Portrait Photography – ANNA BARKER PHOTOGRAPHY

Gabrielle + Duncan | Downtown Fort Wayne Engagement

Posted on January 21, 2017January 21, 2017 by anorathewriter in Engagement, Photography

Since Gabrielle and Duncan are planning a July wedding, they wanted to do their engagement photos in the winter, so we planned to do this session while they were both in Fort Wayne, Indiana from Indiana University over Christmas Break! We talked about trying to schedule this session to be in the snow, but it didn’t seem to be in the forecast for the always-unpredictable Fort Wayne weather. Lo and behold (and to my pleasant surprise) the day of our session, there was a little bit of snow falling from the sky and just enough on the ground to make the world look a little more…whimsical. BUT, it was veeerrry cold that day as well, so I called ahead and we decided to hold most of our session inside the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Downtown Fort Waynehich has a lot of windows and natural daylight (win! Natural light is my favorite kind for photographs). I’ve done a few photo shoots at the Grand Wayne center, but never because it’s been too cold to comfortably do a full session outside. I became even more grateful for such great architecture in the Downtown Fort Wayne area! As you’ll see near the end of the gallery, Gabrielle and Duncan were great sports and we did end up going outside for a few photos where I got to take advantage of the snow, buildings and streets as our backdrop!

I hope you’ll enjoy Gabrielle and Duncan’s Engagement photos as much as I enjoyed capturing them!

Duncan & Gabrielle,

Thank you for spending the afternoon with me and bringing such a relaxed and warm atmosphere to this session! Your love and playfulness with each other is sweet, and I’m so excited to capture your wedding day later this year!

[‘o]

O H A N A | Fort Wayne Summer Newborn Session

Posted on September 2, 2016September 2, 2016 by anorathewriter in Newborn, Photography

Ohana’s newborn session was extra special for me, because I was her parent’s wedding photographer, AND their wedding was my first as ‘the‘ photographer!!! The Berrys have such a sweet family dynamic and besides being an adorable baby, Ohana seems to be the perfect little puzzle piece addition to it.

Although the sky was looking a little iffy the day of our shoot, we held this session in the Berry’s backyard and planned to move inside to their living room when it started raining, but the weather cooperated the whole time and almost as soon as I got into my car to leave at the end, it started pouring! I was so thankful for the perfect timing.

I like to hold newborn photo sessions at the family’s home for two reasons: 1. usually the baby is very young (under 2 weeks old) and I want to make it a little easier on the parents not to have to pack up and bring their whole family to a different location (not to mention if we need anything extra because a prop was forgotten or baby has an accident while we were shooting without a diaper on) and 2. holding the session at their home makes the photos all the more meaningful with the house and yard being the very first home of the newborn and the place where the family will make some of their first memories together. The Berrys have a cute little home with a nice, green, backyard which worked really well for taking photos! Here are some of my favorites from our session. Enjoy!

Ohana-3

Ohana-13

Ohana-14

Ohana-16

Ohana-22

This sash draped on Ohana’s head and body as well as the dress she’s laying on were both worn by her mom, Olivia on her wedding day! I absolutely love meaningful props like this!

Ohana-25

I experimented with making a little lace crown for the shoot and it turned out alright! I’m excited to try making different colored ones because they can be so cute!

Ohana-35

Ohana-33

Ohana-38

Ohana-49

Ohana-52

Ohana’s big brother, Malachi, was fairly co-operative for the full family picture! Especially when I promised to show him the photos afterword (the words “Jolly” and “Rancher” might have been thrown around too but he was pretty excited to see his photo)! This tends to be a trend with young kids I’ve gotten photos of! If you’ve got shy or rambunctious kids who don’t want to pose for a picture, snap a photo of them real quick, bring it over for them to see, and tell them that if they smile nicely, you’ll let them see the photo again! Also, tell them (over and over again) how pretty/handsome they are! 9/10 times, they LOVE it. And if not, then there’s always Jolly Ranchers 😉

Ohana-43

Ohana-47

Ohana-60

Berrys, thanks for giving me the honor of getting Ohana’s newborn photos and capturing pictures of your little tribe! I’m excited for all the things to come for the four of you!

love,

LYDIA | Fort Wayne Newborn Photography

Posted on July 15, 2016 by anorathewriter in Family, Newborn, Photography

The Rivera family were nothing short of a joy to work with. From our very first Instagram messages to when I left the photo shoot which we held at their beautiful home, I was thankful to be able to photograph their sweet daughter, Lydia. In these photos, Lydia was only 3 1/2 days old, with a full head of hair, and already a natural model. She slept (or at least stayed very calm) throughout almost the whole session, but there’s one photo of her crying that I couldn’t resist to put into the collection because even that was cute.

Some of my favorite photos from this session include Lydia holding her mom’s fingers, her brother leaning down to kiss her, and the family photos where you can clearly see that everyone is already smitten with the newest addition to their family. Lydia’s grandmother was there for our shoot as well, and we got a 3 generation shot of her grandmother and mother adoring her.

One thing I always try to do in my photography is focus on the details, because details inherently tell great stories in the most genuine way. I love that with photos, I can capture an image of the details of a certain moment in time, and preserve not only those details, but the emotion and the feeling of those moments for years and years to come as well. In newborn sessions, I try to focus on two kinds of details: 1. the details that make them who they are and that will probably last their whole life (profile, eyes, little mannerisms or faces they make that they will continue to do as they get older) and 2. the details that will be gone very soon since babies change and grow so quickly (the smallness of their hands and feet, chubby cheeks, their feet crossed around each other). I tried to capture the sweet, comfortable mood of our photo shoot through these details in Lydia’s newborn photos below. Enjoy!