Your child has so many different expressions. Their happy face. Their hungry face. Their silly face. Their kissy face. We know you never want to forget all those faces, and our photographer Ray has developed a unique style and method to capture all their expressions. What better way to decorate your home than with a collage of your precious child's many expressions!
Call us today to make sure you capture the many expressions of your child before they change!
Life gets more hectic after children are born; it’s all part of a growing family. But no matter how busy you become, don’t forget these precious moments. Children change so fast before your eyes. That’s why portraits taken now and at key stages of their lives will become more and more precious as the years go by. Take a little time to capture those fleeting years of your children’s young life in portraiture.
We recommend capturing the following 5 stages in portraiture.
Babyhood
(Maternity-1 year)
Toddler
(18 months-3 years)
Childhood
(4 years-7 years)
Youth
(10-12 years)
Young Adult
(16-18 years)
Babyhood
Babyhood is so special, yet passes so quickly. Every day is a first... first smile, first feeding, first tooth, first words, and those first faltering steps. Be sure to take the time to capture each of these 5 ages within this stage, completing the first step in this journey through time. Our Baby’s First Year Handcrafted Custom Album is a stunning and durable way to display images chronicling your new child’s life. Our free low-res images are perfect for sharing your new little life with all your friends and family.
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3 weeks - Those new baby wrinkles and tiny hands, feet, and eyes. We often feature dad in this portrait because he has bigger and rougher hands, which create stunning imagery when holding a newborn.
3 months - The adorable chubbiness and new smiles while cuddling with mom and dad makes a beautiful wall portrait that will be treasured for many years.
6 months - Wide-eyed fascination and developing motor skills, plus teeth are coming in!
9 months - Full head of hair and standing solo! Still cuddly, yet wanting to be independent, photos showing the close relationship with mom and dad are priceless.
1 year - Crawling, walking, climbing, exploring! An outdoor session is perfect at this age. It’s also great to have us photograph your child’s first birthday, so you can treasure those memories forever.
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Having a toddler is one of the most challenging and rewarding times in your life as a parent. Many changes are taking place in language, motor skills, and moods. What a precious time this becomes as Kindergarten looms and you realize your baby is now a toddler!
18 months - Independence is growing, but that special bond and relationship between toddler, parents, and siblings is still very apparent. Incorporating family pets into sessions starting at this age is recommended.
2 years - So much curiosity and never-ending energy. A casual photojournalistic session incorporating dress-up and dancing is great at this bubbly age. A collage of several images is a beautiful way to display your child’s many expressions and remember the tiny details of their face.
3 years - Playful and ready to explore the entire world with make-believe and games! We suggest a freestyle session with fun and candid images captured of your family in a loose, journalistic style. A modern triptych style print from this session would be perfect.
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Childhood encompasses a time of intense change as school now comes into play. These are some of the most enjoyable times as we see our children learn the fundamentals of reading, writing and social skills. Communication occurs on a more mature level, as children are in awe of everything and always full of questions.
4 years - Verbal, active, mesmerized by the world and full of smiles. A collage of images displaying their colorful personality is a beautiful way to capture their entrance into childhood.
5 years - Faces start losing their babyish look and teeth start falling out. A precious phase you won’t want to forget! A beautiful portrait of yourself with your child is a treasure you won’t want to pass up. This age marks many beginnings, with first bike rides, first ballet classes, and first piano lessons - don’t miss out on photographing these precious first moments!
7 years - At the peak of childhood! A family portrait is recommended for this stage to bridge the gap between childhood and the next stage of youth.
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This is the beginning of the breaking away from the family to establish an identity, but at the core, they still need hugs, kisses, and praise. These years can be hectic and busy, but enjoy this precious time for it is fleeting!
10 years - More outgoing and expressive with every day! These years are often skipped because of busy schedules, braces, and budding interests, but what a shame to miss these special times. A session incorporating some of their favorite toys, hobbies, and activities is perfect at this age.
12 years - On the cusp of becoming a teenager! Squeeze in one last family portrait to be able to remember their innocent childlike expressions. This is the final portrait before teen years and is planned to reflect major changes on the way.
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The final stage before your child leaves home! Statistics show that parents take less candid photographs at these ages making it even more important to capture these special moments with a portrait.
16 years - A milestone age where many things are changing. Our “children” start driving, become more independent, text nonstop, start dating, and stop asking our opinion! Adulthood is on the horizon, and to most parents, it is now becoming a reality that their child will soon be an adult. This is a great time to capture one last family portrait while the family is still together. Classic black and white images are exceptionally beautiful at this age.
18 years - Graduation is around the corner and they are about to leave home! A Senior Sitting that captures the nuances of their personalities and interests with contemporary flair is recommended at this age. The perfect time to do this Senior Sitting is in the spring or summer before your teen is a high school senior. Also, don’t forget to take advantage of their last moments at home and perhaps what will be your last opportunity to take a family portrait.
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Beyond the Stages
Take advantage of loved ones returning home for the holidays to take a long awaited and priceless family portrait. You have worked so hard to create your beautiful family, now let us create a stunning wall portrait that you can display in your home and enjoy every day.
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Call us today and book a free consultation to make sure you aren’t missing out on capturing the precious stages and changes your child is going through!
In the past few weeks here in the studio we have had two really fun shoots with children, playing dress-up and dancing around. Our studio provides some clothing for small children, and one of our most popular outfits recently has been a bouncy pink tutu and a fluffy pink hat. Making a photo session fun for the little ones (and for mom and dad too!) is one of our goals, and making the session more like play time is great for capturing candid shots that embody their personality. In the series of three photos below, we were photographing a 2 year old. We put her in the tutu and hat, turned on some music, and our assistant jumped in and started dancing with her to get her comfortable. At the end of the shoot, she had such a fun time she didn't want to leave the studio! She kept running back into the shooting room and dancing around in front of the lights. By using some simple props like flower petals or a hat, we can capture playful shots that will be treasured for years to come!
This style of three photos together is very popular this year, and is a beautiful way to show a series of photos together on one print and in one frame.
With our years of experience photographing children you can be assured that the photo session will not only be fun for your child, but that you will love the photos as well.
We ended the shoot dancing and tossing around flower petals, which resulted in this priceless shot.
We wanted to share another image with you from a shoot the previous week. Ray captured this clients daughter jumping around in her cowboy boots and outfitted in our tutu and cowboy hat. By taking the playful and relaxed approach to a shoot with children, we are able to capture images like the one below, that shows her exuberant personality and endless energy.
Our special approach and style of photographing children creates memories you'll enjoy sharing with friends and family. These beautiful and playful time won't last forever though - call us to schedule a sitting!
Last week, as part of Ray's active involvement in giving back to the community, he photographed the caretaker of the garden at 2nd and L. This little garden is right at the corner of L Street where it turns into 2nd Street in Davis. The caretaker, George Swazo, wanted some photographs of himself with his prized sunflowers to send to relatives. The resulting image that we captured shows George's pride for his beautiful sunflowers and garden which he has maintained as a gift to the community.
Have a faded, damaged, or incorrectly exposed photograph? Our studio can professionally restore cherished photographs back to their initial condition or even improve the quality of the original image.
All photo restoration work is done by hand to a digital scanned image of your photograph using professional photo editing software. Our professional retouchers can adjust and enhance contrast, sharpness, and color as well as remove scratches, tears, creases, mold or water damage and replace missing areas of an image. We can also colorize a photograph, cosmetically retouch faces, and remove or enhance elements in the photograph.
A recent restoration job we did was to repair and enhance a photograph of a client's grandmother taken in the 1920's. The original was faded, creased, scratched, and had extensive wear and tear at the edges of the image. In addition to repairing all the damage to the photo that had ensued over the years, we also adjusted the contrast and exposure of the image. As a finishing touch we digitally hand painted the portrait to enhance and bring out her facial features.
Your images are then printed on archival quality paper, mounted to art board or a canvas stretcher frame with a professional texture, and coated with a protective UV finish designed to last for future generations to enjoy.
Want to know how we can restore your old photographs? Call or come by our studio!
Not happy with the quality of your 1-hour photo prints? Would you rather meet with a professional photography editor and printer? Due to the large number of inquiries about custom quality printing and us being able to create archival quality prints, now we can print from your files!
At our studio we tailor all our custom printing to your desires, from retouching and digital enhancement to the paper and type of ink we print with.
With this specialized and custom service, you can now have an experienced professional retoucher with an artistic background take your treasured digital photos from CD’s or memory sticks to the next level. We professionally digitally edit your images with standard contrast and saturation adjustments, and exposure correction. We also offer optional cosmetic retouching, color enhancement, hand-painting manipulation to enhance the composition, object removal, and any other adjustments you would like made.
Your images are then printed on archival paper (we offer a wide variety including canvas, watercolor, metallic, matte, semi-gloss, and high gloss finish), mounted to art board or a canvas stretcher frame with a professional texture, and coated with a protective UV finish designed to last for future generations to enjoy. The best way to professionally print your photos: truly a timeless work of art
At the beginning of the month we custom printed some photos a client had taken of her grandson at an aquarium. With Ray's extensive knowledge of underwater photography he expertly adjusted and manipulated the images. The color cast on the image was corrected, color saturation was enhanced, the eye and tusk of the walrus was brought out, and the grandson's features were highlighted. The finishing touch that perfects this image was the cropping and removal of extraneous people that zooms the focus onto her grandson.
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Bring by your image files to our studio today to see how we can make the most out of your photographs!
Summer is such a perfect time to photograph families! The kids are out of school and it is a wonderful time to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and have our studio capture priceless photographs of you and your family. Have a family reunion coming up? Take advantage of your loved ones being together by capturing your extended family in a photography session that will allow you to treasure those memories forever.
Just a few weeks ago we photographed a local Davis family that had relatives in town for a wedding anniversary and reunion. The client wanted to have the session take place outdoors, and Ray suggested a beautiful location on the outskirts of Davis. The family wanted some fun, creative, and artistic shots, and Ray helped to build upon their vision by suggesting we start photographing on Graffiti Bridge and then moving into a golden field just a little bit down the road.
The fun composition of the photograph Ray captured of the younger cousins on Graffiti Bridge made a beautiful black and white print.
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Ray's eye for detail ensures that you will love the portraits we take of you. Here he is minutely adjusting the posing of all the family members together.
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The resulting photograph of all the relatives brings out the beautiful coloring of the subjects and location and displays an interesting composition with the posing of the family units.
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Ray is experienced at posing large groups and arranging the composition of the photograph. With his expertise and artistic vision, along with our superb quality equipment (from cameras and lights to printers) you will have photographs that are truly works of art. Before the shoot Ray will meet with you to discuss locations, clothing choices, what type of photography you are interested in (traditional to photo journalistic), and which family groupings you want captured.
This particular client wanted a mix of traditional posing and photo journalistic shots, both of which Ray is experienced with and possesses a high level of skill. When photographing the couple who were celebrating their anniversary, Ray kept shooting until he captured a loving and tender moment between husband and wife that expressed their long lasting bond.
Here is the touching photo that Ray captured that embodies the couple's love for one another:
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With the sun setting at the end of the shoot Ray saw the perfect opportunity to photograph the entire family in a relaxed and photo journalistic fashion with the sun setting behind them. He quickly gathered the family in a different section of the field and photographed away while the family wasn't looking.
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The resulting shot is absolutely stunning with the warm light and relaxed atmosphere of a family enjoying a walk at dusk.
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Come by our studio to see more samples of our outdoor family photography and to discuss your vision for your portrait with us!
Award winning photographer, Ray Johnston grew up with a camera in his hands, pushing the limits of photography, combining art history, and a passion for people photography. Ray has the patience and people skills to photograph any age, making his clients feel comfortable.
Ray Johnston Designer photography offers museum quality portraits that are timeless. More than just photographs, Ray delivers a masterpiece when only the finest will do.
Ray Johnston Designer Photography studio is located in Davis, California. Ray frequently photographs family, children, baby, pregnant mothers, high school seniors, business portraits, modeling, and commercial photography. Ray currently photographs in the Davis, Vacaville, Fairfield, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, Tahoe, Woodland, and Napa, Sonoma Valley wine country areas.
