You were thinkin’ it would be green by now, right? North Dakota had different plans.

Mud. Brown. Dirty snow. Dead trees. Your family spring photoshoot is just around the corner and it’s looking DRAB outside.

It’s the time of the year when we FINALLY start warming up after a cold, dreary winter. Those temps hit the 50s and we start to feel our bodies come ALIVE again just like a dormant seed… or a housefly…. Like where are them damn things even coming from?!

Anyways, here in the midwest, the beginning of springtime is anything but beautiful. Sometimes we start seeing the earthly signs of life as early as March, other times not until May. Everything is brown and muddy, we are just starting to see the grass emerge in the color it’s supposed to be. The snow banks are finally melting and we can see all the dog turds that have been hanging out in the deep freeze for the past 6 months HA! 

So, maybe we should hold off on our family spring photos?  

Not too fast! Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing like seeing the lush green grass and the blooming trees, but it’s not all bad, I PROMISE! We still need to get our vehicles to locations, which can sometimes be challenging between the snow melt and flooding haha!

If you’re one of those people who are always on top of things and schedule your life (and family photoshoots) out wayyyy in advance, you may of thought that things would start looking a little prettier by now. I don’t want the ugly landscape to scare you away from going through with your family spring photoshoot because there really are workarounds for it!

If things are still looking a bit dead by the time your shoot date rolls around, I created a couple of inspiration boards to help you visualize the potential of this dreary landscape. All you have to do is choose what colors to wear! 

Let’s get into it!

1. POP OF COLOR

Y’all know how much I LOVE color, and if we just add in a hue or two that contrasts the brown landscape, we can really make things come to life! (just like those house flies I mentioned, amiright?) 

For colors to edit well with my style, I always recommend sticking to the earth tones. These colors contrast so dang well with my moodier-colorful edits and make subjects (ahem–you!) really POP! Remember–we don’t want the whole family in one color. We want a healthy mix of neutrals and 1-2 colors mixed in to create balance. 

Here are some more examples of earthy colors:

And a couple examples of how a pop of color can bring a little oomph to the deadness: 

Let’s talk about the other option…

2. Goin’ All Neutral

Okay, hear me out. What if we actually accentuated the dreadful brown landscape by acting as one with the landscape. *GASP

The thing is with neutrals, they’re never going out of style; them babies are here to stay. And although the ground and trees are brown and ugly and showing no signs of life, we can actually accentuate them by pulling out different hues from it. I love the look of creams, tans, light browns, and dark browns, (even though they edit a little differently than the bold and colorful palette.) Sticking to neutrals also accentuates the pigment of each individuals skin and and makes it look so flawless! 

If you’re still not completely sold on going all Neutral, just remember the brilliant skies we get here in North Dakota, because I mean, the good Lord had to give us SOMETHING pretty to look at, right?? Hahahah! 

Here are a few other examples of neutrals:

And a few photos of neutral colors with the deadness: 

Have I scared you from booking a family spring photoshoot yet?

Sure, this time of year looks a little “less than ideal” compared to the its summer and fall counterparts, but hopefully this article gives a little bit of a visual of how we can work around it. We may not have beautiful mountains and oceans here in North Dakota and sometimes we are forced to work with what we got (with a side of wind) but DANG does God show off with his vibrant skies in the wide open spaces!! 

Remember– I’m never going to leave you hanging with picking out your family’s outfits! When you book a session with Five Willows Photography, you have texting/email/FaceTime access whenever you have questions. My clients get a loaded up styling guide upon booking with inspo, fave places to shop, hair and makeup vendors and other invaluable info! And we can’t forget the client closet that has both neutrals and them punchy earthy colors that are to die– free to use with any session! 

To book a session, please fill out the form on the following link: 

https://fivewillowsphotography.com/contact

XO,

Morgan