Recommendations for Elementary School Portrait Photographer
Do you love your child's preschool or elementary school portrait photographer? My child's school is in desperate need of a good referral for next year.
I'm interested in all referrals but particularly keen to learn of any non-traditional portrait photographers for younger children. I have friends in LA with the cutest school "portraits" of their kids jumping and otherwise being active, rather than sitting with hands crossed and a forced smile (or no smile). Does anyone in the East Bay do that? I found that the more casual style really highlights the child's personality, thereby making it more likely the parents will really love the images. But, frankly, at this point I think most of us parents would be happy with any smile!
Jan 11, 2018
Parent Replies
Hands down, the best school photographer I've ever seen is Roots & Shoots (http://roots-shoots.com/). I headed a committee tasked with finding a new photographer when our public school's parent-teacher group had finally had enough of that horrible mainstay, Life-Touch, several years ago. We interviewed several photographers and chose R&S - they are just astonishingly good. They are more expensive than L-T, but we all felt it better to pay a little more for truly quality pictures than still pay a lot for crap. They set up outside to get natural backdrops, they're great at getting the kids to smile naturally, and we always get compliments when we give pix to relatives. The women who own R&S are also really nice, and we're happy to be working with a locally-owned small business.
Teddy Bear Portraits did photos for my daughters preschool. That was 10 years ago, so you might want to find more recent corroboration, but they produces the most adorable pictures of my daughter.
https://www.teddybearportraits.com/
Hi- I think you'd really like Leena Chitnis. She is great with kids- has a warm and fun personality, and is creative and super invested in capturing the personality of her subjects through photography. I used her for outdoor portraits and am super pleased with the results.
Leena's website: http://reelindia.wixsite.com/photosbyleenaBest for prospective clients to call her directly: 310-351-7535.
I think you want Roots and Shoots: http://roots-shoots.com/
Cheri in particular is amazing. The few photos I have that she took of my kids were "knock your socks off amazing". Not how I'd describe any of their other photos taken at school, by a long shot.