Merrill, Family Photographer - A Vintage Christmas

As the snow gently blankets the ground and twinkling lights adorn every street, Christmas casts its spell, capturing the hearts of little ones everywhere. Imaginations soar and anticipation fills the air as children embrace the belief in the extraordinary, the extraordinary that lies within the realm of Christmas.

Becoming a parent has made the Christmas holiday a bit more special to me. The magic and excitement of children is beautiful to watch and experience again as a parent.

Christmas is a time when children's innocence and belief in magic reign supreme, reminding us of the beauty and pureness of the holiday season. It's a time to cherish their unfiltered joy, for it encapsulates the true spirit of Christmas—the joy, wonder, and boundless love that children unleash upon our hearts.

So, come along, dear friend, and immerse yourself in the magic of Christmas. Together, let us create lasting memories and cherish the warmth that this beautiful season imparts.

Marten’s Family

The Marten’s are an amazing family, and their session was so much fun. A year and a half ago I had the honor of photographing their son for his newborn session; the kids have grown SO MUCH since that time! We went out to the Riverbed Trail in Merrill, Wisconsin and jumped in puddles, explored the fields and picked wildflowers.

Playing in puddles!

If you’d like to book as session for your own family, feel free to send me a message. I can’t wait to help plan a super fun session with you!

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Flower Session

There’s some beautiful flowers that grow by the side of the road near my home. I love flowers, but if it’s not a rose or a tulip I’m sadly ignorant of the name - no matter how much I can appreciate it’s blooms. I recently learned that the flowers I love so much are called forget me nots. They are a beautiful shade of blue and bloom in riotous clumps.

For the two years I’ve been in my house I have wanted to do a session in these flowers. There’s no reason I haven’t, other than time gets away from me, I get busy, or a million other silly excuses. This year I vowed I would take advantage of the forget me nots (even if it’s just one session)! I called up my good friend and asked if her daughter (who has the most beautiful blue eyes) would be a little model for me. I told her - “I only need five minutes”.

. . . . . .

Here’s the results -

Fall Family Session

Fall in Northern Wisconsin is always such a gorgeous time of year. And I just love when clients invite me out to their properties to capture the beauty. This family lives out on a couple of acres of land just a bit North of Merrill, WI - and boy did it not disappoint! There were several wooded trails, a pretty little creek, and even some animals that the boys couldn’t wait to show me.

T and A couldn’t wait to show me all their favorite spots to explore. We had tons of fun seeing who could throw the biggest rock, and who could throw the rocks the farthest into the creek. Within minutes the boys dissolved into giggles!

And what family session wouldn’t be complete without a few wild runs under blankets manned by Mom and Dad?

Here’s a few more of my favorites from this session!

One fun fact about this family - young man A was actually my very first newborn session ever, back in 2019. I’ve since photographed their wonderful family pretty much every year since. I can’t describe the appreciation I have for them, and the faith that every year I will have grown more and more as a photographer.

Interested in scheduling your own session? I’d love to hear from you!

Is Photoshop Magic? What Can You Edit?

Is Photoshop magic? Sadly no, it’s not. But it can do some pretty cool things that seem like magic sometimes! Even Photoshop has limitations though. It’s a common misconception that anything and everything can be “edited” out or fixed with this program. Here’s quick (not complete) run down of common things Photoshop can and cannot do!

1.) Distractions from the background. Most of the time additional people, signs, houses, or other distractions can be erased from the background. There are some exceptions, if the program can’t find enough data to replace the object/person that needs to be removed you might be stuck with it in your final picture. There are some tips and tricks photographers can use to “outsmart” Photoshop, but it’s not appropriate for every image. Photographers will do their best to choose locations and setups that are clear or easily editable.

2.) Skies. During sessions we don’t always get lucky and get beautiful skies with lots of color or big fluffy clouds. But that’s one thing that can usually be fudged in Photoshop. This can be done in one of a few ways. Sometimes the beautiful sky is “hidden” and we can bring it back and make it pop with a few setting changes. Other times, we need to take a sky from another image and overlay it over the image. Things to remember - not every sky works for every image. The lighting of the sky you’re overlaying the image with needs to work for that photo. For example, if you took a picture on a grey, cloudless day, adding a beautiful sunset to that photo will look out of place.

3.) Blemishes and other minor skin fixes - This is especially important for newborn photos! Most newborns are not blessed with smooth, clear skin. When you bring your newborn in for a session they have usually scratched their face, have milk crust on their face, they may have baby acne or other irritated skin. All of this is totally normal! But most parents don’t want to remember those types of details. Photoshop has the perfect tools for editing skin. And it’s not just for newborns either. Senior sessions can often require quite a bit of retouching. Some adults ask for skin smoothing to remove acne or soften wrinkles as well. These are all easy edits!

4.) Logos on clothing and other clothing fixes - Sometimes logos and images on clothing can be edited out. However, this is NOT something you should expect your photographer to do. It takes a significant amount of time to fix clothing in Photoshop (and can even be beyond the average photographer’s expertise). Wrinkles, patterns, and ill fitting clothing are outside the photographers control and will not be corrected by the photographer. Minor stains on children can be edited out, but only if they are small.

5.) Hair and makeup! Your photographer may make minor adjustments or corrections to hair. This would include things like small fly aways. But Photoshop cannot change your hair or makeup. Your photographer will not be able to edit out grey hairs, or add lash extensions for you during the editing process. During the session we will do everything we can to catch any hair, makeup or wardrobe issues but at the end of the day it is the client’s responsibility to come ready for their session.

If you’re unsure if something can be corrected during the editing process, just ask (before the photos are taken)! If something is easily editable , we are more than happy to do it for you! Have more questions? Feel free to contact me!

What time should I schedule my family photo session?

What time should I schedule my family photo session? What’s the best time to take pictures? Or why do we have to do our session so late? Are all questions I get asked when families are looking to schedule their sessions (especially in summer). I’m here to answer all these questions and MORE!

The short answer to what time is the best time for photos is about an hour to an hour and a half before sunset. This is called golden hour, and it makes for beautiful, dreamy photos like the one directly above.

But that’s so LATE! Is a complaint parents with young children commonly have. And that’s true, at the height of summer sessions often don’t start until after 7 pm. With littles that can be super tricky, and here’s some suggestions.

1. Let’s plan your session for earlier in the evening! We can choose locations that are shaded and still capture beautiful images. Note, we don’t get the sunset/golden hour images - they will still be beautiful but they will have a different tone and feel.

2. Wait until later in summer or early fall to book your session. As the days shorten golden hour comes earlier as well!

3. Wing it! Plan the session anyway - I will help keep the kids engaged and active during the session. Feed the kiddos supper a little later than normal and give them an extra snack or treat before the session to help keep energy levels up.

The season, time of day, weather and location will impact the images you receive during your session. For example - the wooded image on this page was taken during the morning in late Spring (with rain threatening the whole time), the field picture with the little kids was taken mid summer at golden hour, and the picture below was taken in the afternoon during fall. All these sessions were amazing, and yours will be too! Each of these families had a different vision in mind for their session, I’d love to hear what yours is! :)

How to pick outfits for your family photos

How do I pick outfits for our family photos? What colors go best together? Should we all match? Should we wear clothes with words or images? These are all very common questions I’m asked before every photo session.

Picking outfits for you and your family is one of the more stressful aspects of preparing for your photo session.

I’m here today to offer some guidance, and hopefully help remove some of the stress for you.

“Let’s talk color!”

I know you’re all just reading this to find out how to pair colors! That’s alright! And I have a super simple trick for you!

Head to (you can also just Google color palette ideas):

https://www.canva.com/colors/color-palettes/

This site offers tons of color palettes for you to view. You can search things like spring, autumn, rust, blue, etc to get inspo.

Once you’ve found a palette that you like (like the example below) you are ready to start shopping! These colors go together well and you can start basing your outfits off this color grouping.

Such a simple trick, but so effective!

“Layers, Layers, Layers”

Beyond colors, there’s a lot of other aspects to take into consideration! Being in Northern Wisconsin the temps can swing wildly from day to day. Should you plan for short sleeves or will you need a winter coat?

I suggest to families that have their sessions in the spring or fall months to plan on layers. Layers you can take off or put on as the session goes on. Photo sessions aren’t stand still events, you’ll be moving most of the time. So you might start out cold, but get toasty!

Cardigans or zip up sweaters are both great options! A blanket that’s big enough to wrap around you, fashion coats, or a shawl are good alternatives.

“Keep it simple”

Here’s a few general rules to follow when getting ready for your shoot.

• Matching family outfits can be fun (Christmas jammies!) - in the right setting. In general though, simple is better.

• Avoid graphic t shirts, especially those with really bright colors. Solid colors photograph better, and fit in everywhere.

• Steer clear of shirts with a lot of words. They are difficult to read in photos and often get cut off while you’re moving around. Think simple.

• Refrain from choosing bright colors (anything in the neon family) and busy patterns.

“Pro Tip!”

Don’t forget about your shoes. You can have a killer outfit, but the effect can be completely ruined with shoes that don’t match. Guys tend to be the bigger offenders on this one. Ladies, I recommend doing a double check of your hubby before you leave.

“Always here to help you!”

If you’re really struggling on your outfit, it is perfectly ok to reach out to your photographer before the session and ask for advice. The last thing we want is for you to be uncomfortable at your session.

A couple of things to keep in mind -

Your photographer is not responsible for you hating your outfit. They are also not responsible for clothing that is wrinkled, creased, or covered in pet hair. Photoshop is amazing, but it’s not magic - it also takes a lot of time to edit (and not everything is fixable).

As always, if you have a question or need help, reach out! Photography by Brooke wants you to love your photos for years to come and is always happy to help!

Molly’s 6th Birthday Session

It’s Molly’s 6th birthday! What better way to celebrate than with a session? Molly is a very girly young lady. She loves everything that has to do with sparkles, makeup, unicorns, dresses - she loves it all! So I just knew I had to get Molly some over the top, beautiful, princess-esque dresses to celebrate. We had three distinct looks.

First up was this gorgeous pink number. It’s really everything a little girl could ever wish for. It has a lacy overskirt embroidered with flowers and leaves. The back is corseted so it’s very adjustable. This dress turned out to be a little too big for Molly, but we clipped it for the photo session.

The second dress is a lacy blue butterfly babydoll type style. Molly’s favorite color is blue, so we had to incorporate it! We finished our 6th birthday session with a boho style for some variety. Happy birthday Molly! We hope your 6th birthday was an absolute blast and 2022 is your best year yet!

All of these dresses are available in Photography by Brooke’s client closet. Children’s clothing in the client closet ranges from newborn outfits up to sizes 7/8 with new items being added throughout the year.

Photography by Brooke is a photographer specializing in newborn, maternity and family photography servicing the Merrill, Wausau, Mosinee and North Central Wisconsin areas.

Maternity Self Portrait

Keep scrolling to see the end result!

I am not a person who loves to take selfies, or post a lot of pictures of myself. In general, I’d much rather be the person behind the camera than in front of it. The downside of this, is that I don’t have a lot of pictures of myself and my kids together. And virtually no pictures of any of my four pregnancies. I decided that when I was pregnant with my son, things would be a little different.

For me, I am never more self conscious than when I’m pregnant. I have never felt like I had the cute, perfect baby bump. When I was pregnant with my first two daughters, I couldn’t afford maternity pictures. And then when I was pregnant with babies number three, and again with number four I was too nervous to do them with another photographer. Thus the brilliant idea was formed - I would take maternity self portraits! I am a photographer after all! How hard can it be?

Really hard.

At the time, my husband and I had just sold our first home and had several houses we were trying to buy fall through on us. We were in a cramped, old, dark, not very attractive apartment (as you can clearly see in the before). There was no room for my studio, or really very much of anything. Definitely no room for my studio setup. In short, things had not gone according to plan. I’m telling you this to set the stage of what I had to work with.

I was bound and determined to make it work! I pulled my backdrop stand out of storage, found a roll of my seamless paper and set to work. In my head, it would be simple and I could knock out these maternity pictures in an hour or so. Learn from my mistakes, don’t try it yourself. I spent the better part of the afternoon fighting with my setup, tripod, and shutter trigger trying to get something usable. When I called it a day and uploaded the images to my editing program, I realized I had some hard work ahead.

I had the best of intentions to edit the images right away, I did not. It actually took me about nine months (oops!). To edit just ONE maternity image! Life has this funny way of ruining the best of intentions sometimes. Between kids, school, my day job, my photography, moving, having a baby. . . . . . . I just never got around to it.

Guys, moral of the story. Hire someone to help you get beautiful maternity pictures you’ll want to treasure forever. You will be stressed enough trying to prepare for your new baby, navigating the changes in your body, along with all the other stressors and obligations life brings. Let me help take one of those burdens off of your shoulders.