On a Shoestring Budget | Sunbury Portrait Photographer

A couple of months back I asked the question on Facebook

"What is preventing you from having your family portrait taken right now?"

A lot of people answered with various reasons related to budget. One of the answers was specifically about purchasing clothing worthy of having pictures taken in on a tight budget.

As you may or may not know, I have a large family. So I'm faced with the same dilemma you are when it comes to clothing for our family portrait.

6 people to dress on a tight budget.

Because of this I shop at a lot of thrift shops.

Once Upon a Child, Clothes Mentor, Goodwill, yard sales, etc...

Where ever I can find cute stuff on the cheap!

On Friday I stopped at Once Upon a Child to return some jeans that I had bought for one of the boys. When looking for different jeans I caught a glimpse of a nice shirt for him. I looked a little further and found another shirt for his older brother that coordinated with the first one. So I decided to go to the girl section to see what cuteness I could find for the baby. DONE. Found an adorable little dress in coordinating colors. Headed to the little boy section and found another shirt in a matching color for my four year old.

Just like that, cute coordinating clothing for all the kids for the low, low price of....

are you ready for this???

$21.oo!

That's right. $21.00. I will have them put on some jeans and they are all dressed and ready for our fun family portrait that they all look forward to every year! They have been begging me to get some awesome pink shirts so they can get their picture taken!

NOT!

Really, they hate every minute of it and fight me every step of the way. But I still insist on doing it each year. It's the one time every year that I make a concentrated effort to get updated pictures of at least all the kids. And most years I make it a whole family picture. Not just the kids.

In case you are wondering, Dennis and I will be clothed in the picture as well. I'm not showing our clothes here, but I promise we won't be naked! We have shirts in our closet that will coordinate with the kids clothes. No need to go out and buy brand new stuff.

So now I challenge you to do one of two things. One, go into your closets and see what you already have in there that will work great for pictures. Or two, do some thrift store or clearance rack shopping to see if you can beat my $21.00 Christmas card picture outfits. No one is ever going to know that you don't have on brand new clothes when they look at your Christmas card. Nor will they care! They just want to see how cute your kids are or how great you look!

Leave me a comment and let me know what you came up with and how little money you spent on outfits for your family. Even if you aren't having a picture taken professionally for your Christmas card, you are probably still taking a Christmas card picture. And I think we would all appreciate it if you put clothes on!

I'm just sayin...

Have fun shopping!

P.S. I'm posting this in the FAQ category as well because I get asked regularly what you should wear for pictures. I always encourage coordinating clothes in whatever your style is. Not necessarily matching clothes. Our style is casual. So we will be untucked and in jeans. If your style is more dressy, then by all means, dress everyone up in coordinating clothing. This is a good example of what I mean by coordinated.

See more of Billie's work at http://www.billiemitchellphotography.com/.

Become a fan of Billie's work on Facebook. Email Billie at billie@billiemitchellphotography.com.

Fashion Friday

Again, the number one question I get asked when scheduling a session is "What should we wear?" Since I just scheduled several family sessions this week, I thought I would post some more family photo shoot fashions. My advice is to simply coordinate your clothing. It's not necessary to match everyone perfectly. Matching everyone can be so tuff when you are dealing with lots of different ages, etc... So don't stress yourself out. Go into your closets and find some clothes that have similar colors. See what you already have that coordinates nicely and can be worn for photos. Then you just have to purchase any extra pieces that are needed. No need to go out and purchase every single person in the family a completely new outfit when there is probably some pretty awesome stuff hanging in your closet right now!

On another note... if you aren't following me on Facebook yet, you might want to start today. There was a pretty sweet special posted over there this week that you missed if you aren't "liking" me! Click here to go directly to my Facebook page and take advantage of the special. I only have a couple of spots left.

Fashion Friday | Sunbury Portrait Photographer

I am by no means a fashiontisa! Not by any stretch of the imagination. So please do not be misled by the title of this post. These Fashion Friday posts are to assist my gorgeous clients see what type of clothing looks great in photos.

The number one question I receive when scheduling a session is "What should we wear?" I am always trying to verbally explain different styles that work. Recently I started thinking that some examples might be nice as well. So I decided to periodically start posting a Fashion Friday entry with different examples. Hopefully this will make it easier for you when you are trying to put together your portrait wardrobes.

First up, family! Remember, all you need to do is coordinate. Everyone doesn't necessarily have to match perfectly. Another important thing to remember is to dress comfortably. Uncomfortable clothing makes people look uncomfortable and stiff.

This weeks example is simple but colorful. The colors will make the portraits bright and fun, but won't be distracting. I have included shoes in this example, but I love bare feet as well. So feel free to kick your shoes off and be really comfortable and relaxed!