Family

Sisters running on grass in yard.

SUMMER DAYS IN SOUTH JERSEY

When people ask me to describe what a documentary photography session will be like, I tell them this: it’s me, just following around your family as you do the things you love, together. This South Jersey family took me up on that proposition and embraced the spirit of it wholeheartedly.

We started the morning with chocolate chip pancakes on the back porch (which is kind a fabulous way to kick off any Saturday morning!), followed by lots of running, chasing, and playing in the back yard. Then we headed into Collingswood- the super hip, friendly, small town that I’m happy to call home myself. (Before we moved here, we were told that it’s where Philadelphia hipsters go to retire!) I loved following this family as they visited their favorite spots together. Who doesn’t love sharing a sweet treat at The Pop Shop, or swinging and climbing at the Knight Park playground?

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CLOUDS & CHERRY BLOSSOMS

So rain was in the forecast (and indeed, the evening would bring about the Middle of the Night Tornado warning of 2019), but after just a few minutes of umbrellas, the rain decided to pause a little and this family got to enjoy a stroll in the Philadelphia Museum of Art sculpture garden. Cherry blossoms, of course, are a highlight of spring – and 3-year-old Miss N loved giving showers of blossoms to her mama, followed by brushing her mama’s hair with a improvised Stick Brush.

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Girl climbs a tree in the woods.

WALK IN THE WOODS

Over the summer, we followed this family of five as they spent a day at the shore. While we managed to squeeze in a lot of fun during the first hour of their session, windy and rainy weather forced us to cut things short. So we asked them, “What is another place that is special to your family?” and settled on documenting one of their fave Saturday activities: an afternoon spent exploring in the forest.

Sometimes we only think of capturing those early days with a precious newborn baby, or an adorable chubby-fingered toddler, but there is something oh-so-beautiful about those sweet moments spent with your tweens and teens, too. In real everyday life, you may be distracted by devices or forever on-the-go, but those times when you all come together for a beach day or a hike in the woods? Those are times that you’ll want to remember.

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Girl holding newborn baby.

BABY MAKES FIVE: STORY OF A GROWING FAMILY

Baby doll time!! Okay – big brother and sister here were just too stinking fabulous in this Old City Philadelphia family session. I can’t get over the image of baby sister looking up at her big sister, of Mr. Middle counting baby toes. This family wanted to make sure we were telling the whole story of their family, not just baby – and my answer was, OF COURSE! A newborn photography session when there are siblings is not just about the latest squishy-newborn-amazing-I-can’t-believe-we-did-it-again. It’s a story of a whole family– that has now grown and expanded and how somehow love overflows. It is about how Mr. Middle still needs some extra attention from mom, and how big older sister is a pro at both holding baby on her own, as well as exploring her block on her bike. It’s about the quiet space of mom nursing while dad runs interference with the older kids.

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CAPTURING THE MAGIC OF CHILDHOOD

I’m about to launch into telling you about my thoughts of Halloween, but first, to those of you who have just stumbled in and know little about me, and why I write – I’m hoping this blog, these images, help you to think about what you love about your neighborhood. What memories do you want to collect? Can I help you collect them?

So, a mom-confessional time.

I have a love-hate relationship with Halloween. But my neighborhood is conspiring to pull me more towards the love side. Can I talk about what I hate first? Basically I’m a grumpy grinch who doesn’t feel like shelling out cash for my kids to have sparkly new Halloween outfits every year (in fact, I usually hit Target two days after Halloween, load up on 70% off Halloween clearance to give to the kids for their November birthdays and Christmas). I hate the mounds of candy and how it makes me anxious about obesity and wastefulness and what cavities. I hate having to basically designate an entire day to dealing with costume angst, begging, schlepping through a neighborhood, and sugar crashes.

But what is pulling me into the love side? When I step behind the lens and start looking and seeing the magic that we are creating. The memories.  The year my 2nd kid made a Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy, people!) costume out of Amazon brown paper packaging. The year my oldest, in new teendom, won a costume contest by tying keys to his shoes and going as “low key.” The piling of candy into categories and massive candy swaps (with any trade having to be authorized and approved by an adult to keep the olders from scamming their younger sisters). The inventiveness, the cackling, the pride and sheer joy. Even the crashes seem so perfectly part of childhood when I stoop down to see things from their eyes.

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LET’S PLAY! (YOUR STORY IN A 30-MINUTE SESSION)

Are you interested in a family documentary session but just not sure about when or what you could really capture that would tell the whole story? Your life is so full of different types of fun moments, and you’d love to capture more than just one day?

This lovely, South Jersey family has booked a family yearbook series with me – they get a handful of 30 minute mini-sessions with me through the year, to tell the story of their lives. Yearbook sessions started to take place in my mind after seeing families of newborns love the Watch Me Grow package concept (three sessions during baby’s first year!), and realizing that I wanted to offer this same concept not just to my family with babies. Don’t you love the idea of getting small slivers of your family life through the year?

Now if I were in your shoes, I would be kind of wondering – how much of a family can she really capture in just 30 minutes? Well, if you trust me – if you let go of the idea of “picture perfect smile and say cheese. . . ” If you embrace the idea that the most beautiful moments to capture are real and not posed?  See for yourself!

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CENTER CITY FAMILY RAMBLE

I start many conversations with clients these days telling them that more and more, my style is moving farther away from posed, and more towards documentary.  This family was one of my favorite examples of what I mean by that.  A documentary, storytelling session starts off with a conversation between me and you, where I start helping you think through – what is it about my family, during this particular slice of life, that is so special that I want to wrap it up and make sure I remember it forever?  I have a questionnaire that is almost less for me and more for you – so that you can pause the laundry and dishes and have a moment of reflection – what exactly is the the thing that might drive me crazy now, but that someday I’ll miss?  (For me, at this very moment one answer is the pile of books that my 8 year old leaves in the bathroom, by the sink and ready to be splashed on by her younger sister).

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EVERYDAY LIFE

So a careful observer would note that I haven’t been blogging. For like a year.

This is not disconnected from an emotional space I was in last fall – I think a lot of us were there. I started this specific blog post in early fall. I wrote about how I loved the leaves, the fall, the inspirations of nature and sudden beauty. It was a plea to tell those of you who were inquiring about foliage and holiday card shots, to tell you that even though there is yes beauty in nature, that there is something more. I wrote:

Don’t get me wrong – I love love love the fall, the leaves, the inspirations of nature and the sudden beauty.

There is an internal conflict, because I know I can get you the smile and pose shot – I know you will look beautiful and will fit right into a Gap catalogue. But I also still genuinely believe – your every day is beautiful.

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MEET YOUR BABY BROTHER

Fresh 48.  I’m not sure who came up with that term, but boy, I’ve been spending time editing this sweet family’s session, working to create this video fusion slideshow, and fresh feels like the correct word.  It’s a fresh new family – little one is only hours old, and glows with fresh, new, tiny sweetness.  

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ALMOST HOME SHELTER/RESCUE CALENDAR

One of the things that I love about the small community I live in, Collingswood, NJ – is that I’ve met a myriad of people who embrace their passions and proactively work to make our community better.  Totally inspirational place to live.  Two of those people, are Robb Sewell and Eric Wolff.  This article in NJ Pen highlights it in more detail, but basically, Rob and Eric saw a need in our community, and then created a project to help raise money to make sure that need continued to be met.   Love it!   You see a need in your community – you not only work to help it in your own individual way (adopting a pet), but you actively work to build community efforts in joining forces for a cause (creating a pet photography calendar to help raise money for a shelter you know specifically needs more community support.).

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