Your Home IS Perfect For A Lifestyle Session
Why A Lifestyle Session: Part I
Yes, Your Home IS Perfect For A Lifestyle Session
I’ve heard it from more than one client. “I’d love to do a lifestyle session, but my home just isn’t nice enough.” Don’t believe that negativity. It’s just not true. I guarantee that most people who have booked a lifestyle session with me- whether it’s a day-in-the-life session, newborn session, or wanting to commemorate a special milestone- have had insecurities about their home and how it will come across in photographs. Maybe even some were worried about how I would judge them (I don’t. And if you ever came to my house at 11am on a Friday, you’d know why! More details on that in Part II.).
You don’t book a lifestyle session to photograph your perfectly beautiful family in your perfectly decorated and perfectly scrubbed home. It’s just not reality. For any of us. You book a lifestyle session with a professional photographer to capture who you truly are, where you live in the moment, and doing what you love to do together. You book a lifestyle session so that you have photographs of your family in your home and YOU’RE in them, too. You book a lifestyle session so that the images are not blurry, quick snaps on your smart phone, but well-lit, edited images showing the love and emotion you and your family have for each other. These images I’ve included below capture emotion- nostalgia, trust, generosity, compassion, giddiness, delight, curiosity, love. They don’t focus on the clutter, the dog hair, or the smears on the windows that we all have in our homes.
There’s no better time to book than now! Winter and spring are perfect times of the year to schedule a lifestyle session. I’m currently booking clients for these sessions in January, February, and March and would love to be invited into your home to photograph YOUR beautiful family in your IMperfectly beautiful home. I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have about a lifestyle session with me. Contact me through the website under the Inquire link or email me at tarastrohlphotography@yahoo.com.
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C O N T E N T M E N T
C O M P A S S I O N
S A T I S F A C T I O N
C U R I O S I T Y
G I D D I N E S S
L O V E
F E S T I V E
A B S O R B E D
J O Y
C L O S E N E S S
G L E E
A M U S E M E N T
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S E L F L E S S N E S S
Top 15 Of 2015
I never fancied myself an entrepreneur. I never thought (and still don’t think) I’d make a good businesswoman. I just wanted to fulfill a two-decades-long dream of being a photographer. A real photographer. But it seems that one holds hands with the other, and there’s no way to let go. Lately the business aspect of being a photographer has been in the forefront of my mind, what with the year having drawn to a close, expense spreadsheets to organize, and the looming task of filing taxes as a small business for the first time gets (scarily) closer and closer. So I’d like to intentionally do an about face and look back at the fun and artistic side of this venture- my top 15 favorite images from 2015, my first year in business…
Henderson Homestead Session
Morning of September 5, 2015
You may know Laura and Tyler Henderson from their work as the founders of Growing Places Indy, a collection of initiatives that foster urban agriculture- including the Slow Food Garden at White River State Park, the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market, and the Public Greens Micro-Farm on the Monon Trail. Or you may know Laura as a local yoga instructor, leading classes at Invoke, the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market Yoga Series, and the summer solstice Monumental Yoga event on the circle.
I know Laura and Tyler from our days back at Butler University. Laura and I lived in the same house and were roommates for a while, both of us sharing a love for Australia and the semesters we spent there. Tyler was an advisor at the Institute for Study Abroad located near Butler’s campus and had a hand in helping me get there. This was fifteen years ago, before they had even met. Fast-forward to today and it delights me to see the connection they have and the impact they’ve both made on the Indianapolis (and international) community. Frankly, I feel proud just knowing them.
This Homestead Session was a way for me to capture images of a typical weekend morning at the Henderson household. On this particular morning’s agenda: harvesting Concord grapes, having a go at turning them into grape juice, and a family yoga session.
Laura teaches yoga at Invoke Studio here in Indy. But she also makes it a part of her morning routine at home- stretching, bending, folding, holding the poses, all while her four-month-old Aanika soaks it all in and plays on her own blanket. Her passion for yoga and dedication to incorporating it into her life throughout the day is pretty amazing to me. I can barely find (or make) ten minutes in my day to complete a few back/core exercises to help heal the slipped disc in my lower back. Laura is inspiring! I don’t see how I couldn’t find some motivation on my own now. (Fingers crossed.)
When I arrived I had it all planned out in my head how I could photograph Aani (four months old here, remember) lying on some blankets and quilts. I was shocked when Laura told me that she was already sitting up on her own! At four months! She surely inherited some of that core strength, right?
I like to ask parents if there are some parts of their babies that they just adore, can’t get enough of, and would like for me to capture in photographs. Laura mentioned Aani’s cute little baby hands (then I’m pretty sure she added a few more parts and then said, “Oh, just all of her!”). Look at her grabbing for these Concord grapes.
Aanika, the fruit of their labor, sitting in, literally, the fruits of their labor. The grapes are growing up there above their chicken coop, just over Laura’s head in this photograph. Tyler said that it started not too many years ago as a tiny plant given to them from a friend’s vine that they just kind of threw in there to see what would happen. That bowl is holding a fraction of the crop!
Tyler is cleaning and juicing the grapes while Aani hangs out with Mom. Notice Tyler’s apron- he told me that he asked a friend of theirs if she could make him a “manly-looking apron.” Wonderfully functional and looks great, too!
Huge thank you to Laura and Tyler and Aani for letting me come take a peek at what an everyday weekend morning looks like in their household. I’m thankful to be able to capture these family images for them. And in case you were wondering, the grapes and juice were both delicious!