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People often view winter as the off season for location based photography but it doesn’t have to be!

Snow makes for absolutely gorgeous outdoor portraits. But what about being cold? During the winter the scheduling works a little differently. We decide on a day that’s generally good, and then watch the weather closely. On this particular Sunday afternoon it had snowed and then gone up to 40 degrees so the kids didn’t even wear coats between shots.

Of if you’re hard core like Kristine and Ken (and are out of the baby stage) or Amber and Braden, then you’re up for portraits in 17 degree weather. It only takes a few hours to thaw out after a session like that.

We chose the Sunken Garden at Highland Park because it’s an incredibly popular summer location for photography, and we wanted to show that it’s also a great winter location.

Basically winter photography is awesome, even outside.

Meaghan and Matt’s girls loved being photographed and were such a joy to work with. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family with me!!!!

Tony and Jenna had their beautiful son Sam last April. Then when he was six months old, he came for a mini session in the park. This time, Jenna’s sister was in town and their whole family got together for some Thanksgiving love.

If you ever find yourself wanting to take pictures on stairs, keep in mind that if you do them straight on, some people look huge and some people are really small. If you turn everyone sideways, you can get a lot of different heights and good spacing by using stairs. It almost always pays off to think outside the box when it comes to angles.

Despite having traveled all the way from DC, Nina’s kids were all about some oinky pig action.

And it’s always worthwhile to sneak in a couples portrait.

Sam was a little under the weather but perked up and gave us some Sam-sized smiles.

People often ask about backdrops and where good places are to take photographs in their homes. In general a neutral colored wall (or even a brightly colored one) is a perfect backdrop. If you love your furniture that’s also a great option. Only a very small space is needed since the camera cuts out most of the surroundings.

Afterwards we stepped outside for some slightly snowy winter portraits.

Thank you so much Jenna and Tony for sharing your beautiful family with me!

When Scott first contacted me he introduced himself as my neighbor but I wasn’t quite sure I understood him correctly. We first met about three and a half years ago when we moved into our brand new house in our brand new neighborhood. Scott and Andrea were early adopters – they’d moved in about a year before.

The first summer we moved in the rain would not go away and the lawn installing equipment objected to mud.  Some days, my kids did this.

Other days, we wandered over to Scott and Andrea’s cul de sac where the neighborhood kids gathered to ride their scooters in violent circles while the adults were feasted on by mosquitoes as we savored the never-quite-long-enough summers of upstate New York.

Then everyone got lawns, the neighborhood grew and the coziness faded. I didn’t even know Scott and Andrea knew I was a photographer and I was so delighted and honored when they called.

The occasion was the holidays when extended families gather in one place at one specific point in time, an event as rare as children falling asleep at bed time. These unusual occurrences are a great opportunity to bring in a photographer to crash the party for an hour or so.

This year, Scott and Andrea had the distinct honor of being the first session of 2017. What better way to ring in the New Year?

It was a cold day so we did a number of indoor pictures and then popped outside at the end. Everyone managed to look not-freezing for a few seconds.

Their side of the pond is more swamp than pond – Andrea said this is the best time of year when it’s frozen and picturesque.

A little sibling love.

And some three generation love.

Thank you so much for choosing me as your photographer.  I hope you all have a wonderful, prosperous 2017!

In years past January has been a slow month for photography, but recently a few adventurous individuals have come my way including Amber and Braden.  While they may have preferred to have a summer baby for future pool birthday parties (because they have an in ground pool!), this baby is planning to arrive in early February.  So don’t be deterred by cold weather – winter photography is a thing!

This particular day was a balmy 18 degrees with a hint of wind to take the feeling out of your cheeks. For the second time in my life I wore snow pants to a photo session (the first time was for this winter session, interestingly that family ended up moving to a warmer climate!).  If you don’t live in the tundra – snow pants are like coats for your legs and very useful for situations such as these.

Braden works in heavy equipment rentals and I’m guessing spends a fair amount of time outside, and Amber brought along a personal space heater in the form of a baby-in-utero.

Amber is a pharmacist and works with Tracy, Betsy and Jaime. Interestingly, she came across my website first and then saw their photos.  Usually it’s the other way around!

When I started asking Braden if anyone can dig a hole in their backyard with heavy machinery like my pillow fighting plumber friend (blog post to come!), he said yes and he happened to know him too.  I learned that plumbers typically own and rent heavy equipment.  Who knew?  He said it was for any outside work and my mind was expanded.  The thought that plumbers work outside was new to me.

Do they know the gender of the baby? They do not! It will be a surprise, so stay tuned. A friend of mine says it’s one of life’s few great surprises. I’m looking forward to finding out – and to hear the name they’ve picked out (it’s secret for now, and maybe not quite decided).

For their session they chose Shetler Tree Farm, a beautiful Christmas tree farm in Brockport that is owned by a friend of theirs.

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful baby-to-come with me! I wish you a smooth and peaceful labor and delivery.

The rules say that a newborn baby has to be photographed between 3 to 10 days old, or maybe 14 if you’re really pushing it.  That’s because new babies are sleepiest, bendiest and curliest when they’re very small.  As they wake up a little, they’re less apt to sleep through posing situations.

In the past I told a mom that six weeks is a bad time to photograph a baby and that it’s best to wait until they’re older.  Needless to say, she never called me back.

But when Tracy gave a session to her sister Lindsay, her baby was due around the same time as mine.  I didn’t object to a session a little later on and we had a lovely time. The images were not curly, sleepy posed images, but they still captured the essence of falling in love.

My conclusion was that there’s no bad time to photograph a baby.  They are babies after all!  Most parents aren’t really hung up on the super posed images anyway and just want to capture their beautiful baby just as they are.  So if you miss the newborn window, don’t worry!  Your baby is still beautiful and completely photographable.

When Lori first contacted me she was still pregnant and interested in newborn photos and when I didn’t hear from her after her due date came and went, I assumed she hired someone else.  I was absolutely delighted to hear from her again when Julia was about six weeks old.

Lori hired a doula through Beautiful Birth Choices and did everything she could to prepare, but took some time to recover from the childbirth experience. I hear you Lori! I have friends that love it (including some lovely doula friends who work for BBC), but me? Not so much. And that’s okay! The best time for photos is when you’re ready for them.

Among other skills, Chris is a baby whisperer in his free time. Julia let us do a little posing before she woke up and objected.

We caught a mild day in December and popped outside for some images in front of their brand new house. They recently moved to the Rochester area and bought a beautiful house in Brighton. A new house, a new job, a new baby – lots of changes!

Julia fell asleep again and we were able to get her hand up under her cheek before she woke up and wanted to hang out some more.

What a privilege it is to see a man become a father.

Congratulations to Lori and Chris and welcome home Julia!

The weather was less than ideal on this specific day, but Christina was a woman after my own heart and we pressed on anyway.  Rain threatened and it was chilly, but we powered through and the kids were absolute troopers.

Christina and Greg chose Woody Acres Tree Farm as a location, which is a great idea for Christmas themed photos. The red and black definitely completed the holiday theme.

Their daughter, who’s name was so beautiful I’m afraid to try to spell it, sported the most adorable red coat I’ve ever seen. I would say her coat pretty much made this color scheme happen.

Both kids acted like it was 75 degrees and sunny.

Dominic especially was in his element.

One reason I love on location photography over studio photography is because children feel so much more relaxed in environments like parks and Christmas tree farms. Eliciting smiles in a child’s natural environment is a joy.

Greg also grabbed a head shot for his LinkedIn profile. Always a great idea if you have a photographer hanging around.

Thank you so much for choosing me as your photographer! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Nicole opened the door wrapped in a bathrobe sipping tea and croaked, “It sounds worse than it is.” So she didn’t join us for this year’s photos (but hopefully she’s better now!).

Serendipitously the snow was very gently falling and Nicole’s kids, who are mostly not really kids anymore, were old enough to go outside. A frequently asked question is whether I have a studio and I don’t, because this is the kind of photo-making that my clients and I really enjoy.

In general it’s a good idea to start inside and then go outside, just to be sure that there are some good images under your belt before anyone gets cold and grumpy.  But in this case the outdoor images were outstanding and made the inside ones look boring.

I first met Nicole when she was pregnant with Terry and was passionate about advocating for children’s rights. The first time I met her I knew I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. Our story took a crash landing in an opposite direction but Nicole’s passion became her life’s work and I still want to be Nicole when I grow up.

I had the honor of photographing DJ for his senior portraits where he did some very creative track and field photos, as well as Amanda and Heather. I think Kevin might be up next.  I didn’t get a chance to catch up with all of them but I know there’s a lot of sports playing, college attending, health care work and child raising in the mix.

Since the last few years have been dominated by senior photos, the last family photo was in 2013. Here’s a flashback:

Skylar was a little peanut!

And if you want to go really far back in time, here’s a flashback from 2010.

Look at Terry! He was so little!

The idea of blowing snow at the camera was tossed around and then turned into a snow blowing fight of sorts.

Big families know how to have fun.

We also threw in a few individual images.

And last but not least, a group hug.

A huge Merry Christmas to this beautiful family – thanks so much for sharing your lives with me!

It turns out that winter isn’t a half bad time for family portraits – other than it being really, really cold.  On an overcast, snowy day, the lighting is perfect, and snow is beautiful to look at – and if someone in your family doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on portraits, the cold will mean for a nice, concise portrait session.

Kristine did a great job color coordinating her family with jeans, brown vests and boots. This would fall in more of a traditional category with just a few colors. It blends in nicely with the nature in the background and the colors of winter.

They said that it was really nice to sleep in without the dog jumping on their face and waking them up.   We don’t have pets, but our kids fill in and I almost asked if I could stay in the extra bedroom.

Two months to go until this little one is welcomed into the world – newborn pictures to come!