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2011 Rewind :: Family Portraits – RI Family Portrait Photography

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Melissa Lacouture

Although I’ve been doing wedding photography for coming up on 9 years this portrait “branch” of my business only started in October 2010. I will give you some background… In September of 2009 I sent out an email to my closest friends and family explaining that I wanted to do a family portrait day. I told them I would be in Roger Williams park for a certain amount of time and that they could pick a time to come for… say 20 minutes or so to get a nice portrait of the family. Did I mention that I was offering to do this for free? Photos are so important to me so I wanted to make sure that the people closest to me had some nice ones of their loved ones. Only one person did it (thanks, Marisa!). Then in September of last year I thought “I’m going to try to do a family portrait day again, but this time I will post it on Facebook and actually charge money.” My husband said when I came up with the idea he thought “It’s going to be so sad if no one does it again”. My family portrait day turned into three days, I booked 20 people, and 99% of those people have been repeat customers or referred future clients to me. I would say my business started there.

In the past year I’ve met so many great people and made new friends. I never would have dreamed year ago that I’d have a web site, a studio, and so many wonderful clients. 2012 is going to be a really exciting year for me. I can’t wait to start on the plans that I have. Before all that happens I thought we should take a stroll down memory lane and leave 2011 with a bang! Here are some of my favorite family portraits that I’ve taken over the past year, definitely not all of them but a nice mix. Enjoy the family love! Next up will be newborns…

Holiday Mini Shoots at the studio 2011

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Melissa Lacouture

What fun I had this holiday season taking pictures of all these cute kids! I posted some pictures on my Facebook page. Now I have some going up here, but I still haven’t covered everyone! I think I did pictures for almost all of my past clients and met so many new families on top of that. It was a pleasure and an honor to take your babies’ photos. As a Mommy of two I know how fast they change and sometimes you just want to freeze them at a certain age. Years from now I hope the pictures I took will bring you back to this particular time in their life. I’ve been getting a lot of holiday cards from clients that used my photo on their card. I have to say it makes me feel good!

So here are some of the many holiday pics taken over the past month or so. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!!

Tristan and Addison’s Portrait Shoot in Pawtucket – RI Family Photography

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Melissa Lacouture

Sometimes after I do a portrait I get a little jealous. I see these great pictures of someone else’s family and I wish it was my family in them! You might also get a little jealous if you continue to look at this blog post. My studio is in an old mill building which means the outside is just as cool as the inside. When I saw Tristan’s sweater I knew Mom and Dad would be down for something a little cooler so we ventured out. Not cooler in temperature because it was like 60 degrees out. I mean cooler in attitude. We really lucked out with the weather, wardrobe choice and a really fun backdrop. Everything came together perfectly.

I’m crazy for this picture…

And this one…

When Mom first emailed me she told me that her husband was in Afghanistan! We couldn’t set a date until she knew exactly when he was coming home. This is a really sweet family and I’m so happy that everyone is safe here at home and able to spend the holidays together. I hope these pictures make the homecoming just that much sweeter.

Love it!

The expression kills me! Addison is only 2 months old. She is so adorable!

The whole family!!

Such a good big brother.

The beginning was all about Tristan so Addison needed some time in the spotlight inside where it is warm and cozy.

Rosie’s Portrait Shoot at the Studio – RI Portrait Photographer

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Melissa Lacouture

There is just something about Rosie. I love her. It’s sort of funny because the first time I took pictures of her wasn’t the easiest shoot for me. I pretty much chased her around some gardens for almost two whole hours! She did not want me to take her picture. The photos ended up being some of my favorites. After doing those portraits I have been looking forward to taking Rosie’s pictures again.

Rosie’s Mom loves stars. Sort of like a certain photographer I know. When she saw the set up we had for our holiday mini shoots she wanted Rosie to have her portrait done in front of them. Thankfully she was smart enough to book a whole portrait session instead of a mini. Who knows if Rosie would warm up in 20 minutes? Actually Rosie ended up having a great time getting her pictures done. She didn’t want to leave the studio when it was done!

See what I mean? don’t you just love her?

These pictures kill me!

Perfect girl for this backdrop!!

Ada’s Portrait at Roger Williams Park – RI Baby Photography

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Melissa Lacouture

The initial plan for Ada’s portrait was to take a ride up to Lincoln Woods. Ada has been going there with her mom since she was a peanut. She comes from an outdoorsy family that loves to be close to mother nature. When her mom spied this amazing hut during a walk through Roger Williams Park she had a whole new idea for Ada’s photos. Her mom, Mandy, is a super talented artist. Just look up at the top of my web site. See that banner? Mandy designed it. The hut inspired Mandy to add a little something to our photo shoot. She texted me “I’m bringing something for the photos. I went to RISD so bear with me”. I totally trust Mandy and knew whatever she had in mind would be (as she would say) rad. When she showed up with this cool bird mask for Ada that she made that morning I was very excited to start the shoot!