Lake County IL Photographer

August 22, 2018August 20, 2018

Top 5 Fears of Family Photos {Photography Tip, Antioch IL Photographer}

I know taking family photos, especially if you have young little kids can be scary! I have a two year old who I try to take photos of daily. With my two year old I have experienced all the ups and downs that come with trying to get a nice photograph. I wanted to take some time and share with you the top fears parents have when taking family photos.

Fear: My kid(s) won’t cooperate.

Reassurance: It’s ok, nothing beats a photographer’s child and I understand that some kids take longer to warm up before letting their personality shine. The key is for you to relax and not worry and your little one(s) will follow along.
Helpful Tip: Let’s plan a session time that will work best for when your little one is at their happiest during the day. Is it early in the morning or later in the evening, I will work with you to pick a time that will work best for all little ones involved.
Fear: My kid(s) won’t smile.

Reassurance: There is always something that makes a little one smile…be it a silly song, a tickle from mom and dad or a fart noise…a smile will happen during the session. I aim to make the session fun and exciting so you don’t have to worry about your little one(s) not smiling.
Helpful Tip: Share with me the secret info about what your little one loves…movie, cartoon, book, song. It will give me something to chat about with them and smiles will shine when they are talking about something they love.
Fear: My kid(s) will have a huge meltdown.

Reassurance: It won’t be the first or last kid to have a meltdown at a photo session…take it in stride and so will I. There is no rush during family photos and that is to allow for any necessary snack breaks, extra snuggles, or just quiet moments to let your little one(s) relax.
Helpful Tip: Make sure to bring favorite snacks or ‘lovies’ and don’t worry about taking a moment to calm your little one down. I hold no judgement for any meltdown, remember I have a two year old who is currently going through the start of his meltdown moments.
Fear: It’s not worth it and I can just take photos with my phone.

Reassurance: It is worth it…if you are taking the photo how will you be in the photo? Photos are a form of family heirlooms and it’s so important for your little ones to have photos of their entire family together. Just think of them being able to show their future family what they looked like as a little one.
Helpful Tip: My goal is to make the entire experience fun and stress free for you so that years later you will look back at these photos so happy you have them.
Fear: We don’t have anything nice to wear.

Reassurance: I can help you! We can work together to plan outfits. I have a Pinterest board of outfit color schemes and ideas that can help you. Planning outfits isn’t as hard as you may think.
Helpful Tip: You don’t need fancy outfits to look amazing. Wear what you feel comfortable in and it will show in your smiles. Stick with simple classic looks and your photos will never become funny family historical memes.

Did I miss your fear associated to getting family photos taken? Let me know what your common worries are during family photos!

January 30, 2017

Session Styling – New Studio Location {Libertyville IL, Newborn Photographer}

Studio Space - 1

So I have some exciting news to share with everyone! I’m expanding…and no, not physically – I’m trying to retract from the pregnancy.

Kate Fredrick Photography is expanding!

I now have a studio that I can capture amazing images of you and your little one in! AHH…how awesome is that. The studio space is located in Libertyville and it is just pure perfection.

Why did I get a studio? The reasons are many…we live in the midwest where it’s freezing cold 90% of the time, you are a busy family and prepping for a photo session is hard enough to plan clothing wise to add cleaning to the list can be overwhelming, we live in the midwest where it rains, etc…

But the main reason I decided to get a studio space was to be able to capture more amazing images of your family. I fell in love with taking images of my little man in our guest bedroom…just him, a white blanket and beautiful light. I wanted you to have the option to get those same types of images of your little one and family.

Don’t worry…I will still be offering sessions at your home and outside but now there is also the option for a studio set up!

I hope you’ll join me in the studio!

Studio Space - 2

July 23, 2015July 21, 2015

To-Do List {Lake County IL, Photographer}

Life is messy…life is crazy…life is stressful…but most of all life is beautiful. Do me a favor and stop for just one second and think about a few things…is your sink full of dirty dishes, is there a pile of laundry outside the hamper waiting for the washing machine, are there toys laying in the hallway that you stubbed your toe on? We all get behind on daily cleaning or get upset when we trip over little John’s toys, but what if you think about things differently? What if the sink full of dirty dishes means you chose to spend time with your family over doing those last few pots and pans? What if that toy you tripped on means a house full of giggles and silly faces?

We all get caught up in feeling we are running a race that will never end and instead of feeling defeated, feel empowered. We have the ability to make choices every day that affect our happiness. I want you to today to choose happiness and being present versus being overwhelmed by your to-do list. What will an extra few hours do those already dirty dishes? What will an extra action figure on the floor do to floor?

Honestly, this is a big struggle of mine. I struggle with putting my to-do list before my family. I struggle with being present with my husband and we don’t have any little kiddos to take my attention away. I feel like there is always something to be doing, a box to unpack, a floor to be sweeping, a load of laundry to be folding…but what I forget is that doing these things takes away from time I can spend with my husband enjoying each other. There will always be time for the to-do list, but life shouldn’t be fully mandated by that list. Today I want you to choose to do something that isn’t on your to-do list…or even better yet, re-write your to-do list to include something that will make you happy like have a tickle fight with your kids, pop in a favorite movie of yours and enjoy it snuggled up on the couch with your family, go for a little walk enjoying the beautiful sunset… pick something that will make you happy. Be present during that time and let go of the to-do list and life’s craziness to enjoy it…I’m pretty sure your heart will thank you!

What are you going to add to your to-do list?

July 1, 2015June 30, 2015

Home Sweet Home {Lake County IL, Photographer}

“Let’s go to this open house this weekend.”

“Ok, but can we get ice cream afterwards?”

This was the conversation between my husband and I a few short weeks ago that has turned into quite a big life change. I bet you can guess which one of us wanted ice cream…I’m such a sucker for ice cream.

It was the first house I’ve ever walked through with even a mustard seed of a thought of buying a house. I’ll fully admit, the hubs and I weren’t fully looking to buy a house right now, we have a townhome that needs a bit of TLC…but we were open to the possibility. It’s crazy how being open to the possibility has resulted in us having an accepted offer on a new house!

Over the past week I couldn’t help but start to think about what was a “home”? Sure it’s a physical home with four walls and a roof. We even had our little wish list of what we wanted, 3 car garage, big backyard, hard wood floors, 4 bedrooms, etc…but a home is so much more than that.

What I really wanted as my home, was a place to create family memories in, a place to grow old with my husband in, a place to feel safe and secure when life gets crazy in. Maybe I’m just extra sentimental when I start to think about this new journey for my husband and I…but, as I get older and experience more things in life, I’m learning that during the journey you have to stop and feel, enjoy what you can.

I’m excited to say that our home meets all of my criteria, plus more!

During these next few months I want to let go of the stress and take notice of the little things…the look on my husband’s face when we found out we had an accepted offer…the joy we feel as we send each other little emails with decorating options included…the giddiness we felt when we woke up on the day of our inspection because it meant we got to go back inside our “home”. As you grow up, these moments get lost under deadlines and overtime, life gets hectic as stress and responsibilities pile on and I’m not about to let that happen this time.

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015

30 Day Challenge {Lake County IL, Photographer}

Do you follow me on Instagram? If you do, you likely noticed some interesting pictures lately of my kitties’ paws. This past month I wanted to do a fun little challenge for 30 days, although I realized after I started that March has 31 days not 30…go figure.

So why do a 30 day challenge? Simple…I wanted to take time everyday to notice the little things in my life. All too often we are running from place to place, going to bed late only to get up early, constantly adding “to-do” items on our ever growing to-do list and never really taking a moment to notice the little things in our life. We start to take things for granted and while I don’t mean to be a downer…sometimes those things won’t always be around. Life is about learning to juggle the conflicting priorities and I felt like I needed to push my reset button. I am known to consistently over extend myself and take on too many things. The end result typically has me in tears to my husband while we figure out how everything that needs to get done, gets done. I’ve started to realize that sometimes the things I make priorities in my life aren’t meant to be priorities and instead I take things for granted when I shouldn’t…typically my poor husband is the one to get the raw end of the deal in those types of situations. But as life only gets more complex we need to realize to take a moment and notice the little things around us.

So how did my 30 day challenge go? Well I am proud to say that I completed it…all 31 days! But the real question is what did I learn from my 30 day challenge? Well, I learned…

Prince loves to sit on the bed in the morning, while the most beautiful sunrise will come streaming in on him as he dangles his little paws over the bed post.
Chip loves to sit next to his toys that he will typically brings to me in the late afternoon, and then drop them in the bedroom doorway.
Prince is much more adventurous with where he will go and always wants to be near me; when he’s not sleeping.
Chip is much more adventurous with how he stands or curls up or sleeps, in respect to the position of his paws.

I know…I imagine you are saying to yourself “Great, but I really don’t care about this lady’s cats.” So let me go just a bit farther, and tell you this… My big light bulb moment…I learned, that spending 5 extra minutes on just myself, laughing with my husband and playing with my cats, didn’t cause the world to come to an end…I didn’t miss any big deadlines, or miss any big meetings…instead, I would push forward and say that I gained happiness and joy for taking some time out of my day to make myself the priority. So from this crazy little 30 day challenge of taking pictures of my cats’ paws I came away realizing that taking just 5 – 10 minutes a day for just yourself will bring with it great personal reward.

So, what’s next? Another 30 day challenge? More cat photos? Honestly…I’m not really sure. Maybe I’ll take the day to think about where to go next.

In the meantime…have you done a 30 day challenge? Of any kind? What did you learn from it? If you haven’t done one…try it out…let me know what you plan on doing and I would love for you to reach back out to me after your 30 days and let me know what happened!

And lastly…before you go…take a peek at my 31 days of kitty paws.
(Also, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @kate_fredrick to see what might be next for me…)