You are invited to Celebrate Motherhood
and support La Leche League of DC

Saturday, April 17
from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm
at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church
4201 Albemarle Street NW
Washington, DC 20016
(two blocks from the Tenley town metro stop)

Click here for Details

Click here to Book A Session

Please contact Jessica at jessica@portraitplaytime.com if you have any questions.

Have you been to the Maple Avenue Market? It’s an amazing new market in Vienna, they only sell locally grown and locally produced food. It’s like going to a farmer’s market every day of the week.

Maple Avenue Market is generously hosting two evening of family photo sessions for the Charity International Model Search and is offering 10% discount (one time purchase) at the market for anyone who signs up.

So come shop and do a photo session between 6 pm and 9 pm:

• Tuesday, February 23
• Tuesday, March 16
• The $50 entrance fee includes a 30-minute mini session and the submission of one image to the contest.
• Finalists will be determined by online votes. Each vote costs $1 (there is no limit on the amount of votes you can cast), and all proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org).
• The grand prize international winner will be determined from the 52 city finalists. The winners will be selected from the finalist gallery by photography and modeling industry experts.
• For more information, or to book a session, call us at 703-860-2222 or email Jessica at jessica@portraitplatyime.com.



This contest is a search for the most Fabulous Family which aims to raise funds for the non-profit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS.org). The grand prize is a NEW CAR! Not to mention the great feeling that comes from supporting a worthy cause.

*Contest open to residents of the US and Canada. For more information, visit http://sandypucmodels.com/.


Why this photo contest?

Why am I bonding together with photographers all over the United States and Canada to support NILMDTS? I have built Portrait Playtime around supporting organizations that put kids first. The work of NILMDTS clearly recognizes the importance of every child. The work is heartbreaking, unthinkable…but infant mortality is still a reality. I personally know at least five mothers who lost their babies at birth and I have seen some of the precious photos they took. I know what it would have meant to them if a photographer could have come to take heirloom images of their babies. So when I heard about this photo contest, I knew I had to join. Please join me and so many others to support this amazing organization.

Jessica
Portrait Playtime…we put kids first.

703-860-2222 (landline)
240-481-3918 (cell)

Do you want everything sharp in your photos or just your child’s sleepy face? If you want everything sharp, use the landscape mode or switch to aperture priority or manual and use a smaller F-stop like F/8 or higher (see first photo). If you want just one part of the photo in focus, like in the second photo, then use the portrait mode or a larger F-stop like F/2.8 or 4. Can you see, the girl is sharp, mom is a bit soft and the back of the chair is out of focus. Get as close to your subject as you can. The exact f-stop will depend on the distance of the between the camera and your subject, the angle of your lens, and the size of your sensor.

This is going to be a great weekend for pictures… and you don’t just have to take pictures of your kids in the snow…you may also have plenty of time to teach them the basics of you using a camera. You can read how below. You will also find info on upcoming classes and fundraisers.

Photo Tips: Teaching your children to use a camera — a great snowed-in activity

Lately I’ve been teaching my 4-year-old daughter and her best friend to use my camera, yes my big pro camera. I highly recommend doing this, working with your child to learn to use your camera as an endeavor of exploring art.

The biggest tip I can give you is to put your camera on a tripod and keep it at their level.

* Show them how to compose the photo using the zoom or moving the camera or the subject
* Focus by pressing the shutter half way down.
* Take the photo
* And be sure to tell them to never, ever touch the lens.

Why would you want to teach your child to use a DSLR or a point-and-shoot this way? Well, the short answer is the photos come out better (check out what the girls did). The longer answer is that for one the tripod gives them time to compose, and slowing down the process makes photography a really different activity. Furthermore, using the best tools in the house can be empowering to kids.

I would love to see the photos they take, please share them with me!

Photo Classes are back!

I will be teaching photo classes again this winter and spring. Photo of me by Z My first class will be on Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. near Wolf Trap in Vienna. Join us as we go over the basics of using a camera, getting good photos in different lighting situations, stopping motion, and separating your subject from your background. If you just got a new camera for the holidays or use yours on program all the time, this class is for you. This class will include instruction, practice time, and review of work. The cost is $45.

I will be teaching a short 4-week class on editing your images with Photoshop; please let me know if you are interested. You must have access to Photoshop. My plan is to hold two-hour classes over the course of four Saturday mornings in February and March. The cost will be $95.

Please email me if you are interested in either or both classes jessica@portraitplaytime.com.

Stay tuned, more classes to come!

Are you a serious photographer with a DSLR who wants to learn something new every month? Join my good friends from ShootSmarter.com for their Friday Photo School. One hour of instruction by some of the best photographers around. Check it out at fridayphotoschool.com. The first class is today at 1 pm on using your flash.

Fundraising: The Double Whammy
Help two great organizations with one photo session.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day one day early by doing a photo session that will capture the love in your family. We are fundraising once again for the kids at Arlington Academy of Hope and then we can submit one photo to the family photo contest I announced last month. Click here for more details about the AAH fundraiser and here for more info about the photo contest.

We also have two other dates for Family Photo Sessions. Maple Avenue Market, the great new market in Vienna, will be hosting two nights of photo sessions, Tuesday February x and Tuesday March x. Each night we will have six sessions from 6 - 9 p.m. Email me to sign up.

Hope to see you soon either behind your camera or in front of mine.

Hope to see you soon either behind your camera or in front of mine.

Jessica
Portrait Playtime…we put kids first.

703-860-2222 (landline)
240-481-3918 (cell)

These are photos by my daughter and her best freind

[Show as slideshow]

Love Speaks…A Photo Fundraiser for Valentine’s Day

Create works of art that shows the love to celebrate your family. This fundraiser benefits students in Uganda at
Arlington Academy of Hope
Sitting fee: $50
Date and Place: Saturday, February 13, 2010
Private home in Arlington

Schedule a Session

More Information

Please contact Jessica at jessica@portraitplaytime.com if you have any questions.

It’s my great pleasure to invite you to participate in the International Charity Model Search, a charity photo competition.

This contest is a search for the most Fabulous Family which aims to raise funds for the non-profit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS.org). The grand prize is a NEW CAR! Not to mention the great feeling that comes from supporting a worthy cause.

The Details

• I will be photographing families from Jan 23 - Mar 30, both indoors and outside.
• The $50 entrance fee includes a 30-minute mini session and the submission of one image to the contest.



• Finalists will be determined by online votes. Each vote costs $1 (there is no limit on the amount of votes you can cast), and all proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org).
• The grand prize international winner will be determined from the 52 city finalists. The winners will be selected from the finalist gallery by photography and modeling industry experts.

For more information, or to book a session, call us at 703-860-2222.

*Contest open to residents of the US and Canada. For more information, visit http://sandypucmodels.com/.


Why this photo contest?

Why am I bonding together with photographers all over the United States and Canada to support NILMDTS? I have built Portrait Playtime around supporting organizations that put kids first. The work of NILMDTS clearly recognizes the importance of every child. The work is heartbreaking, unthinkable…but infant mortality is still a reality. I personally know at least five mothers who lost their babies at birth and I have seen some of the precious photos they took. I know what it would have meant to them if a photographer could have come to take heirloom images of their babies. So when I heard about this photo contest, I knew I had to join. Please join me and so many others to support this amazing organization.

Happy new year,

Jessica
Portrait Playtime…we put kids first.

703-860-2222 (landline)
240-481-3918 (cell)

School closings and copious amounts of snow are probably delighting your children and making you wonder what in the world you are going to do to keep them entertained over the next two weeks! One idea is to squeeze in an end of the year photo session that captures the fun of the Snowpocalypse and holiday spirit at your house.

I am offering private sittings this week and next as a part of a fundraiser for Arlington Academy of Hope, with a goal of raising $1000 on their behalf over the next month. If you participate, you pay the regular private sitting fee of $175 and I donate $100 to them. We are also running a portrait special right now: with a purchase of an 11×14 portrait, you receive a second one free of any image from your session-our gift to you.

Why Arlington Academy of Hope

AAH is a nonprofit that helps children in rural Uganda by creating model aahschools to provide education and clinics to healthcare. I did a fundraiser for them earlier this year after hearing stories about the work they do and seeing photos of a friend’s trip with the organization to Uganda.

Then at Thanksgiving, I saw FromOneVillage, a documentary about Arlington Academy of Hope and what it means for the kids who attend, their families, and ultimately the community of Bumwalukani at large, I knew I wanted to continue fundraising. My family was experiencing it’s own mini-crisis at the time I saw the video-my husband’s employment was uncertain, and we had just moved into a new house and acquired a new mortgage! Seeing the AAH video provided me with much needed perspective-no matter what challenges we were facing, even if we had to sell our new house and move in with family I knew we would have health care and clean water, my daughter would start school in the fall and probably go to college someday…all things that are daily struggles of the families in Uganda. This became my inspiration for doing fundraising for them in this new way-through private sittings.

Session Details

Here are the details:
~ At your house
~ Schedule availability from 1 - 6 pm .
~ Your road and drive must be passable and safe for me to bring in my equipment. (if you’re still snowed under, schedule for next week !)
~ Feel free to invite the neighbors; the more the merrier.

Recently, I’ve done some really fun sessions where we spent about half of the session time in front of my big studio lighting at a table and the other half of the time with me on the move capturing the kids at play. These sessions produce a great mix of studio and natural shots, and then the only hard part is choosing which ones you love the best. I’d love to do something similar for you…in the snow or in your home!

Give me a call or drop me a note if you want me to come play in the snow with you.

Jessica
Portrait Playtime

703-860-2222 (landline)
240-481-3918 (cell)

Photo Fundraiser
to benefit La Leche League of Ashburn

Create beautiful art of your pregnant belly and your growing family
Sitting fee: $50
Date and Place: Saturday, November 21
Founder’s Hall/Ashburn’s Volunteer Fire Department

Schedule a Session

More Information

Please contact Jessica at jessica@portraitplaytime.com if you have any questions.