Family Photography: More Bang for Your Buck!

‘Tis the season to go take your family to a photographer.  Why you ask?  Because you can get precious photos of your family PLUS a cute and stylized holiday photograph for your seasonal cards!  I took the opportunity with Mom Favorites columnist of Clicks ‘n Pics and renowned owner of Bella Photography, Alison Koss known in Charlotte for her family photography business… and I was impressed!

Alison and I met for our first photo session back in August.  This was the session where I was to get my headshots.  She called me about an hour before we were supposed to meet.  “Should we cancel? It looks like a big storm is coming.”  I had already gotten “done” up, so I insisted we still get together.  Literally, as I walked up to her at the park downtown where we had arranged to take the pictures, the first GIANT raindrop splattered.  From there, it began to POUR.

But, that didn’t phase Alison.  That girl had me hurry up and pose for a few shots in the setting I had picked out, then tossed me an umbrella and her camera.  She was willing to take one for the team to keep me dry and her camera safe.  And, trust me, that girl got soaked.  I only suffered from hair frizz.  The camera was fine. 🙂

We waited out the storm, then tromped around town to my favorite Charlotte spots and got what I thought were some great photos.  Alison was able to get the shots I wanted despite the odds.  The weather and my hair were not in her favor.

We had scheduled family photos for the week after, and then I went and inconveniently broke my wrist.  Needless to say, I didn’t need to remember me and my blue cast forever, so we rescheduled our session for a post-cast date.  I think it worked out perfectly.  We got great photos, and I’m thrilled with how our Christmas card photo came out.  But, I’m not sharing that one with y’all.  Gotta keep some surprises!

Alison brought cute props (the dog may have destroyed a scarf… Sorry, Alison.  Bad idea!), including her signature giant lollipops.  She admitted that Graham was the first kid that ever went straight to biting into it.  Gotta leave it to one of my kids to be the first to do something.

I had such a great experience with Alison, that I wanted to share her information and my experience with y’all.  If you’re in the Charlotte-area and in need of a family photographer, give her a buzz (or email).
Website: http://alisonbellaphotography.com/
Phone: 704-315-8915
Email: alisonkoss@mac.com

But, I know that we are no longer Charlotte-specific, so I wanted to mention that we have another esteemed photographer, Aurora Deluca, on our Mom Favorites team.  Aurora is sharing her tips on living in the Raleigh area, but she also is a great photographer and would recommend her to anyone in the area.

And our Atlanta readers, fret not! We’ve got a great family photographer in your area!  Check out Oana Hogrefe, who is highly recommended by our Atlanta contributor, Joyce Brewer with Mommy Talk Show.  For more info about Hogrefe’s award winning photography, visit: http://bit.ly/oanaphoto.