Missy Timko Photography Blog

Tag: pittsburgh family photographer

Pittsburgh Newborn Photographer | Lifestyle Session | T Family

“Little Boy Blue” is a popular nursery rhyme that dates back to the sixteenth century, and the actual lyrics might even be older than that. But, until the nineteenth century, all infants were photographed in white. Now, this may surprise you (as it did me): In 1918, the Ladies Home Journal wrote, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls.” What?? Believe it or not, this trend lasted until through the 1920s and 1930s.

Now I realize that not everybody is a fan of the “blue for boys, pink for girls” thing. As a baby photographer, I certainly don’t cling to such stereotypes. But, stereotypes aside, babies in blue are pretty cute!

Need more convincing? Here’s another adorable shot of my “Little Boys in Blue,” big brother John and Baby William.

This is the T family, who live in Upper St. Clair in a gorgeous historic stone home. The weather was really beautiful on this August day, so we took advantage and took a lot of shots out in the yard. Even Mom and Dad are dressed in blue and white!

This was ostensibly a newborn session, but—as usual—the older-sibling toddler stole the show. John, age 3, followed me around and kept me company. I love this because it happens almost every time, and it’s so cute! (Plus it’s what goes on all day and night at my house!)

Baby William was a big, mellow, sweet baby (having weighed nearly 10 pounds at birth), and slept almost the whole time. We did manage to get him to open those eyes, just a little bit. By the way, notice how the blue sheet and white cable knit blanket extend the blue-and-white theme, while adding an extra comfy feeling to these newborn shots.

Mom Kim and Dad Lee are from the South and both have a flair for southern styling in their home. So naturally, we wanted to go inside for some more intimate shots. The pictures of Mom and her “Little Boys Blue” are particularly beautiful with the home’s neutral interiors, with Mom’s blouse and blue hydrangeas extending this classic color scheme. Kim chose custom gold frames to create a wall grouping to hang in their family room. These timeless “Little Boys Blue” photos will only become more classic over time.

Thank you, T family, for bringing artistic sensibility, southern hospitality, and family warmth to this photo shoot. I can’t wait to see what Baby William looks like as he grows!

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Missy Timko is the photographer behind Powder Blue Photography, a boutique photography studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. She specializes in newborns, maternity, families, seniors, and headshots. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, a mix of slightly posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also runs a studio in Pittsburgh. There are many session options, from full-length custom sessions to little sessions, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh. Contact Missy for rates and availability.

August 27, 2017
Pittsburgh Family Photographer | Frenie Family

What happens when you photograph kids just being kids? MAGIC, that’s what!

Remember how family portraits used to be? The family would be arranged on a couch, or maybe lined up by height. We might put Mom and Dad in elegant chairs in the foreground (hands in lap, of course), kids standing behind with their arms on Mom and Dad’s shoulders. And everyone would be wearing their starched and ironed “Sunday best.” Fortunately, times have changed, and we now know that we get the most memorable and lasting photographs when families are relaxed, happy, wearing their favorite clothes, in their favorite surroundings, and interacting with each other. No matchy-matchy or upholstered couches here!

This is the delightful Frenie family—Mom Sarah, Dad Chris, and Zach (5^th grade), Ezra (1^st grade) and Lily (almost 5). I know this family well, and have been doing family portraits for them since 2013. Mom told me exactly where they wanted to do the shoot this time—in Frick Park—an iconic Pittsburgh location for this Mt. Lebanon family. Look how much the kids have grown in just a little more than four years!

Frick Park is an amazing place to photograph families and children. This particular area is right across from The Frick Museum. It’s close to my studio, easily accessible, and presents lots of choices for shots for families and children. I particularly love the iconic stone arch shown here:

As you can see, all three children are adorable, but the scene-stealer was little miss Lily, who was super funny and made me laugh throughout this session. (Lily reminds me of my own Mimi, who is just a couple days younger than Lily, and so fun in the same way. In fact, Lily and Mimi will be in the same preschool class next year!)

LATE-BREAKING NEWS: Ezra lost his first tooth just before this session and was SO excited to show it off his new “big boy” smile!

I designed a gorgeous wall art gallery to go in the Frenies’ living room. It consists of fine art prints mounted on wood panels; these have been extremely popular with my clients lately!

Thank you, Frenie family, for allowing me to watch your family grow!

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Missy Timko is the photographer behind Powder Blue Photography, a boutique photography studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. She specializes in newborns, maternity, families, seniors, and headshots. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, a mix of slightly posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also runs a studio in Pittsburgh. There are many session options, from full-length custom sessions to little sessions, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh. Contact Missy for rates and availability.

August 6, 2017
Pittsburgh Lifestyle Newborn Photographer | Baby Adelaide | Woodland Nursery

Welcome Baby Adelaide!. She was very calm and sleepy in these images because we shot this session when she was only six days old.

Fabrics, shadows, unexpected pops of color. Contrasting textures—the family dog Maeby’s coat against Adelaide’s exquisitely smooth newborn skin. Vivid against neutral. Personal family touches. These are the elements that go into a visually stunning–as well as deeply memorable—family portrait.

I have learned from experience that there is a clear advantage to shooting a session shortly after newborns come home from the hospital. Early sessions like this tend to go smoothly since brand new babies are relatively less fussy, sleep a lot, and also tend to have the most wonderful “Wow, this is my family!” expressions when they are awake. By the time they are 2-3 weeks old, they are less predictable and a little more prone to fussiness—usually without warning! I have shot numerous sessions at 3 weeks+, and there are advantages to that age as well, but if mom wants sleepy newborn shots, week 1-2 is best!

One way to add visual interest in textures, shapes and angles is to convert images to black & white. When my clients purchase image files, I include black & white conversions of all images, which I do individually, converting each image one at a time. The visual impact becomes completely different from that of a color photograph, since the eye goes to textures and angles instead of straight to the color. Somehow, connections and emotions can be more vivid.

Take a big stretch, Baby Adelaide, on the beautiful quilt made by one of Mom’s oldest friends, Sam. I could write a whole blog just about this quilt, since it is a great example of how many ways personal touches can be incorporated into a handmade newborn gift. Sam incorporated a John Muir quote into the quilt because this family loves mountains. (In fact, right this minute, Adelaide’s grandpa is hiking the John Muir trail!) One of the prints is a grizzly bear print, which came from an artist in the favorite city (Cologne, Germany) of Mom Sara, who is a German teacher. The patterns on the quilt became the inspiration for the rest of the nursery. Mom just cannot believe her dear friend was able to make this quilted treasure, especially since she had a baby herself, just two months earlier.

The L family lives in a beautiful Victorian-style home. The nursery is an amazing woodland style, with a shadowy mountain wall mural hand painted by Dad, Tim. You know I love grey, especially in a nursery!

The family goes camping and backpacking almost every summer in the Smokey Mountains or the Sierra Nevadas, and the forest and mountains are sources of happy memories growing up. The family considers the mountains “their happy place,” so of course they wanted Adelaide to experience that in her own nursery. So the nursery becomes a focal point for the family’s deepest passions, with the hope that Baby Adelaide grows up to be a brave little explorer.

Mom Sara advises parents of newborns to heed the recommendations for how to dress your newborn for the shoot: “I am so happy that she wasn’t in something baggy. Otherwise, I just trusted Missy to work her magic and we had a great time on top of it! I’m so so happy I decided to do the newborn photos, as I already love seeing the change with my little one.”

Thank you, L family, for the delightful opportunity to work with you. I look forward to documenting Adelaide’s first mountain climb!

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Missy Timko is the photographer behind Powder Blue Photography, a boutique photography studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. She specializes in newborns, maternity, families, seniors, and headshots. Missy’s style is simple, natural, and clean, both posed and lifestyle photography with beautiful natural backdrops, and Missy also runs a studio in the Point Breeze neighborhood in Pittsburgh. There are many session options, from full length custom sessions to quick updates of just the kids, inside the studio or outside in a beautiful natural or urban location in Pittsburgh. Contact Missy for availability.

July 10, 2017