I have written about simplicity before. I talk about it in my photography classes and with all of my clients as we prepare for sessions. In all of the sessions that I do, the one that (in my humble opinion) requires the most simplicity is the newborn session. My favorite newborn images are simple, quiet and connected. I love having parent's involved in the shots too. Even only an arm, hand or chest can contribute so much in terms of scale as well as a feeling of connectedness. I also think that when you keep your background and wardrobe clean and uncluttered it allows the baby to really shine. This lovely little guy is named Aleksander.

This is the storyboard that Aleksander's parents ordered for their home. I love the simplicity of it. In the final print, each image is 5x5 and we are finishing it off with a wide, white, single mat and a simple black frame.

If you are photographing your own children at home, think about ways to simplify your background. You might take a simple black blanket or sheet and lay it on a bed as your background. A white rug makes a nice simple place to photograph. If you can drag the white rug over to a window you will be even better off. In terms of clothing, avoid any logos, words or characters and look for the most basic solid or simply lose the clothes altogether for a little newborn. Newborns tend to swim in their clothes anyway because they are still so small. Baggy clothes make a tiny newborn look skinny rather than just small. I like solid blankets with a little bit of texture. You can even drape your bouncy seat in something and move it over to a nearby window and see how that works for you.

The main thing to remember is that they are only this little once. You won't care very much about the cute outfit years later but you will want to remember the little rolls, the balled up fists, the swirls of hair and the curled up toes. You'll fight to remember exactly how their entire head fit into your cupped hands and how they looked before all their hair grew in. Grab those little moments while you can because it is gone so quickly. The next thing you know they'll be starting kindergarten. I know this because my first son just finished kindergarten and I can't figure out how that happened when it seems like he was only born yesterday.

Yes, I know it's Tuesday...the holiday weekend just got away from me so our Monday Lesson this week is here on Tuesday. Last week I talked about creating wall displays in your home. People always ask me what I have in my house. I think it's like when you are an interior designer everyone probably assumes that your house is amazing. Well, I am not an interior decorator but I am pretty good at creating wall displays. This collection is in our main family room.

The two center images are 16x24's (that's the actual image size). On either side you see all black and white images in various black frames (all different). Sorry about the glare but we have big glass doors on the opposite wall and there's no avoiding the glare. This is a good time to mention that if you have this issue, just request non-glare glass when you frame your pieces. I know that I will be doing that in the future.

So, starting on the left, you have 2 8x12's, an 8x10 and below that you have a triptych of 3 5x7's and another frame with 4 5x7's. On the right side, there is a grouping of 6 5x5's and under that there are 2 8x10's. There is one framed 5x7 and a series of 6 4x5's and lastly an 11x14.

Normally, I wouldn't recommend a wall full of 8x10's because I think it starts to look like a grid. The thing that helps this wall not feel like that are the 2 large pieces in the center and the collage frames. The variety of sizes is what helps it break up and be easy to look at. The other key concepts here is the idea of a unifying element. Here there are two main ones: the black frames and the all black and white images on the sides. The large frames in the center anchor the wall and give it impact and a focal point.

Here's another image from the side, which has little less glare.

This is my main gallery wall in the house. I have images in the boys' rooms as well and on a few other walls around the house. One of the big fears/questions that my clients have is the idea of filling their whole house with images of their kids and what to do when you run out of space.

On the first issue, the "shrine" to the kids: I can't really say much to that because our house is a shrine to our kids in so many ways. The toys are everywhere, our furniture is "kid friendly", and there are pictures of them all over the place. They are our life - our family is what we're all about right now. We collect some art too and we have it on display in the formal areas and in our bedroom and study. For us, our family images are our favorite art. We love these images so much more than our other art collection. That being said, collecting amazing images of your family doesn't mean that you can't collect art too. We just have our two art collections in separate places - the family art lives in our family spaces and the other art is in the more formal areas. Also, if you create a really nice family wall, it can look even better than your other art! Plus, I think it sends our kids a great message when they see their shining faces up on our walls. It says that we care about you and that we are so proud of you.

The second issue, filling up the walls: Our walls are full and our kids are 4 and 6. Our walls will change every few years because it is what I do. Your walls may change less often but they will change. You will move or your family will change (another baby, older kids) and your style and furniture will change too. As your family changes so will your walls. It is not unusual for us to re-frame a client's older images (i.e. not one of mine) in a new style to match their new frames. I tell my clients that I am happy to update an older frame with a newer image (if it will work). We also try and create really cohesive sets of frames so that the client can move them around and have some flexibility with where they are placed. I love helping people plan their walls. Clients will bring me pictures of their walls and I really enjoy helping them plan out a great display. Basically, what I am saying is that your walls will change, don't worry about it too much. Change is good and if you also incorporate some sound planning in your process it will make your changes easier.

I hope this is helping you guys and inspiring you to create some cool display walls in your house. Do you have some great walls already? I'd love to see them (send me pics or links). Do you have any questions that you'd like to ask or ideas to share? Please leave me a comment.

Today I am going to give you guys a few tips, tricks and ideas for creating wall displays in your home. Next week I am going to create some sample wall schematics, utilizing these ideas, to give you even more direction. I will also post some images of wall groupings to show you these concepts on real life walls.

Idea #1 : One Cohesive Element

If you have been in my studio and met with me to go over your images you have heard me talk about this idea. One of the simplest ways to create harmony in a wall grouping is by selecting one guiding cohesive element that you stick to. Your one element can be any number of things. One of the most obvious is frame color. If you pick one color of frame (black, silver, gold, white...) and stand by it in all that you do on that one wall it will help unify all of the various frames and images. You can have all different moulding styles. You can then have color, sepia and BW images. You can have multiple opening collage style frames and single image frames. The color alone will help everything stick together.

You can be more strict about this idea and have all the frames match in color and style. This is not my favorite only because it makes it much harder (what happens if your chosen frame goes out of stock?). It can look great though and be very clean and graphic looking. Make sure and pick a simple readily available style of frame or purchase all of your frames at the same time to guarantee that you can keep it all the same.

You may decide you want to only hang canvases and have that be the theme. Again, this can be more limiting but it can also be very striking.

Idea#2 : Lots O Sizes

One afternoon, my husband and I were gardening (it was before kids, ah...leisure time, but anyway) and he was working on one side while I was working on the other. We had all these little annuals we were planting. At one point I look over and his side looked like a field of crops - perfectly spaced rows of little flowers. It was hilarious, and terrible looking by the way. It just didn't flow or feel natural. Don't let that side of you come out when working o your walls either. You don't need a chalk line or a spreadsheet to do this. Don't be afraid to use all different sizes of images on your wall.

The trick here is to spread it out correctly and achieve the proper balance. Try alternating and mixing the various sizes to make it flow. The eye will do better and enjoy the looking more if it can periodically rest on larger images before moving on to smaller groupings. A common mistake people make is to have too many small images, which makes the wall feel more like a grid. "Small" is a relative term but, in my experience, people tend to print and frame way too small to really achieve impact. I get why, it feels scary to purchase and hang large images but, in most cases, it really looks better.

Alternate your horizontals and verticals to add interest too. I think it helps to lay out your frames on the floor somewhere and play with your arrangement before you go banging holes into the wall. Pay attention to how your eye moves along the image set. Use the motion and gesture in each image to help guide your eye along a wall. When we start looking at images of real walls, this will make even more sense. One of the tricks to making this eclectic happy mess work is in the next idea...

Idea#3 : Center of Interest

I like walls that have a central focal point. Pick one of your favorite, large (this is key) images and have it be near the center and move out from there. For a family wall, consider the wedding image in the center (the beginning of it all). A large family group image would also work well in the center. At our house (which I will show you next week), I have two large individual images of the boys in the center and other small frames on the sides.

Quick Tips:

- Place your frames at eye level in most cases (about 5' from the floor). Hang higher if you have really high ceilings.
- Plan your layout before you start hanging. Cut out pieces of paper that are the sizes of your frames (or sizes that you are considering). Hang these papers simply by using tacks or painters tape to get some ideas before you commit to a layout.
- Alternate color, BW and sepia images to create a more balanced effect
- Don't be afraid to stack frames. 2 smaller frames one over the other looks nice next to a large frame.
- Purchase a laser level. It is one of the most amazing and smart tools made today. You will wonder how you ever hung pictures without it. Black and Decker makes a great one.

Now that I've gotten you thinking, do you have any specific questions that you would like to ask? I will answer them next Monday when I post images of wall groupings.