• Welcome to the Cats Cradle Photography blog! I welcome you to visit the blog often for sneak peeks from recent sessions, photography specials and other important information. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a session of your own!

    ~ Tara Swartzendruber

    Cat's Cradle Photography specializes in fun, natural and unique portraits for newborns, children, maternity, small families and seniors

Product Spotlight: Wall groupings & Ideas

Yep, there are many awesome ideas out there about what to do with your photos.  In fact, I have created a pinterest board of ideas so you can check them out (click here)!  This board also has some great tips on showing what groupings would look like on your walls and how to hang photos!

A few fun ideas from Cats Cradle Photography include:

*Canvas or Gallery Mount Collections!  Priced up to 35% off the price of purchasing various sizes alone, these collections are created to look awesome in your home.  Check out the blog under “categories” for information and pricing of these various collections.

Other fun options…..

* frame various sized photos and place them on a shelf

* frame different sizes in different colored/styled frames and hang them in your stairwell

* have them professionally framed (I have suggestions!)

* incorporate them with groupings of other special items (especially cool with metal prints and canvases)

* purchase them with a hard backing (anything over 8×10 automatically comes with a hard backing) and place them in a cool old frame.

 

This frame is my current favorite family display in our home.  I found the frame for $5.00 at a junk sale and it has chippy white paint on one side and this fun turquoise on this side.  PERFECT for a the bare wall in our front entryway!

* Metal prints can be hole punched on each side so they can be hung with a ribbon on your wall – or how about on an old door?  Love that!

Possibilities are endless.  Check pinterest, check out what you like in your friend’s homes, think outside the box.  Family photos are important and should be shared and enjoyed!  I know YOU have the perfect way to display them for YOUR home!

 

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Lifestyle: Baking with the Otts

 

If you’ve seen the website lately, you may have noticed a new option for family photos: A lifestyle session!

Have you ever thought about documenting your day-to-day activity?  Maybe not, but it’s worth thinking about.  How fun would it be to photograph your family, together….not posed, but doing something you enjoy doing together?  Maybe you like to bake cookies, as seen in this session, or irrigate together….plant a garden….enjoy the county fair….get muddy irrigating, play lawn games…..the possibilities are endless.

In a lifestyle session, I document your family “doing” and “playing together”….engaging in something you enjoy.  Staging may be a small part of the photo shoot as the right props & clothing can help to tell your story, but mostly you get to have fun ~ and I get to photograph it for you!

 

So without further introduction, let’s see the photos of the lifestyle session with this mother-daughter duo in the kitchen:)

One thing I love about lifestyle is the details….the measuring, cracking, mixing….the distrust of the mixer….. and of course licking the batter!

and who can resist being just a little silly….having fun!

This particular photo shoot was a long time in coming..we talked about doing it for over a year.  I’m so glad we got it together.  It was a great session and what a fun memory they will have!

Thanks, Otts, for being willing to play, be silly, get messy and enjoy the time with each other!  And thanks for letting me be a part of it!:)

 

 

Posted in Families, Lifestyle

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Product Spotlight: Coffee table books

Rich, thick pages; beautiful images; gorgeous presentation.

LOVE your gallery?  Want to display them all but don’t have the wall space?  A COFFEE TABLE BOOK is a perfect way to have it all!

Our coffee table books are high quality, canvas colored books in a variety of cover color options.  The pages are thick and glossy and each photo extends end to end on the page (without a border) making each book a work of art.  A great addition to your coffee table, side table or just to show guests when they come to your home!  Coffee table books make great gifts for the grandparents also!

For the best possible quality, I recommend printing any books through Cats Cradle Photography.

Visit the products page at www.catscradlephotography.com for more information!

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Client Interview: The Friesen family

The Friesen family has been in front of my camera a number of times over the past few years.  They are a great family and we have more fun each time we are together (at least I do!).

The most recent session was a family one at a place special to them….a farm their grandpa owns with a pasture, tons of trees and an old barn with a corner edging slightly over a “cliff” to the river below.  A great setting for a family with boys!  Their grandpa has been generous in letting me use this setting a couple of other times for clients, but this one was extra special because it was meaningful to the family!

I can tell the mom loves photos and decorates her house with fun photos of her boys/family, so I asked her a few questions about their family and why they take photos…… enjoy the interview!

What are some things your family likes to do together?

We Love to watch and play sports together.  That is probably what we do the most.  We also LOVE to have family movie night whenever that rare opportunity comes along on a Friday or Saturday evening when we actually don’t have an activity to go to.  We also like to eat dinner together as much as possible.  We try to make that a priority so we at least have some point during the day where we all touch base.  Even if it only lasts 15 minutes sometimes!

 

What is an ideal date night for you and your hubby?

Ideal???  That would probably a nice dinner out somewhere and then a movie.  Unfortunately we RARELY if ever get the movie part in anymore, but dinner out and a movie at home is nice too!!

Why do you think it’s important/meaningful to have family photos taken?

I think it’s most meaningful to have family photos done for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it’s fun to spend that quality time together at least trying to act like we all LOVE each other for the photo session:)!  And secondly, you can never go back and get those moments in time back.  Life moves so fast and the kids grow up so fast, it’s nice to have some of those moments in time captured on camera so we can have them someday to look at.  I love going back and looking at old family photos.  Great memories!!

What do you like to do with your photos? And do you have a favorite photo product….if so, what and why is it your favorite?
I love to hang my photos all over my house!  I have them in the living room, bedroom, family room.  I think it’s such a GREAT way to decorate the walls with.  My FAVORITE product has to be the aluminum because it is so unique and I love the way the light reflects off of it.  Canvas is a close second though!  I have more Canvas, but I REALLY love my aluminum pictures.
Why do you choose Cats Cradle Photography for your family photos?
I chose Cats Cradle Photography INITIALLY because Tara is family and I had seen some of her work and thought it was gorgeous!  An added bonus was the fact that she lives on the farm where my DAD grew up and so to have pictures taken out there makes for extra special memories for our family.  I have CONTINUED to use Cats Cradle because Tara does an AMAZING job taking the pictures and putting everything together so it looks amazing and fun!  She is so creative and has such wonderful ideas… she does a great job of using props, color and other backgrounds to bring a uniqueness to each families photos.  I also love her Christmas cards and would do that every year if I could get my BOYS to agree to taking annual pics!
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Cats Cradle Photography is going All-Inclusive

Yep, sorta like an all-inclusive resort….lodging, food, drinks, entertainment…..

well, something like that anyway!  For the 2013 season, when you book your child or family session with Cats Cradle Photography, you will receive ALL of the photos in your gallery: professionally edited, high resolution digital images on a flash drive, usually around 20-35 images total!  With your images, you receive a print release allowing you to print your photos as many times as you want to give to relatives and friends and for display in your home!!

Pricing and details regarding sessions are on the Cats Cradle Photography website at www.catscradlephotography.com.

HERE ARE THE ANSWERS TO SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

1. What am I allowed to do with my photos?

Along with your flash drive, you will receive a print release allowing you to print your photos as often as you wish.  Cats Cradle Photography retains the copyright to all photos, and therefore you may not alter photos in any way per US copyright law.  Images are also not allowed to be used for commercial purposes or in contests without written permission from Cats Cradle Photography

2. Will my printed photos be good quality?

Cats Cradle Photography does not guarantee the quality of images not printed at our professional lab.  I do, however, recommend a wonderful prosumer lab for printing your images and you will receive instructions on how to print at this lab.  I strongly discourage use of drugstores (walmart, walgreens, etc) or discount photo labs (snapfish, shutterfly, etc.) for producing prints or products.

3. Can I still place an order for prints or products through you?

Yes!  In fact, I still recommend that larger prints and photo books be printed through Cats Cradle Photography for the best possible quality.

4. What if I need help deciding what to print for my home?

Just ask!  I still love to help out in this area because I truly hope you print photos for your home!  You invested in a photo session, so I’m sure you will want to see the final results in print!!

5. I know you took way more than 35 photos at our session, how come we don’t get to see them all?

It is my job to deliver the best images from your session.  I go through and discard any where eyes are closed, expressions are funny or images are similar to another image.  I choose and edit the BEST photos from your session….ones I hope you will be excited and proud to have in your home!

6. How do I book a session?

Easy, just visit my website at www.catscradlephotography.com and send me an email through the contact tab.  Once we have scheduled a date, pre-payment is required to hold your scheduled session.

I look forward to working with you and your family in 2013!

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