Okay, so he looks EXACTLY like Olli, his laugh and cry sound EXACTLY like Benjy, so what do MY genes bring to the table? Well, folks, I’m proud to say that Henry is a vigorous nose itcher JUST like his dear Mama.  Long live the Frechettes!

In most cases, there is more than one person in your frame.  And that means more than one set of eyes to focus on.  So, who do you choose to put in focus? You need to figure out what your story is and then use your focus points to tell it.   Here’s are my rules of thumb: If it’s a family shoot, the child is the focus. (I break this rule if I want to show the way the parent is looking at the child) If it’s a wedding, the bride is in focus 80% of the time. (I break this rule when I want to show the way the groom looks at his bride) Or you simply focus on the person looking at you. In fact, looking at each other is a great way to maximize the appearance of focus while also capturing relationships and real expressions. If you have multiple people all looking directly at the camera and you want them all to be in focus, then temporarily up your f-stop (to maybe 3.2?) and then take the same photo over and over, quickly, quickly, using a different person’s eyes as the focus in each shot.  When you get back to your computer and you can see it on a big screen, you can decide which focus was the best. And then tell them to stop looking

On Monday, my baby got a haircut and became a man. No, seriously.  He aged like 30 years in a matter of minutes.  I wasn’t there to witness the actual shearing, but when I got home, he was so excited to tell me all about it. Mainly that he got to watch a DVD about cars. He thinks getting his hair cut is the best thing ever for the DVD alone.  

There’s a very simple rule in our house, inherited from the way Olli was brought up.  Or rather, the way Olli and his brothers sorted out the pecking order amongst themselves.  It’s brilliant, it’s fair, and it’s simple. It’s called the valuation principle (aka appreciation principle), and it goes a little something like this:  Whoever likes (values, appreciates) something the most gets it.  Conversely, if you don’t like (value, appreciate) it the most, you don’t. This works beautifully.  BEAUTIFULLY. For instance, if there’s one slice of rhubarb pie left, I get it.  Olli will eat rhubarb pie, but he doesn’t LOVE it.  I LOVE it.  In fact, pie in general is mine.  As is cake, most cookies (except for ginger snaps), coffee, and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Olli gets the soda, chips, dip, gummy candy, and Taco Bell sauce (imported by the fistfull from the States). You’ll notice there are no arguments about vegetables or anything remotely healthy. It’s not that Olli can’t ever have pie or I can’t have a glass of soda.  It’s just when these things are in short supply that the valuation principle is applied. This means that most American imports, if we follow the Principle, have been historically mine (with the exception of Taco Bell sauce and ranch dressing.  We also share the Puffs Plus with Lotion without incident). Have been HISTORICALLY mine.  As

A quick supplement to yesterday’s Starting Out Post. I understand that, especially with kids, things can happen so fast that you haven’t got time to move.  They’re not playing quietly in the sand or sit quietly eating cake for five minutes.  You can’t see if you like the photo before trying something else.  If this is the case, you can do ONE thing that will make all the difference in the world:  squat or kneel- QUICKLY! Let’s say your kid is running after some ducks.  You’ve got to act NOW or the moment is over.  Just throw yourself down to his level and start shooting.  You’ll be impressed at how much better the photo is when you tell it from his perspective.  Just that little move will do a lot, I promise. For this post, I tried to find an example of when I didn’t get down to their level (not so right)  to contrast it with getting down to their level (usually right), but I don’t actually have any when I haven’t gotten down to their level.  It’s become a natural instinct now just to get down with my bad self.  Either that or I delete the ones that I take whilst standing up and keep the ones that are taken kneeling, sitting on the floor, squatting or on my tummy.  I can give you some examples of

Yesterday, Olli and I took the kids to the Helsinki Zoo.  (Ps.  We now have an annual pass, so if anyone wants to head to the zoo, let us know and we’ll join you!  Pps.  We also have an annual pass to the Phoenix Zoo.  Wow, are we ever the international supporters of zoos, huh?) I don’t have any photos from the zoo.  This was on purpose.  Sometimes I need a break from my camera, so I leave it at home. But OTHER people had cameras.  Everyone had cameras, in fact!  And a lot of them had big fancy cameras, with big fancy lenses.  Others had simple camera phones.  But everyone (apart from I) was taking photos. And the photographer in me watched all these moms (for, they were ALL mothers) and I noticed something.  Something universal. The camera phone moms were better at composition than fancy camera moms. Think about it. Camera phones are generally not very good.  So, if you want to take a photo of, say, your kid in the sandbox, you have to be right there in the thick of it.  You’re down on your knees, in the sand, three feet away from your kid.  You take a photo, see if it works on your phone and when it doesn’t, you move a bit and try something else. But fancy cameras- oh, they make a lazy

Henry has now been OUT of my stomach as long as he was IN my stomach.  Can I just go on the record to say I much, much prefer him out?  Even though it means considerably less sleep and more smashed up Cheeriohs on the floor? Let’s see… who is Henry? He’s getting to be attached to me.  Finally. I mean, Henry is a super good-natured kid.  He smiles at everyone and laughs with everyone.  And of course, OF COURSE, I want him always to smile and laugh with everyone.  But is it totally unreasonable for a Mother to want extra special smiles and laughs?  I’m the one who feeds him and bathes him and changes his diapers and washes his clothes  and pushes his stroller.  Okay, now I just sound like a glorified housekeeper, but I also tell him I love him and kiss his cheeks and tickle his feet roughly 1000 times a day. And FINALLY it seems that all this caretaking and loving is paying off!  I *THINK* he might just prefer me above all others!  Well, it’s at least a close tie between Benjy and me. In other Henry news, he now goes to sleep relatively easily with the noise of a fan.  The noisiest fan in all the world.  This is much preferred over the CD we were playing ALL. NIGHT. LONG. as fans are

The most disgusting, profane, obscene curse word in the English language isn’t four letters long- it’s six.  It’s spelled “W-I-N-T-E-R”. And winter, whether we like it or not, is fast approaching. For today, my friends, is the longest day of the year.  That means that from hereon out, the days will only get SHORTER.  Shorter and shorter, bit by bit until we wake up one day and realize the sun has barely peeked up above the horizon, which is rather insignificant anyway, considering we haven’t SEEN the sun for WEEKS due to the thick and ever present cloud cover that only seems to bring snow, snow, and more SNOW when it’s not dumping down a bit more SNOW. Deep breath.  It’s still June.  I can still smell the flowers. But winter is coming.  It’s coming&#

Here’s the thing- July is a madhouse in the world of photography here in Finland.  It’s the one month with guaranteed sunshine (okay, as guaranteed as it gets in this Northern climate), it’s a time when people have off of work so they’re free to spend a couple hours in front of my camera, the city is gorgeous- don’t get me wrong, I understand why people want sessions in July. But it seems that June will now be a month of guaranteed sunshine (in case you Southerners are wondering, June is usually cold and rainy.  Yes, this is a tough country to bear sometimes).  And the city is already beautiful! So!  Why not spend an evening in front of my camera in June instead of July!  It’ll make my life a bit easier come that crazy, crazy month. Just to sweeten the deal, to give you a bit of incentive, here’s my Early Bird Special for ya’ll. All portrait sessions booked for June get 50% off the sitting fee.  That’s a pretty sweet incentive, people! Contact me at sarah(at)pikkuarkki.com with any questions or to book your session.  I’m excited!

1.  He’s still cute. 2.  His language is coming along.  Slowly and painfully.  But coming along anyway.  Here is a complete list of ACTUAL words he can say. Names:  Mama, Isi (the Finnish word for “daddy”), Mymi (Olli’s mom’s word for grandma), Jussi (a boy from daycare), Leila (one of his friends from playgroup), and Elmo. Finnish words:  Hei hei (bye), pois (away or out), joo (yes), ei (no), vauva (baby), hauva (doggy), kakka (poop), pipi (owie) English:  Bye, bu-bye, yeah, yes, please, no, poo-poo, toot-toot (as in “fart”- I’ll ask, “Benjy, did you poo poo?”  He answers, “No, toot-toot.”) Almost English:  boo (blue), rah (red), puh-poo (purple), jsss (juice), moo (milk) His own sign language:  licking his finger (ice cream), arms open wide (big), hands close together (small), finger against his teeth (pacifier), arms open wide followed immediately by finger against his teeth (bottle of milk) The important thing, I think, is that he can distinguish between Finnish and English without a problem.  He NEVER mixes the languages with what few words he has.  The other day I was looking for a street called “Veromiehentie.”  And I said to Benjy, “I’m looking for Veromiehentie.”  And he said, “No!  Isi!”  Meaning Daddy speaks that language, Mama.  Not YOU. The other important thing is that he keeps trying.  But he gets frustrated quickly.  So, I can only ask him to say