Bat Mitzvah Sign-in Book

One of my favorite parts of working on Bar Mitzvahs, is getting to know the kid, and their family beforehand, and I do that by having a portrait session. Usually planned for two months before the event, we spend a couple of hours shooting, in a very relaxed way – it can be at the home, or we’ve gone places like the beach, the skirball center, the baseball park… shooting whatever is part of the kid’s life – some of these shoots are with the family too, a great opportunity to have a family portrait taken, since lots of families stop taking those once the kids start putting up a real fight around the holidays…I do that for a couple of reasons – the first is to get to know the teen and the family, and for them to get to know me… this way, when I show up at the party – I am not a stranger chasing them with a camera – I am a person they know and trust, and their friends know through their photos… which brings me to the second reason – using the photos from the session – we create a sign in book… If you’ve ever attended a Bar Mitzvah in the 90’s and 2000’s, you’ve seen a sign-in board – you’ve seen them at weddings too.. but once it’s signed framed and hung and the child grows up and leaves for college and his room is turned into the office or gym or craft room we’ve always wanted – what happens then ??? so instead.. we create an 8×10 sign in book – with many more photos (I mean how do you choose JUST ONE anyways?)  and the book can be kept on the coffee table, in the den, on the shelf.. in the new craft room… this is a casual story telling of a time in a jewish kid’s life… just before they get bar mitzvahed and I love it!

What you see here is the layouts as they appear in a sign in book…