Amy Wilton Photography

KIMBERLY AND JAMES

2012-02-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

Kimberly and James gave me such a gift by coming to my studio. These may be some of the best images I've made in years! Love them both! Just try and tell me they don't look like rock stars. Rolling Stone here we come!

Gorgeous Wedding!

2012-02-02T15:48:00.000-05:00

This lovely wedding took place at the Belvedere Mansion in Staatsburg, NY. The bride and groom rented out the entire place and were surrounded by friends and family. It was just gorgeous and felt like we had been transported to France for the weekend. What a treat!

NICOLE'S SENIOR PORTRAITS

2012-01-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

I photographed my cousin's daughter Nicole in Connecticut for her senior portrait. It's hard to believe she's all grown up.

NEW ADDITION

2011-12-17T08:56:00.003-05:00

I love getting to photograph new babies. And isn't she a gorgeous one!

The Italian Leather Couch!

2011-12-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

I like to call this the Italian Leather Couch Portrait Session because we shot it in Diana and Simon's home on the most beautiful couch I have ever seen. The kids are pretty cute too. Take a look.

Heather's 40th Birthday Bash - Cougar Style

2011-12-05T12:12:00.001-05:00

What a fun party with the Bob Charest Band and lots of Jason's ginger infused vodka to keep the dance floor full all night long. By the way... this is the PG-13 rated version of photos. If you attended the event and want to see more, let me know and I'll let you see the rest.

Ooo, those cheeks!

2011-11-30T13:14:00.000-05:00

Check out the incredible eyes on this little toddler...

Mothers, Daughters, Best Friends....

2011-11-30T13:03:00.000-05:00

A Portrait Session with the Smith Girls

Precious are the moments...

2011-11-30T12:36:00.000-05:00

Check out these beautiful baby pictures...absolutely precious!

Renewal Of Vows....

2011-11-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

This couple renewed their vows, and with their family present,

made them official after many years together.

Conner...Soon to be famous dancer...

2011-11-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

Conner came with mom for head shots for his modeling portfolio.

Round Top Farm Wedding

2011-11-17T13:53:00.000-05:00

OCTOBER WEDDING SAIL

2011-10-22T20:52:00.001-04:00

This was a the lovely wedding of Tom and Annett on the Schooner Olad with a reception at Bay View Lobster. Their was fair wind and plenty of champagne to go around. Love that dress!

FAB SENIOR PORTRAITS

2011-10-13T17:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a sampling of the senior portraits I did this year, even one on the day it was due....

OCTOBER FAIRY HOUSE!

2011-10-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

Here's the October installment of my fairy house calendar. Three really fun images and I can't pick my favorite, can you? This was a group effort extraordinaire! Here are the ages of people that worked on it.... 5, 10, 11, 40, 43, 52, 79. So fun!

Welcome Mona

2011-09-28T11:34:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the newest edition of our family. Mona came to us from the Knox County Animal Shelter a few weeks ago. She's a long haired, 11 year old German Shepherd whose owner had to go into a nursing home. She's very sweet and licky and loves to follow us around all day. She turns into Moaning Mona if you leave her alone. But that's ok, I'd rather be with her all day too.

Our family is "discussing" who her "person" will be. (Shepherds usually attach themselves to one person). My daughter Emma thinks it's her because she sleeps in her room. I of course think it's me because I feed her and she's with me all day. This is a nightly topic at the dinner table. No matter who her "person" ends up being, it's a happy ending for all of us. Thanks to the animal shelter for making it possible for us to have this wonderful addition to our lives. She is filling a big whole left by our beloved Moxie who died 3 years ago. My son asked if I thought Moxie would like Mona, I said I am sure he would like her very much.

I took this shot when I photographed the school portraits at Little Learner's Day Care in S. Thomaston yesterday. She insisted on sitting on the backdrop the whole time I was photographing, rock-star that she is.

Lovely Family Portraits

2011-08-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

My dear friend Lindsay and her fab kids (and nanny) came to the studio and looky how cute they were!

Naomi's senior portrait

2011-08-25T18:20:00.000-04:00

Wedding at the Camden Amphitheater

2011-08-16T09:03:00.001-04:00

This was a beautiful wedding at the Camden Amphitheater last month. The reception was at the White Hall Inn and Beauty Mark Spa was in charge of the make up. Bunny at Lily, Lupine and Fern was the planner and also provided all the flowers. What an amazing event!

Family Reunion

2011-05-11T15:42:00.000-04:00

This family was so fun to photograph! They were visiting from the south for a family reunion & loving every minute of their first trip to our great state! We went over to the beach at the Owl's Head Lighthouse on a VERY windy and cloudy morning, but no one seemed to mind. We had a great time and got some great photos!

Photo 101 - Basic explanation of the camera's settings and why you would want to know.

2011-05-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

Here's a little dictionary of photography terms. Memorize these!!!! I recommend copying and pasting the following info to a word document and printing it out. Stick it in your camera bag for a quick reference when you're out in the field.

Aperture: The whole through which light enters the camera.

Depth of Field: How much is in focus.

F/Stops: The size of the aperture. f/2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22. Remember these are all fractions so the larger the number the smaller the opening. Each progressive number represents 1 stop. As you move between stops, you are either doubling the light, or decreasing the light by half, depending on which way you are moving on the scale.

ie: f/2.8 is 1/2 the size of the entire lens and f/22 is 1/22 the size of the entire lens. When the aperture is wide open, 2.8 (or 1.4 if your lucky), light can enter from many directions so it has shallow depth of field, because of the many angles it enters the camera. When the lens is set at f/22, the opening is small, light enters only straight on and everything is in focus.

Who Cares? You do because the first artistic choice you will make is deciding what you want the focus of the image to be on. Do you want the viewer to notice one thing first, (shallow depth of field) or see everything at once (large depth of field).

Shutter Speed: The speed of the shutter, how quickly the shutter opens and closes. 1", 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000. Remember that these too are fractions, 1"= 1 second, 2 = 1/2 second, 4 = 1/4 second etc. so the lower the number, the slower the speed.

Who Cares? You do because, if your subject is moving, you need to decide if you want it in sharp (stopping the action) or blurry (showing movement).

ie: If you are photographing a car driving at a high speed, and you set the shutter speed at 2 (1/2 second), you will get a blurry car. If you set it at 500 your car will be sharp. You can also try panning, which is setting your shutter at a slow speed, maybe 1/15 and follow the car with your camera as you are pressing the shutter. The result is that the background is blurry and, if you're lucky, the car will be sharp.

ISO* or Film Speed: The sensitivity of the camera to light. 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400. Most cameras show you numbers in between these, those are either 1/2 or 1/3 stops, that's why you have to memorize all these numbers. If you want to know how to get one more full stop of light, you need to know which number to switch to. The same goes for f/stops and shutter speeds too.

Who Cares? You do because you will need to vary the ISO depending on the lighting situation of each image you take. If you are outside on a bright sunny day, you can set your camera on ISO 100 or 200. Inside at night you will need to increase it to ISO 800, 1600 or higher. (No fractions here). The higher the number, the larger the pixels are. The larger the pixels, the more light they can "see". The trade off is that, the higher you go (the darker the lighting situation) the more you notice the pixels (noise).

*ISO doesn't stand for anything. "ISO" is a word that represents the International Organization for Standardization. This organization is based in Switzerland and they set a lot of international standards, including the measurement system for film sensitivity (which translates to digital photography). The International Organization for Standardization uses the word "ISO" not because it's an acronym (that would be "IOS"), but because it comes from the Greek word "isos" meaning "equal."

Exposure compensation - (+/- button) Overriding the cameras exposure settings to add more or less light to an exposure.

Who Cares? You do, because if you are photographing something that is primarily black, your camera will try and make the scene middle gray. By overriding the exposure that the camera thinks is best, and under exposing the scene, you will get a darker, more true exposure. Remember that the camera is trying to balance the light in every scene to be middle gray. The same goes for photographing something primarily white. Have you ever photographed a beautiful white snowman only to have it come out looking gray? That's because you set the camera's meter at it's "happy place", right in the middle for the "perfect" exposure. Perfect if you like gray snowmen. What you should do is use that cute little button with the +/- and over expose the image by a stop or two and the snowman will be magically transformed into the perfect white.

CAMERA SETTINGS

Auto - The "cheaty" mode. The camera choses ISO, f/stop, shutter speed. You just point and push the button.

P - You choose the ISO and it chooses everything else.

M - My personal favorite, you pick everything.

A - Aperture priority. You choose the f/stop and ISO, it chooses the shutter speed. If the shutter speed blinks, it means there's not enough or too much light and you need to adjust your ISO accordingly.

S - Shutter priority. You choose the shutter speed and the ISO and it chooses the aperture. If the aperture blinks, see above.

There are lots of other little icons on the consumer cameras but you'll have to refer to your manual for them. I'd rather you use the options above to give you the most control over your images. Although there is no shame in sticking your camera in Auto mode if there is a fabulous shot (an eagle flying over a lake perhaps) and you need to get it quickly before it flies away.

WHITE BALANCE

These mysterious little icons buried somewhere in your camera's menu are very important. Since your camera sees light as color waves, you have to chose the right setting otherwise it will look like your child took some watercolor paint to your photographs. Light is measure in "K", or Kelvin. Typically there is a range of 2500 - 10,000 degrees. The higher the number the warmer the light, the lower the number, the bluer the light.

Settings (May vary slightly between camera manufacturers)

This chart shows the different types of light and what temperature they burn at. It's very useful if you decide to use your white balance setting on manual. Sometimes the icons just don't get it quite right.

Above charts borrowed from http://www.slrlounge.com/tutorial-understanding-white-balance-color-temperatures-in-8-simple-steps

Christine and Lewis's Wedding

2011-04-28T16:26:00.000-04:00

Christine and Lewis were married on a lovely sunny April day. Artist and fisherman.

Beautiful Cora!

2011-04-13T16:10:00.000-04:00

Look, another BEAUTIFUL baby! I love my job.

OPEN HOUSE 2011

2011-04-06T11:26:00.001-04:00

Our 2nd Annual Open House was a smashing success! We had a full studio the whole day and photographed families, couples, a dog, an author and a bagpiper. And to end the day, Chris Skagen played us a tune on his pipes. Here is a little preview of the photos. There are a lot of images here, but they are worth the time it takes to browse through them. Enjoy!

Kathleen Meil

2011-03-24T16:56:00.000-04:00

Here is beautiful Kathleen!

Need Pampering?

2011-03-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

We have the perfect thing for moms who need some pampering!

OPEN HOUSE!

2011-03-21T14:44:00.001-04:00

Come help us celebrate our first anniversary in our new studio!

Gisele and Maurice

2011-03-15T16:53:00.000-04:00

Gisele came to the studio to do a corporate head shot and came away with a whole lot more. She brought along her husband Maurice and we did some portraits of them together. They have the best "How did you meet" story. Gisele and Maurice first met when they were children. When Maurice was 13, he kissed Gisele. She ran away and they never saw each other again until... 7 years ago when they found each other again at a party. Ah...love.

Carla Sanders

2011-03-15T14:41:00.001-04:00

WOW!

Rheal Day Spa Glamour Night

2011-03-14T15:17:00.003-04:00

Look at all these lovely beauties! They all attended Rheal Day Spa's Glamour night last week. Rhonda Nordstrom, the owner arranged for a make up demonstration, the chance for everyone to have their make up applied by a professional, and beautiful earrings for sale. I offered to do portraits of everyone while they looked their best because everyone should know how beautiful they really are. Who needs supermodels when we have such gorgeous women roaming around Rockland.

Portland Engagement Session

2011-03-10T17:25:00.002-05:00

This lovely couple is getting married this summer in NY state. They took the train from Boston to Portland for the day and we ate at a fabulous restaurant called The Porthole, hidden down a grungy wharf alley. We had fun shooting in the cold!

Anneli Skaar - Ode to Julia Margaret Cameron

2011-03-10T14:48:00.000-05:00

Lyn Donovan

2011-03-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

Here are photos of lovely Lyn Donovan, friend and artist.

She took advantage of our "Name Your Own Price" deal.

MH+D Feature Article

2011-03-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

You might want to check out the March issue of Maine Home + Design. I am featured in The Canvas section along with two other wonderful Maine photographers! It was such an honor to be chosen for this write-up.

Lucy's 1st Birthday Shoot

2011-02-19T15:05:00.001-05:00

We photographed Lucy with an ice cream cake for her first birthday. After a while Lucy was clearly NOT enjoying herself and Mish took her off the set. Lucy, who knows the sign for "all done" systematically pointed to everything having to do with the set and signed "all done". Lights, "All done". Camera, "All done." Lisa, "All done". She was very clear. She was "All done!"

Last of the Pay Phones in Maine

2011-02-17T13:01:00.000-05:00

I caught this telephone company worker outside the Hope General Store removing their pay phone. He said they are all coming down from Lincolnville to Damariscotta. It's definitely the end of an era. I bet our children won't even know what a pay phone is.

Camden Winterfest

2011-02-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos from the Camden Winterfest at the Amphitheater. It was a scene out of a Norman Rockwell painting, complete with big snowflakes gently falling and classical music playing in the background.

Teresa & Alexandra

2011-02-11T12:58:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of photographing this lovely mother/daughter duo last week! We started the session out in the blustery snow but the beautiful light didn't last long & so we took things indoors. Don't they look so much alike?

Long Grain Restaurant, Camden, Maine

2011-02-09T09:43:00.000-05:00

Paula and her husband made us the yummiest lunch the other day while we were shooting the restaurant feature for Down East Magazine. Here are my favorite photos from the day.

NAME YOUR PRICE PORTRAIT SITTING!!!

2011-02-08T15:52:00.000-05:00

Don't forget everyone, for the rest of February you can Name Your Own Price for a portrait sitting with us, the value is $299! Give us a call and pick your time, but hurry, the offer ends February 28th!

Annie Kassler

2011-02-08T15:49:00.000-05:00

Here is my friend Annie Kassler who does BEAUTIFUL wedding invitations!

Check out her website.

Peter Russell

2011-02-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

I had a nice time photographing fellow photographer Peter Russell the other day. It's fun to be able to talk in technical terms about what I am doing to someone who understands the "language". I said that Peter looked like Sean Connery and he said he gets Sean Connery and George Carlin all the time.

February Special

2011-02-01T12:00:00.003-05:00

Happy February Everyone! To help celebrate 1 year in our new studio, we are having a special portrait event where YOU set the price! (a $299 value). Book an in-studio session during the month of February & you can decide the price, because everyone deserves to have beautiful family portraits they can treasure forever! Spread the love...tell your friends and family! 27 days left! Call for details 207-763-2722.

Baby Westin

2011-01-28T12:10:00.001-05:00

Here is one of the newest inhabitants of the planet. The little guy stayed awake for the whole photo shoot with mom, dad and grandma.

Summer Anyone?

2011-01-27T18:23:00.000-05:00

This is my friends daughter at Hope's Edge Farm this past summer.

Souls

2011-01-19T15:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some new images of my friends Kari, Sadie and Kelly. When I photograph people I know and love, I feel like I can take the photographs to a deeper level than when I first meet someone. When there is trust between myself and my subjects, it'a like looking into their souls. And what beautiful souls they have.

2011-01-19T12:46:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos to remind us all here in the north, that the sun really will shine again and that someday we will be able to put our flip flops back on.

New Blog!

2011-01-19T12:34:00.000-05:00

In honor of the first anniversary (January 30th) of our new studio being built, I have started a blog. I am excited to have a new way to interact with my clients and friends. I encourage you all to visit and comment often.