What is a Painterly Session.

Child fine art portrait

Good afternoon everyone, today I’m going to write about what a fine art painterly portrait is and how we build this type of session I have added to my sessions if the client requests them. During our initial consultation we will discuss our choices of sessions the client would like for their child. I love being versatile and being able to offer a variety of sessions and edits truly give the best of both worlds to my clients. I know the painterly look is not for everyone and that’s why I offer both types of portraits. What bring me great joy is being at the gallery viewing and seeing clients’ faces light up with the final results. It doesn’t matter if the photo is a beautiful standard portrait or the beautiful painterly portrait, both bring me so much joy in photographing and editing. Its about the entire experience from start to finish . I have even had some clients ask for both styles and we are able to achieve this in our one session.
As an artist and a photograher I believe that there is a certain tone and mood that goes with this style of portrait. To me Its like walking into an art gallery, each piece has its own mood and tone and it works 99% of the time. I bet it would look pretty strange if the Mona Lisa had bright and colourful tones to it with her expression. I feel the same for the painterly look, all the elements have to blend and match the tones all need to blend and be rich or toned down and each element builds on each other. When I have a client say “Sonia, I want a painterly photo but I don’t know what kind,” First we start with a mood board or an idea panel; from there, we chose the outfit and the hair and even the makeup ideas start to come into place. It actually doesn’t take long and I always take the child’s personality into consideration; do they like to smile, or are they the serious type?. We make each child’s personality come through even in a painterly portrait. It truly comes together smoothly as we then add elements like accessories and even a few props that add to it but are not distracting.
A lot of consideration is put on the outfit.  I will then choose the backdrop to give it the complete feeling we aimed for.   When done correctly these photos become classic pieces and heirlooms that you will cherish for generations to come and a centre piece of conversation. I always remember looking at a photo of my grandmother when she was young and she looked  so poised  and had this look of elegance even though she  truly didn’t have much money . She worked so hard, but age had not caught up to her yet and it was a moment of youth and a memory I still go back and look at as it still gives me that feeling of wow.  That’s the feeling I get when I get to create a painterly portrait for a client.

I love the idea of turning a photo into a painting.  I love adding textures and mood and shadows and light which comes down to my lighting setup.  Having a Painterly Photo  gives you the opportunity  to bring a level of  timelessness to a photo that sometimes can be missing these days.  I truly look forward to working with interested clients to create a unique product they will appreciate.