugh and snap, snap, snap! I have been known to dance around and act like a fool during a session to get kids to laugh and give me a good smile. (It gets the adults laughing at my ridiculousness too, win-win!)
3 - Tickles. You've got to be quick with this one, but if you have a ticklish child like I do, give a tickle and then step back and snap away!
2 - Talk to them (and accept that a great image of them may not be a smiling face). Get them talking about something they enjoy and you're bound to get a great expression, even if it may not be the big cheesy grin we're programmed to want. Sometimes it's nice to have a genuine expression that speaks to who they are and doesn't need to always be a smile. Ask them just to look at you and see what you get! This is one of my favorite non-smiling images of my godson.
1 - Play with them. Little ones seem to love playing peek-a-boo and it's a great way to get them smiling. When they're too old for peek-a-boo, play around with them and interact with them to get that smile. Or just let them play and catch the smiles that come with having fun! These images were captured after letting this three year old throw pinecones over/at my head, and I of course over-dramatized getting hit in the head with them, whether they actually hit me or not. He sure thought it was funny!
Now go pick up your camera and capture some great smiles and expressions!
<3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Like what you see and want to be in the pictures too? Contact me today to schedule your session! |
Kimberly Tank is an award-winning professional photographer in Rockledge, FL, servicing Brevard County on the Space Coast in Central Florida (including Melbourne, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Merritt Island, Viera and surrounding areas). Using natural light and custom on location sessions, Kimberly Tank specializes in photographing families from babies to seniors and commercial clients, both on land and underwater; providing an exceptional customer experience and helping save you time and preserve this chapter in your life's story. Kimberly Tank is a proud member and ambassador of National Association of Professional Child Photographers. Signup for my monthly newsletter and receive a FREE PDF on taking better photos of your kids! Click HERE Contact Me for more info and/or to book a session
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Kimberly Tank is an award winning professional lifestyle photographer in Rockledge, FL, servicing Brevard County in Central Florida (including Melbourne, Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island, Viera and surrounding areas). Using natural light and custom on location sessions, Kimberly Tank specializes in photographing families from babies to seniors and underwater photography; providing an exceptional customer experience and helping you capture your story and turn your memories into works of art.