Winter Family Portraits in Shorewood Hills

The early freeze-down this year has had me a little bummed, as I always feel like I can count on November for being perfect: highs 40 - 50 degrees, beautiful monotone landscapes of 100s of shades of browns, crunchy leaves, crisp air, empty parks, etc. November is often a month filled with personal climbing trips and lots of pre-holiday family portrait shoots, but the cold has slowed things down on both fronts. Despite some crushed hopes, I really enjoy the variety Wisconsin weather brings; adversity always raises new opportunities and keeps the adventure alive in what otherwise might grow routine.

While I would rather shoot outside any day of the week, when it is raining down freezing drizzle and the steps to my clients' home is a skating rink... then we work inside. A good time to have some fast, wide lenses, which is why I decided this shoot would be the perfect excuse to buy the 35mm lens I have been thinking about for a while. So this session ended up being almost entirely shot with that new lens, and I loved the opportunities the glass opened up for us.

Headshots on Lake Mendota with Madison Author Melissa Falcon Field

I have been lucky over the last few years to work with some really fantastic Madison writers, including Susan Gloss (Vintage), Michelle Wildgen (Bread and Butter), Chloe Benjamin (Anatomy of Dreams), Judith Mitchell (A Reunion of Ghosts), and Jesse Gant and Nick Hoffman (Wheel Fever). I recently got together with Melissa Falcon Field, another fine local author, to shoot headshots for her upcoming book. A Connecticut native, Melissa Falcon Field relocated to Madison a few years ago and has been working on publishing her first novel (What Burns Away, January 2015) while doing freelance writing and teaching with the Madison Writers' Studio. If you get a chance to see her read around Madison (or elsewhere), do so; her personality is a dichotomous balance of East Coast boldness and Maine coast humility. We shot on the lakefront in Shorewood Hills and I think we created some great work for her to represent herself with. Looking forward to reading her words in the new year.