Baby B & Family (My winners from the Big Photography Giveaway hosted by Becky Higgins)!

Throughout the month of May, scrapbooking and all-things-domestic guru, Becky Higgins hosted a photography giveaway on her very popular blog. I was one of the photographers lucky enough to be featured in that giveaway! The winner of the free session by KBP was a lucky mom-to-be. She was due August 20th and her little boy, B, made his grand (early) entrance on lucky Friday the 13th! (Friday the 13th is very lucky in my own household as it was the very day that my husband and I shared our first date).

B was adorable and such a good baby! I can honestly say that it was my quickest and least stressful newborn session of all time. Of course, it had a lot to do also with the fact that I had my very wonderful assistant, Marcey with me. She is so much better with newborns than I am-- and for good reason; her family fosters newborns!

It was a very successful session and I am happy with the images that I got. Here are a few favorites from the session:

Holiday Mini Sessions!

I know that it seems like it's still quite a ways a way, but somehow Christmas card time always sneaks up on us. This year, Kara Baker Photography has it all planned out for you! KBP is offering Holiday mini sessions at a fraction of the cost of a full session! We have rented studio space in Concord, MA on Saturday, November 6th. Bring your kids in their best holiday gear and we'll take care of the rest. You have 3 packages from which to choose and a la cart items too (including the option to purchase a digital Christmas card with your child's photos ready to be printed!). And, if you bring a friend, you and your friend will both receive a free 8x10 print!

Click on the flyer below to see it larger!


Book soon as openings are limited. Hope to see you there!

Why Get Professional Prints?

Many photographers do not even extend the offer to purchase a CD of images to their clients. I do. I know that if it were me, If I were the client, then I would want the option of having all my images. Prices for a CD of 20-30 images vary by location and by professional level of the photographer. Currently, I am offering a CD with all your images for $149. This is without a doubt on the lower end of the spectrum. Many will charge well beyond $1000... and for good reason. If you are not a photographer, you probably do not realize the time it takes for your photographer to process your photos... hours.

Some photographers offer their clients the option to purchase a CD of their images, but have a stipulation within their contract/model/print releases that they are not to print their images at certain (common, often 1-hour pick-up) labs. They also do this for good reason. If you are a photographer, you (hopefully) take great pride in taking your clients photographs. You know which settings to use, when to use a larger aperture, and when to use a smaller one. You know which lens is best for the type of image that you are hoping to produce. You know to set your ISO depending upon the light for that place and time. Then, when you are home from your session, you upload your client's photos to your computer and begin to post-process them in Photoshop. In Photoshop, you know when and how to sharpen it just right so that the photo is crisp, but not overly so, you know when you have use your curves adjustments to add a contrast boost, or too lighten or darken areas of a photo. You even have monitor calibration software installed on your computer so that the colors that you are seeing on your monitor are 100% accurate to real life colors. You also know to set your Photoshop default to open your client's photos with the same color profile that your professional lab will print in. When you are finished, you can be happy knowing that you have done all that you can do to ensure a beautiful photograph for your client.

So why do some photographers prohibit their clients from printing at certain labs? Because they are afraid if people see their photographs printed at a local 1-hour pick-up lab, that it will not represent the true caliber of that photographer's work. Often times, a local (or even online) lab will turn beautiful photos into... well, something not quite so beautiful.

The only way I (or many other photographers (I don't speak for all)) can guarantee that you will get what I see on my screen is if you order from me. I print my clients' photographs at a 100% professional color lab. Each photograph is scrutinized for color correctness. They are printed on (your choice) of professional papers and printed on machines that are far superior to any machine a local lab will print with. If you printed a photo at both a professional color lab, and from a 1-hour pick up lab, you would no doubt see the difference in color and quality.

I will always offer my clients an option to purchase all of their images. I will probably never include such a stipulation in my own contract either. If you have paid for them and have gotten a print release from me, then they are your photos to print wherever you'd like. I just want to make sure that my clients are at least educated in the differences between a common lab and a professional one. My best advice if money is an issue is, at the very least, get professional prints of the photos that you want to have framed and displayed in your home.

Sometimes Everything Just Comes Together- Kara Baker Boston Family Portrait Photographer

... and that is just what happened with this session last weekend. I met the T family midway between my home and their home in New York. I found a hotel in Groton, CT that was about equidistant from us both. Not knowing what I would find in terms of photo session locations, I set out to see if I could find anything that would possibly work. I asked at the front desk, and the concierge pointed me towards a family park down the road. I hopped in my car, hoping that my journey for the perfect local would soon be over. What I found instead was a dog park with walking trails, covered in splotchy light from the sun peeking through the leaf openings in the many, many maples that lined the trail. I noticed my GPS picked up on a State Recreation Park so I headed there next, and to my amazement, it was the most beautiful location in which I have ever had the pleasure of shooting; Fort Griswold State Park. It had a beautiful, bright Red historical house, with a beautiful garden with several different types of wild flowers out front, enclosed by a white picket fence and divided by beautiful pathways. There was beautiful green grass and rolling hills, high retaining walls, and a another small cement building on the other end of the property for yet just one more interesting background. It was a DREAM! Not to mention, it was probably the most perfect lighting situation in which I have ever been lucky enough to shoot! Here are some of my favorites from the session:

Beautiful Family, Weather & Location

... all the makings for a wonderful session! This very sweet family hired me after seeing their cousins' photos that I had done on Facebook. Referrals really are the highest compliment. I had a nice drive to Exeter, NH to do photos for this family; such a beautiful area! Also a nice benefit of this location was the many different options for spots to photograph the family and one year old, R. We had some fun!

I just love this photo with R in a Red Sox hat with that old wheelbarrow in the background! (Go Sox!)