I’ve said it many times and I will say it again – I’ve been blessed with the most amazing clients!   I love meeting and photographing families that appreciate photography; they make my job (if it can be called that!)  more rewarding than I can ever thought any job could be!   This shoot had everything going for it – parents who were so relaxed at their session, adorable kids who were cute as could be and perfect weather.    We decided to split the session into two – their home in Ridgewood and a park in Wyckoff so the locations were great as well!

All my Signature Sessions include pre-Session Consultations and a lot of times I actually pay a visit to clients beforehand to help them select perfect outfits for their family session.  This was the case with this family as well – we talk about colors over the phone first and then I came over to help put together a couple of outfits for everyone – I love playing ‘stylist’ for a day:)  I always encourage my customers to have at least one outfit change at their Signature Sessions – especially for kids – love being able to provide different looks for them.   And ‘right’ color combinations/outfits definitely enhance images so we had that going for us as well:)

Baby E. was one of the smiliest babies I’ve ever photographed – she was loving the camera:)  She is so adorable and squeezable – look at those chubby arms!!!  She celebrated her first birthday a day before the session.  And as Mom told me, every year one of the family members makes ‘birthday crowns’ for each kid – this is such a cool idea and I absolutely loved her little crown.  So of course we got a few pictures with it:)  And they also get their personalized birthday T-shirts – we got a few images with those as well!  What a great idea it is to do that year after year – I may just have to borrow it for my own kids:)

Her big brother S. was a bit more reserved and camera shy first.  As his Mom said during her Pre-Session Consultation – he is wise beyond his years – and I definitely see that.  But he warmed up to him and in addition to soulful images we got a some laughing ones as well.  His parents were thrilled with the results and told me that I was able to capture him the way he is, which to me is the highest praise!

This family is very laid back and they wanted their images to reflect that – they were not looking for anything very posed or traditional and I was more than happy to comply – after all, lifestyle signature sessions are my specialty!  I was able to put them at easy pretty quickly, got a few tricks to make them laugh and as result during the morning that we spent together there was lots of genuine laughter and I was thrilled to capture it:)

And as I do with all my family sessions I took pictures of Mom and Dad alone – while I think family pictures are really important, I also believe it is great to have ‘just couple’ pictures of the parents – to help remember that before they were parents they were a couple as well:)  We did those towards the end of the session; it always amazes me  (in a good way!) how quickly parents are able to shed the weight of parenting, even if it is just for a bit, and fall into being just a couple!

We live in a digital age and most of my clients end up buying digital images from their session so they can do as they please with them.  But most of them also get boutique products as well – so that they have something tangible to show for the session.  And while I love all products that I offer, my favorite ones are wall displays.  And that’s exactly what this family got – among other things they got a beautiful collage of nine canvases that will look absolutely stunning in their living room.  I love knowing that they will be looking at their images many times each day and every time will bring smiles to their faces!