Sleaque Images Photography | East Longmeadow, Massachusetts | 413.525.9089

My Special Valentine Gift ~ Children’s Portraits Massachusetts

Suzanne — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:45:50 +0000

Every once in a while, I love to offer something a little special for a really good price. Voila! Valentine’s Mini Sessions are here. These will be offered for three days only, so call us right away to get dibs on the best times. You can even use the images to make custom little valentines for your child’s class. Last year I made valentines for my kids in the shape of flip-phones. They were really cute.

New Year’s Eve Baby ~ Greater Springfield Photographer

Suzanne — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:12:08 +0000

I was so excited to photograph little “O” yesterday at 9 days old! This little guy was born on New Year’s Eve and he is oh, so cute. The bonus is that he’s my nephew

Congratulations to my brother and his wife on their first child. He is a perfect little treasure. Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

Home for the Holidays ~ Massachusetts Family Photography

Suzanne — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:55:08 +0000

Hopefully you’re starting to recover from the craziness of holiday eating, spending and family gathering. I’m definitely ready for 2012. If you live in New England, you are probably glad to see 2011 go, along with all of it’s weather emergencies and just plain strangeness. 2012 can only be better, right? Well that’s what I’m going with.

When we were young, and I mean young like 8, Christmastime was magical. As we get older, it becomes a lot of work to make all that magic happen for our own kids. I know I sound a little jaded, but one of the things I’m enjoying these days about the holidays is the time to catch up with family, even if it’s just for a few hours. In my family, many of us live far apart and so we don’t get to see one another very often. It’s nice to look forward to the end of the year knowing we’ll get to see each other again.

For Karen, her kids live in three different cities and she was really happy to have them all home for Christmas this year. Luckily we set aside some time to get these lovely photos while everyone was in one time zone. Even furry Leia got in on the photo action.

Storyboard Holiday Gift Idea ~ Springfield Children’s Photographer

Suzanne — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:19:18 +0000

This time of year it gets dark so early. By 5:30, I’m ready to put my pajamas on and hunker down for the night. So, today I want to share a few images that will hopefully brighten things up for you. I just love photographing preschoolers. They have the best expressions and little Marea was so fun to photograph.

If you’re looking for something a little different and fun to give as a gift this year, consider a Storyboard. These fun displays are a great way to highlight all the different expressions of your child.

Dressing for Family Portraits ~ Massachusetts Photographer

Suzanne — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:30:03 +0000

Wow, has it really been a whole month since I posted last? Well, that’s because things have been super busy around here. I’m in the middle of a top secret new portrait project that I will be unveiling very soon. This has been keeping me pretty busy in addition to all the normal business and mom stuff. On top of that I’ve had a brainstorm for another project that I’ll be working on over the winter. Keep popping back here for more info.

In the meantime, I want to share an image of this lovely family. One of the first things clients ask me after they schedule their session is, “What do we wear?”. I think this image is a great example of how to dress. Simple clothes in similar colors work best. If you were to book a session with me right now, here are my top five suggestions on how to dress your family:

Have everyone wear dark-washed jeans.
Choose jewel-toned colored shirts, such as emerald green, burnt orange, plum, maroon, and even chocolate brown.
Shirts should be long-sleeved and have no patterns, designs or words.
Accessories are great. Use scarves or jewelry to add interest or another pop of color.
You don’t have to “match”. Not everyone needs to wear the same color. But, if you all choose jewel tones, the colors will go together.

The reason this image works so nicely is because each person has a slightly different shade of the same color. I love it!!

Kids Fun Run Sponsored by Sleaque Images

Suzanne — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:30:18 +0000

There’s still time to sign up!

Please come join us for the first annual ELEEF 5k Road Race and Kids Fun Run on September 25th. The Kids Fun Run is for kids 10 and under. The first 40 kids who sign up get one of these fun t-shirts! This is a great way to support ELEEF and raise money for all the extras our teachers need.

The 5k Road Race starts at 9am and the Kids Fun Run starts at 10am. Please come cheer on our kids!

Is ‘hyper-focus’ a super power?

Suzanne — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:40:34 +0000

I’m a creative person and most of the time, that’s a good thing. However, there are a few times a year when I become the mutant version of myself. This typically involves me getting some kind of creative brainstorm and becoming completely consumed by it. Back when I was in college and early on as a photographer, this was great and I had the luxury of allowing myself to be completely consumed. Now, I have a business, a family and responsibilities, *sigh*. Also, I don’t think my husband appreciates these little episodes. What happens is that I get an idea, talk about it until he can’t listen anymore, lose sleep over how I will execute said idea and then not rest until I have every detail planned, every item purchased and every angle analyzed. And then, I am completely exhausted. I guess you could call this being manic or hyper-focused, but maybe for people like me, it’s a super-power. Not quite like the ability to cast webs from my wrists or fly with a cape, but a super-power nonetheless for a mom, a wife and business owner. Otherwise, how would I accomplish anything?

It happened to me recently with a new portrait concept. Something kind of new and different and fun! The tough part was still getting all my other stuff done. Like getting the kids to soccer practice, cooking dinner, working with clients and making sure homework got done. Unfortunately, this also happened to be a week when my husband traveled, so it was extra hectic. By the time he got back on Saturday, I was so wiped out, I had to take naps all weekend in order to catch up on sleep.

The good part about all this is that I’m still jazzed about my new project and am working out the kinks. Here’s a little sneak peek of the upcoming series. Isn’t this little guy adorable? His eyelashes are to die for. Can’t wait to share the rest with you soon.

Beachy Summer Fun ~ East Longmeadow Photographer

Suzanne — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:33:29 +0000

Vacations do not happen frequently enough. You know, the kind where you really remove yourself from your work and your life in order to recharge your batteries. Our family was lucky enough this summer to take a week off and head to the beach. Aaaaahhhhhh. And not a moment too soon, I might add. My husband and I spent most of the early summer swamped with work. The one thing keeping us sane was knowing we would have some much-needed R & R coming our way soon.

Every morning, we rode our bikes to the beach and spent a few hours. Some mornings, there wasn’t anyone else on the beach except for us. I know the kids really enjoyed having the water and sand to themselves. Typically, we would head back for lunch and some adventure, such as the movies or mini-golf, or shopping. Then an early dinner and head back to the beach. This kept us out of the sun during the hottest hours of the day.

One of my fondest memories of our trip was early in the week. We packed some sandwiches and snacks and headed to the beach around 6pm. It was low-tide and there seemed like miles and miles of sand. The sun was starting to set and the light had that wonderful yellow glow to it. Of course, I brought my camera with me and I couldn’t resist getting some snaps in of the kids playing in the water. Here is one of my favorites from that night.

Baby Adrian ~ East Longmeadow Baby Photography

Suzanne — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:20:26 +0000

Today I want to share a couple images from baby Adrian’s 5-month session! This is one happy little guy. And it’s no wonder because his parents are really sweet too! Adrian is the winner of the Springfield Macaroni Kid photo contest and you can totally see why. Just look at his eyes; aren’t they gorgeous?

Monica Senior Spotlight ~ Class of 2012 Photographer

Suzanne — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:49:06 +0000

Summer is in full-swing here in Western Massachusetts and I’ve been photographing lots of families and lots of students from the class of 2012. I love photographing all kinds of people, but I have to say that high school seniors might be my favorite. These kids are really excited about the whole experience of feeling like a model at a fashion shoot. We goof off and laugh and find really cool spots to highlight their personalities. Overall, it’s really fun and I always rush back to my office to view and choose my favorites from their session.

Monica was really fun and has done some modeling in the past so I soon as we started, I could tell this session was going to go really well. She even brought her friend, Jess, along to cheer her on and of course, I had to incorporate her too!