benpancoast.com » Family Portraits

Family Portraits: Grandmere

Ben — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:34:14 +0000

If every family where as easy to work with as the Smiy family I’d be awfully tempted to give up shooting weddings and just do family pictures for the fun of it! I don’t think I’ve laughed this much or had that much fun during a family portrait shoot in a long time! Definitely a great family to work with! The guy in the olive sweater also happens to be my long time assistant Mike… one of

the smartest, most professional and hard working people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with! He’s started his own wedding cinematography business: Hueline Pictures (if you’re looking for a cinematographer you’ve got to check him out!) and is contemplating heading out to LA to pursue a career in the film industry. He will be sorely missed as an assistant and cinematographer but I think he’s got a bright future and he’s promised to fly me out to the set of whatever he’s producing some day to take pictures so I’ll be rooting for him! All in all we had a great time hiking around the Grandmere dunes taking pictures and while most of the fall color had disappeared we managed to find just enough of it in spots to really make the pictures pop!

Family Portraits on the Beach | St. Joseph Mi

Ben — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:46:15 +0000

This family portrait session on the beach has been a long time in the making, when Jodi first contacted me MONTHS ago to schedule her family photos in St. Joe we went back and forth trying to find just the right time to do the pictures. At one point we

almost even had to give up because our hectic schedules weren’t lining up but as luck would have it we found an open date, decided it was worth keeping the kids up late, and voila there we were on Tuesday shooting at Tiscornia Beach at 9pm at night!

Yes… you read that right, 9pm!!! As a parent the idea of kids at the beach at 9pm can be a bit scary but as a photographer one of the challenges we are constantly dealing with when shooting family pictures in the summer, is how incredibly long the days

are! Sunset doesn’t happen until 9:30pm or later during the longest days of the year and if you want great light for your pictures you either get up really early or you stay up really late. The other option of course is waiting a couple of months… the difference

between sunset in July and sunset in September is almost an hour and a half… for some kids that can be the difference between great shots and a series of melt downs… (my kids are especially good at this!) =) While having lots of experience with tantrums,

distractions, and stubbornness both as a parent and as a professional photographer makes it easier to go with the flow and get great shots, it is still definitely worth considering the time of year you’re going to do the pictures! Of course that being said, if

you’re like the Price family you can probably just go for it… these kids were pros the whole night, smiling, posing, hugging, running, you name it they were up for it and we all had a great time!! By the end of the night we were all sandy and tired but I for

one think it was well worth it, we captured some beautiful pictures and hopefully managed to preserve some wonderful memories forever! If you like these family pictures you can check out even more Family Portraits here!

Family Portraits | Southwest Michigan

Ben — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:53:13 +0000

These are just a few of my favorite portraits from a family session we did this past fall. While most family portrait sessions are somewhat structured we kept this one as loose and fun as possible. The idea was to go for more candid moments and make sure we kept things relaxed

so that we avoided forced smiles and frustration (parents you know what I’m talking about) in the end I think we succeeded magnificently. I always love shoots like this because you can’t predict what will happen and in the end you always capture some really fun and unique photos!

Family Portraits on the Beach | Stevensville Mi

Ben — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 06:28:14 +0000

You’ve just got to love family portraits on the beach, especially when the kids are this adorable and the family is laid back and up for just about anything! The focus here was definitely on the kids but we managed to squeeze in a couple of quick family shots and I love how everything turned out! I typically try to do family portraits on either early in the morning or late in the evening but these were right in the middle

of the day so we tried to keep the subjects with their backs to the sun, luckily there was enough light bouncing off the sand to create a bit of fill light and we just let the background blow out a bit… of course shooting with the 135 f2.0 lens makes flare and back lighting a whole lot easier to deal with!! =)

Family Portraits in Saint Joseph Mi | Lifestyle Portraiture

Ben — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:25:28 +0000

Our friends the Zuberts were in town on vacation from Minneapolis last week to see family so we took the opportunity to go do some fun family pictures in downtown Saint Joseph Mi. It was fun to get away from the typical family beach portrait session for a

change and go for something a little more Urban in Southwest Michigan! Of course it doesn’t matter WHERE you do the pictures you’ve got to expect to spend some time working with the kids trying to catch that ONE moment where neither child is whining,

running, screaming, distracted, or just plain missing….wait didn’t you bring 3 kids to this shoot??!! I think these are the only 2 pictures that fit all of those criteria! Ha ha, OK so I’m joking about that but they were definitely two of my favorite pictures from the session and it just so happens that they were both taken with my new toy the canon 45mm TS!! (photographer speak for fun lens) Anyway I figured I’d throw a couple up since I’ve been so bad at blogging lately and this is an easy thing to blog. What can I say blogging takes time and between my day job and the kids there’s just not enough of that to go around! ha ha

If you like the pictures, leave a comment and let the Zuberts know!! =)

Lifestyle Portraiture | Family Photos in the Dunes

Ben — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:37:40 +0000

I love shooting lifestyle portrait sessions with families in Southwest Michigan because they’re fun, you can do them just about anywhere, and you can almost always find something new to do with the family photos! This family photo shoot took place in the

dunes in Stevensville Michigan on what turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and managed to use the setting sun to capture some really unique family photos. This was the first time I’ve done any family pictures in the dunes but after seeing how many

possibilities there are here I’m hoping I have the opportunity to work here again soon! For those of you wondering what the difference between a Lifestyle Portrait session and regular Family Portrait session is it’s actually pretty simple… The lifestyle portrait

session is centered around an activity or general location whereas the Family Portrait Session is focused more on structured poses. Each session has it’s place, for instance if you’re having a family reunion or want a formal portrait of some sort there’s no reason to

book a Lifestyle Session… on the other hand if you’re looking for something a bit more laid back with your kids then a Lifestyle Portrait session might be just the thing for you. If you have questions we’d be happy to speak with you about what it is you’re

looking for and make a recommendation about which session would be right for you!

Check out another example of a Lifestyle Portrait session on the Beach here!

Lifestyle Portraiture | Family Photos on the Beach in St Joseph Mi

Ben — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:47:47 +0000

Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from a recent lifestyle family portrait shoot in Saint Joseph by the lighthouse at Tiscornia Beach. We tried to squeeze these family photos in before it got too cold out this fall but ended up catching a rather chilly

day. I think we were getting some great shots but by the time the girls were beginning to warm up to the idea of having their pictures taken we were all getting pretty cold and agreed it would be a great idea to just come back when the weather warmed

up a bit! We’re always happy to reschedule a shoot if the kids or weather just aren’t co-operating because we’re parents too and know sometimes that’s just how it goes!! I can’t wait to get out and have some more fun taking pictures with this wonderful family!

Check out more beautiful family portraits on the beach here!

Newborn Baby Pictures | Saint Joseph Michigan

Ben — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:26:43 +0000

I love taking pictures of newborn babies but this picture is extra special because this baby boy is my son! Elijah was born last night at Lakeland Hospital here in Saint Joseph Michigan. I took this picture just after a feeding at 3am, more baby pictures to follow!

Family Portraits at Weko Beach

Ben — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:31:00 +0000

Last week I had the opportunity to take portraits of this wonderful family on the beach at sunset! We met up at Weko Beach in Bridgman Michigan and took a variety of pictures as the sun set. This is one of my favorite family portraits from the entire shoot!

After shooting some family pictures in the dunes next to the beach we headed down to the lake and played in the surf for a bit. The water was surprisingly cold for May but that didn’t stop us from getting our feet wet and playing in the water.

We wrapped up the family portrait session with a few pictures of the sunset and called it a night! I must say that living by the beach in Southwest Michigan certainly makes the perfect family portrait a lot easier to come by!

Many thanks to Mark and Erin for keeping Westin up past his bed time to take advantage of the perfect light and this beautiful sunset!!

Check out more family portraits by the beach here!

Baby Pictures | Bridgman Michigan

Ben — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:15:06 +0000

This past weekend I went to Bridgman Michigan to shoot a newborn portrait session. We set up my portable studio (basically a black back drop) in their living room and just used the light coming in from the window to light the subjects.

One of the things I love about doing newborn portraiture in peoples homes is the convenience, I find people are more relaxed, the baby is more comfortable and the pictures still look just as beautiful as they would have in the studio!

If you’re expecting a baby and aren’t sure if you’ll be able or want to make it out of the house to a studio consider having the baby pictures done in the comfort of your own home! Congratulations Jon and Chaeli on the beautiful new addition to your family!