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Rina and I attempted to throw our first Malaya Girls Night In - a boudoir party where, for a nominal fee, a bunch of girls would get together at a chic local hotel, hang out, eat/drink and each have a boudoir-inspired mini-photoshoot. There was a lot of interest and several girls RSVP’d and told us how excited they were but as the day grew closer, they started to get nervous and chicken out. By the time the day of the party rolled around, we only had one girl actually show up. Nevertheless, we still had a blast – lots of wine, good conversation and a gorgeous subject to work with. Being the only one that showed, Michelle had our undivided attention so we ended up doing 4 total looks. She requested us not to post the lingerie shots (although, she looked AMAZING), but here are a couple of our faves for the night:
Thanks to Michelle for a great night – you were beautiful and we must do this again before you leave for Rome!!
- Cies
I’m running an 8K in a few hours, but of course my workaholic self is here posting blogs. Today, I photographed my homie Melbo’s girlfriend, Brittany. She’s super cute without makeup, so I knew once we got her dolled up in a Malaya session, she would look amazing. I only had time to edit two of them so far, but I was extremely happy with this shoot. It was gross and hot outside and I accidentally exposed her to poison ivy (sorry, Brittany!), but we all had a great time and I really love how the photos came out.
She looks gorgeous and I heart the vibrant colors:
Casual headshot..she’s so cute:
I actually am shooting AGAIN this afternoon, so these blog posts will keep on keepin on! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Senior sessions are also new to DCPG, but I’m finding that they are a lot of fun! Seniors are that magical combo of being old enough to take direction without comment, but young enough to be super excited about having their photo taken – there’s always such great energy in senior sessions. A month or so ago, we did Tana’s senior portraits under the Malaya division – so we did her hair and makeup and she got several outfits ranging from casual to her crazy bright prom dress (btw, any graduates/rising senior girls…I highly, highly recommend including your prom dress in your session!) We were pressed for time because she had to attend a family dinner, but we were able to knock out 3 outfits and slight makeup/hair changes in an hour. Thanks Rina!!
Tana ordered a bunch of prints and requested to have them before her graduation party this weekend. They came in late last night from the lab and she has been literally dying to see theem, but I can’t deliver until later on tonight due to a shoot I have all day today (I’m literally typing this while today’s client is getting her hair and makeup done haha).
So in the meantime, I will share some of them online. Since she had such vibrant colors in her hair and clothes, put against the nice greenery of the park, I decided to get them printed on metallic photo paper. The prints look AMAZING. Both black/white and color really “pop” on metallic – if you’ve never seen it, ask me about a sample!
She has great eyes…and love the red highlights!
This photo still makes me laugh. Her sister would sneak into the background while I was taking pictures, and Tana actually ordered this one as wallet size. Like I said in my previous post, it’s about the moment as much as the subject:
I had her stand by this Japanese maple just because I liked it, but it worked out really well w/ both her dress and hair color. Magic!
Her prom dress is seriously that color in real life. It’s awesome.
Tiffany is one of our first clients in our brand new Baby Steps portrait sessions program. She is 7 1/2 months along, so it was the perfect time to shoot her complimentary maternity portraits, which is the first of five total sessions that come with the package (more details after the photos). It was the first session I’ve photographed since we ceased using our rental studio, so at first I was a little apprehensive in not having as much space and equipment around. To my surprise, it was much more convenient shooting at home and now I’m not so sad about losing the studio.
I’ve actually known Tiffany since middle school and although we really weren’t that closely acquainted, I always knew her to be very sweet and kind. In recent years, she worked at the same place as my sister Rina (as do 90% of my first Malaya clients), so when it came time to do her maternity portraits, she contacted DCPG. We were very sad to hear that about a week prior, her mother passed away. Despite the sudden and tragic circumstances, Tiffany was strong and did so beautifully at her maternity session – a true testament to her spirit. We are looking forward to finding ways to honor Tiffany’s mother in the future portrait sessions w/ her granddaughter.
In classic Malaya fashion, we did a few clothed outfits and then went into boudoir-style maternity portraits. I tend to favor semi-nudes or tight clothing to show off the bump – pregnant women are beautiful and yes, they can be sultry! Here’s a clothed one w/ our signature Malaya backdrop:
Hot mama:
Stilettos and a smile, baby:
This next shot was Rina and Tiffany’s idea – here’s Tiffany unwrapping the best present ever:
Baby Steps is our brand new portrait plan that covers your baby’s entire first year in a series of portrait sessions:
DCPG Baby Steps – $250.00 one-time payment
Complimentary Maternity Session (if you book us ahead of time!)
Newborn Session
3 months old Session
6 months old Session
One year old Session
5″ x 7″ Brag Book with 2 photos from each session
– OR –
24″ x 9″ Wall Collage featuring 1 photo from the newborn, 3 mos, 6 mos and 1 year session
We’re really excited to finally offer a baby plan – contact us today to book your first session!
We’ve been uber-busy with shoots lately and Mendell did a GREAT family shoot the same day as Tiffany’s maternity portraits (the joys of having 2 other partners!), so stay tuned for another blog post.
- Ciesther
I have been meaning to post some before and after examples for a really long time because one of the main things that separates DCPG from other photographers is our post-processing (aka editing, retouching, and yes, “photoshopping”). Don’t get me wrong, we do not believe that Photoshop can “save” a bad photo or is a substitute for fundamental photography skills, but we do know that it can make a huge difference. We know full well we could just shoot-to-burn and make tons of money that way; it works just fine for lots of photographers. DCPG sees the art in what we do and treat each individual photo as such - this love and attention before, during and after we take a photograph is what our clients pay for.
Over the years, we have run into a little bit of resistance. Some people want photos straight from the camera to save time. Others wonder why our prints and products are more expensive than say, Wal-Mart or Picture People. True, there is no cheap, same day, in-and-out service with DCPG. However, what you sacrifice in so-called convenience is worth it to get a one of a kind piece. Anyone who owns a small business, has a family or is getting married will tell you how central it is to their lives. We respect and revere that by making sure that the final product beautifully displays your vision, your love and your history. Your reflection, our artistry.
Long story short, we are going to break our long-standing rule of never posting unedited images just to show you the DCPG difference. Here is a sampling of unedited photos and their finished counterparts:
More “before and afters” can be found on our Facebook page!
In other news, we will be releasing a Mother’s Day promo soon. Stay tuned…
