Kim Fordham Photography Best of 2011

A huge thanks to Dale at Fordham Footage for helping we with this slideshow. I may know photography but I’m a total newb when it comes to videos!

One of my favorite traditions this time of year is to bring our Elf on the Shelf, Eddie, out of hiding to watch over our kids. Eddie makes daily reports back to Santa to let him know how the children behaved that day. The kids absolutely love searching for Eddie each day and mommy equally loves finding a new hiding spot for him every evening. Here are a few of Eddie’s recent appearances!

I always encourage clients to bring any ideas and examples with them to their session. Not only do I love the inspiration but it also helps me better understand what the client is looking for. Unfortunately, with the rise of social media sites such as Pinterest and Facebook as well as an influx of new photographers that lack experience and knowledge, some of the images seen recently have me, as well as many other photographers, very alarmed.

The photography community has come under great scrutiny in the past several months due to many unsafe and potentially fatal practices. A great number of images with obvious and not-so-obvious risks to the portrait subject have littered the Internet and unsuspecting parents are being drawn in. Please be aware that at Kim Fordham Photography, client safety is of the UTMOST importance. I cannot and will not put your child or baby in danger in an effort to achieve a certain desired portrait.

Just because an image is “cute” doesn’t mean it is safe. I could share many examples of unsafe portrait situations but I will just give a few examples that seem to repeatedly come up on the Internet and with my clients:

Newborn in Glass Bowl Filled with Candy

Do I even need to point out the obvious dangers? Glass can break! Babies can choke! How about the not-so-obvious risk? The infant is surrounded by very small objects and every time he or she inhales, the small objects shift and fill the empty space. After just a few short minutes, the infant no longer has enough room to exhale and can stop breathing completely. This is a very dangerous situation and one that we will not allow in the studio.

Baby Chewing on or Surrounded by Lit Tree Lights

The obvious problem with this is electrocution. The not-so-obvious problem? Christmas lights are LADEN with lead. Even small amounts of lead can cause cognitive impairment in children, however, tree lights have been known to contain extremely high levels. This is not at all safe. Please do not expose your children to this type of danger!

Photographing on Live Train Tracks

Not only is this illegal but it can also be deadly. Just last month, 3 teenagers were killed while taking photos on a pair of live train tracks. Please do not request this as I most definitely will not do it!

If you are unsure if a pose or situation is safe for your child, just ask!  I spend an extensive amount of time “doing my homework” and testing poses and props for safety prior to exposing your children to them.  If anything should concern you, please be sure to bring it to my attention. Safety first, ALWAYS!

Whether you are a client or a photographer, please feel free to forward this on!  The more people that understand the possible risks involved with certain images, the better!

Here are a few of my favorites (out of the 300 images I took – yikes!)

Loved the water droplets on the back in this one:A tattered butterfly on my husbands finger:

This butterfly stayed on my youngest’s head for over a minute.  It looked like a hair clip!  My oldest was a bit peeved that no butterflies landed on her haha!

Lovebirds:

I love the furry detail:And a whole bunch more!

Enjoy some cookies and punch and pick up your gold ribbons and gold balloons to take home to display and help spread the word about childhood cancer!

**Butterflies are courtesy of Back to the Wild, Castalia**

Luckily, we do cake smashes at the END of the session so this little guy was all smiles before the cake disaster.