Models Wanted: Military Family

Hello everyone who reads my blog! I am looking for a military family for a FREE photoshoot. In exchange for signing a full model release, I will trade you a full photoshoot (complete with photo gallery of at least 20 different poses) and 2 free 8x10s of your favorite poses from the shoot. I'm looking for a family that fits the following descriptions:

must be a full family with one parent in the military (can be mom or dad) and has military dress for the photoshoot. sorry, I'm looking for families where the parent is not currently serving their tour right now

must have at least one child (more is fine as well)

child must either be very small baby (newborn would be great!) or at least walking well

must be willing to travel to me (although I'm flexible on this condition depending on where you are stationed)

If you fit these terms, or know someone who does and would love a free photoshoot, please let me know! You can contact me through my website or directly at alex@AlexNguyenPortraits.com. Thank you and please spread the word.

and because we can't have a post without pictures:

My little family

Albert is almost two weeks old! I can't believe how the time has flown by. I bullied my husband into taking pictures of the baby with me. For the whole 20 minutes I had them captivated, he kept apologizing to the baby stating "I'm so sorry, you're going to be hearing that noise often" when referring to my camera shutter clicks. :) Things I learned - directing strangers is way easier than directing your own family. Strangers will take heed that you might actually know what you are doing. Family just sighs and asks if you know what you are doing. Overall though I thought we got some nice shots of Todd and the boys.

I love how Todd is looking down at Albert, and how it looks like Albert is smiling up at dad (even if it is just a gas smile)


Big brother


and for my favorite shots, baby body parts!

soft baby head


Todd's hands with Albert's feet


I think I had about 10 seconds to try to get this shot. It wasn't easy positioning a newborn, and a three year old in a still posed hand position!


My boys!

Introducing...

Introducing the arrival of Albert Tien, our newest addition to our little family! Born ten days before his due date on August 7, 2008, weighing in at 8lb 8oz and 21 3/4" long. Big brother Samuel has been a big help and we all are in love.

Complete Flickr set with better resolution pictures is here.

Albert Tien


He has daddy's dimple


wide awake


his Elvis impression


baby feet


proud big brother

More about me

If you like my blog, drop me a comment, please! I track my visitors and am highly amused at the diverse global range of visitors who come to check me out. :)

I realize that I don't talk about myself much, so I'm using this blog post to rectify that situation. I'm Alex, 31 turning 32 on saturday, and besides being a mom and a wife and a budding portrait photographer, the biggest thing going on in my life right now is being 38 weeks pregnant with our second. Yes, that is right, I am a girl (I've had a few clients be confused about that). :) Due to my rapidly approaching due date, I'm taking August - September "off" from scheduling client shoots, but I'll be scheduling shoots again probably mid-September onward. In the later fall I also plan on having a Family Portrait Package special in time for the holidays, which I'll update more about later.

In the photography realm, lst weekend I purchased the spiffy Slik Sprint Tripod since our other tripod broke in half. It's super light and very accomodating for my photography needs (which are pretty much learning about self portraits and self family portraits). I set it up to take a couple of maternity pictures of myself to document for this pregnancy. For this setup I had my backdrop with the black velour draped over it, and a ball suspended by twine from the ceiling to "focus" on while I set the self timer. Note to self: much purchase remote trigger soon.

self-portrait at 37 weeks


out, baby, out!


Samuel wanted in on the picture taking as well. the composition is a little off, but not bad for a last minute 3 year old addition :)


a recent shot of Samuel


and my husband


So that is me and my family in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed this blogpost and always, comments are welcomed!

Another squishy newborn

April from this shoot graciously allowed me to come back and take pictures of her three week old son. As I remembered, newborns did take extra time to shoot, and I'm still working out the logistics of family posing with a newborn. Originally I had him set in the boppy but he was so tiny that I feel he kept blending in with the background instead of looking like a family member! Also, the amount of pee this kid could generate was amazing. I finally gave up and left the diaper on him because it was guaranteed he would pee, then pee again, as soon as the diaper came off! Overall, it was a very enjoyable shoot as April let me pose her little man in all sorts of funny positions as I was trying out different ways to pose a squishy baby. :)

and yes I do have a slight obsession with feet. :)

meet Jack!




mommy and baby


I love this pose and how she's looking down at her baby


nekkid baby with dad


dad and baby


baby feet


how a newborn and a two year old's feet compare


sadly, how Jack felt about most pictures involving his sister

The S Family photoshoot

I met this family on location at Idylewood Park in Redmond. I don't think I've ever fully explored that park before, so Samuel and I headed out there early to check it out. If you haven't been there, definately go! It's got a great open area for frisbee, picnic areas, an awesome play ground, and the best part - a real sandy beach with a swimming area maintained by lifeguards! It was a beautiful place to shoot family pictures.

My biggest hurdle for this photoshoot was their cute little boy - who would not smile for me. I tried all my usual tricks - food bribes, Mr. Panda the Pez Dispenser, making clacky noises. The parents even tried to help by playing peekaboo behind my head. This worked great except for family shots. I was a little bummed I didn't capture very many smiles and instead got a lot of pictures of a solemn little boy. Next time I'm coming better prepared with maybe bubbles or some sort of talking toy to try to capture the toddler's interest!

Here's a sneak peek at some of their pictures. :)

the only smile I got from the little boy - the dad was jumping around behind me making quite the show for this to happen


my "artsy" family shot I was trying to emulate from all the nifty posts I see on ILP


Dad playing with the kiddo


same shot, testing out the "vintage lomo" action. Not sure what I think of the bright color overexposure for this particular shot


here is mom looking thoughtful for me. she was a very cute pregnant woman!


Pensive, thoughtful toddler


playing with his favorite puzzle, but still no smiles!


mom and dad!

Newborn, siblings, family - oh my!

This family was probably the most diverse group, age-wise, of people I had to shoot yet in a session. First, there was the delightful newborn who was about 7 weeks old. She had three older brothers who were 5 and in their teenage years respectively, plus a family friend, and mom and dad. Whew! Lots of people to line up and try to find good poses for.

From this shoot I learned that I need to step back further in order to get everyone in focus (and boy would it have been nice to have a wide-angle lense to capture the surroundings better!) especially when I had the f/stop lowered to let in light. The shoot was on location at their house, with the newborn being extremely non-fussy and letting me snap away. The mom was super-helpful in staging everyone and getting everyone ready and smiling. I even got a few captures of the dad and baby together which I thought were sweet. Hopefully they'll enjoy their pictures!

the very sweet baby D


look at that cute smile!


are you looking at me?


everyone loves baby toes!


and my favorite picture of dad and baby

April's family and maternity shoot

Another shoot I did last weekend. This is a sneak peek at April's pictures, mainly because her little girl was so cute. These were all shot on their deck or in the backyard in the evening light. I learned to take snacks with me to bribe kids to hold poses or generally smile at the camera (with permission from the parents, of course). This time I took animal cookies (my stand by) and a panda pez container. The panda pez container was a HUGE hit, I pretty much could get her little girl to do anything I wanted by promising her a pez from Mr. Panda. :)

Here is April and her little girl, it was nice to capture the moment between the two of them.


we let her little girl draw on April. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be doing that one again. She was a little young to understand "pretend" drawing and was doing her best to try to fill mommy's belly button with lipstick. :)


one of April and her husband.


They were a great family to work with, really easy going and easy to pose. I can't wait to finish up the rest of their pictures for them!