One of these families lives in the Caribbean full time and I might be a little jealous.

The Village Gate is an excellent location for the winter because of the varied backgrounds. Also it’s heated.

Families getting together for the holidays is one of my favorite kind of sessions. I love the energy of wanting to capture time together that doesn’t happen as often as you’d like.

You all were a blast to work with!

Village Gate Senior Portrait Photography. This was such an amazing session – Jayden simply didn’t take a bad picture and was such a joy to work with. I learned from her mom that she chose me because I “knew how to take photos of black girls.” That warmed my heart. Thanks so much for your confidence Jayden!

Seniors can bring as many outfits as they like to their senior sessions. The session belongs to you and you’re welcome to include other people, items that are important to you, etc.

Senior portrait sessions are a great time for shots with parents. Seniors are busy people!

The Village Gate is one of my favorite indoor locations because there’s such an incredible variety of backgrounds in a relatively small space. For more indoor location ideas click here.

Jayden didn’t take a bad picture. She is so beautiful and has such a wonderful smile!

Thank you so much for choosing me for your senior photos. It was a privilege and a joy!

Caleb and his mom were visiting family here and Rochester and we headed over to Highland Park.  Katrina shared that she and her husband work for an animal safari which was fun to learn about.  It was a beautiful spring day and the flowers were in bloom.  If you’d like to see more session from Highland Park click here. Highland Park Professional Baby Photography.

He wasn’t quite sitting up on his own yet and so we were able to prop him up and then edit out mom’s hands. That works well for babies around this age if you’d like 6 month photos but your baby isn’t quite sitting independently.

As the mom of a baby who doesn’t smile much, I thoroughly appreciated Caleb’s smiles. He was such a happy baby!

His mom wasn’t planning on being in the photos but it’s worth being prepared to jump in a few. Most moms take all the photos and don’t end up with any of themselves!

For more location ideas, click here.  Rochester has some amazing photography locations including the University of Rochester, Corbett’s Glen and the George Eastman House.

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

The Roc the Mic team is bringing another stellar rendition of Listen to Your Mother to Rochester this Mother’s Day.  Over the past five years, LTYM Rochester has been seen by nearly 2,500 people and has raised over $30,000 to support the city’s most at risk families.

If you’ve never been before it’s a fantastic Mother’s Day tradition – you can get a taste of what the show is like by viewing past shows here.  Auditions are happening now – if you have a story you’d like to share, you can sign up to audition by clicking here.

This year’s performance will be held at the Hochstein School of Music on Saturday, May 11th and will feature a new cast of 13 people telling stories of motherhood. It’s a beautiful non-material way to celebrate motherhood.

This year Erin Julian and Raquel Walker join the Roc the Mic production team.  They’re coming alongside original production team members, Monica Gebell and Corrie Spike-Carter.

You can read more about the team by clicking here.

These beautiful women braved the cold and wind for this quintessential Hochstein photo. I’m always super impressed when people brave the cold for a photo opp.

This year’s show will be on Saturday, May 11th! I hope to see you all there!

Tammy’s mother in law owns a beautiful house on Honeoye Lake and their family gathered there to celebrate the 4th of July. It was incredibly peaceful with huge mature trees right on the water – definitely the kind of place you don’t want to leave.

When your family is together anyway, it’s a fantastic time to go ahead and have a family photo session. It’s *almost* no extra work since you’ve already done the hard part (scheduling!). To see other extended family sessions click here.

Extended family sessions are also great because everyone can get their nuclear family Christmas/holiday card photos taken also, if you’re into that kind of thing.

And it’s also a great time to get some husband and wife shots, since that often doesn’t happen too much after the wedding.

The house was recently renovated with a spacious back porch overlooking the lake.

And Tammy said that while they knew the lighting would be less than ideal, it was important to them to have a photo up on the balcony.

Thank you so much Tammy for sharing your family with me!

Sam entered the world one year ago and shared his beautiful life with all of us. His sweet little newborn face is still on my fridge. Fast forward a year and he’s his own little person!

When Jenna and I were planning the session we talked about doing a cake smash as well. It’s easy to think that one year olds are old enough to be able to tolerate long periods of time, since they are awake an awful lot. But a photo session is a different kind of awake and can definitely be overstimulating for little people. So she decided to drop the cake smash and focus on family photos.

It ended up being a great call, because after about 50 minutes or so, he curled up in Jenna’s arms and was absolutely done. He wanted nothing to do with anyone else. And that’s completely okay, and totally normal. All it means is prioritizing the photos that are most important to you.

Jenna has a gorgeous Pinterest-worthy house but has projects that aren’t finished so wanted to use a specific area. Since we’d already photographed Sam in that spot a few times, she ordered a backdrop off of Amazon. I absolutely encourage you to style your session however you’d like! Since I mostly focus on location based work and outdoor photos, I just have a black backdrop, but creativity is definitely encouraged!

Because the backdrop was relatively small, we just used it for Sam, and then Sam with Tony and Jenna. Then we removed it for the larger group photos.

In November, Jenna’s family was invited for the session, this time it was Tony’s family’s turn. They all came up for his first birthday. What a lucky little guy!

Thank you so much Jenna and Tony for sharing Sam with me again. It’s been such an honor to watch him grow!

Jaspreet contacted me because they received difficult news about their beloved dog Ronnie and wanted some professional family photos to remember him by. We met at Churchville Park on a beautiful September evening.

This was their family’s first dog, and Jaspreet said that the loss was so hard on them, he’d be their only dog. I had a similar experience with my first and only dog. My heart went out to them.

Ram made the trip up from college in Ohio to say his goodbyes and for this session.

Jaspreet brought two outfits for everyone, which is a great way to add variety to smaller group sessions.

Sadly Ronnie was in a lot of pain and was having trouble walking so we kept the images within a small area at Churchville Park. Most parks have a nice variety of backgrounds even if you just turn in a circle.

Ronnie passed away a few days after our time together.

Thanks so much Jaspreet for sharing a little bit of Ronnie’s life and for the opportunity to get to know your family a little. I hope you’re all finding meaningful ways to integrate this loss into your lives.

New locations are so much fun and Tara and Rob were the first family to give High Falls a shout out. A few weeks after their maternity session, they welcomed their beautiful baby Lukas into their Bills’ loving family.

Fast forward six months and Lukas is smiling, almost sitting up, and cracking up his parents at every opportunity.

Tara had spent some time on Pinterest collecting ideas she loved for her session, which is always a great way to have unique family photos. Pinterest is a wealth of creativity – if you need a jump start, check out these Pinterest Boards.

Lukas is a well loved baby. Here he is with his aunt Jackie.

You don’t need a lot of space to make an indoor session work. This beautiful townhouse was relatively small, but we were able to move around furniture and easily take photos. Portable studio lighting means you never have to worry about lighting.

Thank you so much Rob and Tara for sharing your beautiful family with me!

This is going to get personal for a minute, if it’s okay with you.

Fourteen years ago my husband and I got married and I really wanted babies. Like really, really wanted babies. And I thought it would just happen because I wanted it to. When it didn’t happen and continued not happening, my husband and I decided to become foster parents. It was something we wanted to do anyway, but we adjusted our timeline.

When I walked into our first foster parent training, a very pregnant woman was at the front of the room. If you’ve ever had fertility problems of any kind, you might understand how hard this was. Here I was, fostering because I thought I might never have biological children. Then she started talking and I never wanted her to stop.

She also had fertility issues and became a foster parent instead of pursuing any kind of treatment. She had stories about lice, and dirt, and wet mattresses and when she spoke it was with passion and conviction. She said they weren’t foster kids, they were kids who happened to be in foster care (language I adopted, which seriously confused some medical receptionists – “wait, your kids are in foster care??”). When for the hundredth time someone asked why kids would want to go back to their biological parents she gently said, “because they are their parents.”

She got the whole thing.  She got kids in care and the struggles they faced.  She got biological parents and the trials they went through.  She got foster parents and the fears that they carried.  She saw it from every angle.

I’ve never lived in her home but from the outside looking in it seems family is defined more by who needs one than any kind of standard biological relationship.

Later on she went to law school to advocate for children in care.  She worked for the DA’s Office in law school and then in the County Law Department Children’s Services Unit. She continued to serve as a foster parent and has been one for 19 years caring for over 80 children.

She recently announced that she’s running for Monroe Count Family Court Judge. I could not imagine someone more qualified. I’ve never known anyone who pursued a passion of theirs with as much focus and conviction. She cares about kids and she cares about families. While I never want this to be a political place, I’m making this exception because she’s simply extraordinary. Judge Bayly for Family Court!