Our Santa Experience - Holiday Photo Sessions at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio

This was our first year doing Santa sessions in the studio and I had a blast creating a dream experience for every family that came in the door. It was important to me to create a magical Santa Experience for each family - from the moment they arrived to their goodbyes. I’ve never taken on Santa sessions but I’m so glad that we’ve finally broken the seal on this incredible holiday adventure in our Saratoga Springs studio! 

To create a magical Santa experience, I wanted to bring in unique elements leading up to their session date. Each child received a personalized letter from Santa the week of their session, complete with a certified North Pole stamp and a wax seal on the gold-lined envelope. Their letter invited them to the studio to help Santa finish making some toys that the elves forgot to finish. It was so cute and every little one loved it! 

Upon arriving, I wanted to make sure families and children had time to warm up to Santa. I didn’t want anyone to feel rushed. Instead, the kids had plenty of time to discover that Santa was in the studio, warm up to him, ask him questions, find their name on the nice list, help him with the toys, sing songs, and more. It was a beautiful chance to watch interactions unfold naturally. 

My absolute favorite part was seeing the pure magic and innocence on children’s faces. I loved watching their expressions light up when they saw Santa, how they were filled with joy when they saw their names on the Nice List or when they discovered that the “magic paint” on the nutcrackers really worked. The wonder when they sang “Jingle Bells” or “ho-ho-ho-ed” and Santa appeared behind them out of nowhere was special, too. It was incredible.

Thank you to every family who visited my studio to help make these magical sessions possible this winter. I’m so in love with how they turned out and I hope it’s not the last time Santa visits the NSP studio!

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2022 Holiday Sessions in Saratoga Springs

Happy holidays!! I’m so excited to share a little sneak peek into our holiday sessions this year. I was so happy to see a lot of repeat families this year, and I love when they visit the studio year after year for their holiday portraits. It’s so much fun watching the kids grow, and this year I loved when the children walked in and asked right away about the toy corner and told me, “I remember this toy! We played with this last time!”. It’s seriously such a special moment for me each time a family comes back to my studio. 

The all white studio is so versatile for these classic holiday portraits, and I keep adding to our furniture collection of chairs, benches, and loveseats with linen upholstery and weathered wood.  Every year I add more trees or greenery, and I love how it all comes together so beautifully and I can mix and match furniture, wreaths, and trees across the setups while still keeping everything classic and minimal with the focus on the family and not too overwhelming with props. This year, I created three different setups. 

The one I was most excited about was a collaboration with a talented local floral designer, Samantha Nass Floral Design.  She absolutely nailed the design with the inspiration photos that I sent her and incorporated the most beautiful greenery, winter stems, and a hint of red flowers.  

I’ve been wanting to do another giant wreath setup.  The last time I did an oversized wreath was in 2017, but since then I’ve refined my studio style and I am in love with flocked evergreens, so a flocked wreath with frosted berries mixed in was just the perfect look for the studio.  This was so much fun for some casual family & sibling portraits, and the perfect spot for fun Christmas pajamas!

I added the ornament wall the day before our sessions began when I saw that we had enough room for one more simple setup.  I love everything in muted neutrals like gold and champagne, and this wound up being a favorite setup for just about every family! I love that I have the flexibility and space to do that for families in the studio. 

Happy holidays! I hope everyone has a cozy year with their loved ones. 

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Grayson's 2021 Holiday Portraits

You’d think that as a photographer, I’d spend more time getting my son in the studio for portraits than I actually do. It’s hard to balance motherhood and the business some days, but I’m grateful for the memories I make with Grayson every day. He’s a great little studio helper - and was wonderful with me while I setup all of our holiday minis this year. I made sure to capture his holiday portraits, as impromptu as it was, this year.

I’ll be honest: taking photos of a fiercely independent 3.5 year old is much harder than taking portraits of a baby, but it’s so much fun to spend time with my little guy and capture what he’s loving about the season. Grayson was excited to wear his “fancy Christmas photo clothes” and he got to listen to Frosty the Snowman on repeat on Alexa during our session together. Like many parents, I bribed him with snacks from my snack cart - and it worked! Grayson was all smiles and giggles for me. Although it might have been trickier than years past, I’m so pleased with the portraits I captured of my son this holiday season! I hope they bring a smile to your face, too! :o)

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Oh, What Fun! A Peek at This Year's Holiday Sessions, Saratoga Springs Family Photographer

This is one of my favorite blog posts that I wait all year to share! The holiday session recap!

Today’s post is FILLED WITH HOLIDAY MAGIC, sharing a peek at some of my favorite images from our Deck the Halls Holiday Event in the studio. This year we held holiday sessions over two weeks in November, welcoming so many beautiful families into our Saratoga Springs studio for their holiday portraits.

This coincided with moving into a new house & studio! We moved in and renovated the studio only two weeks before our first session, and it all came together so beautifully just in time for portraits. Our huge new studio had space for FOUR DIFFERENT SETUPS this year, and I absolutely loved capturing a variety of portraits for all of the families that came to the studio.

We welcomed many repeat families, and I always love seeing them year after year and watching their children grow! Plus a few new families, and even a family that drove 3 hours to get here that I’ve been photographing since 2012!

It was a wonderful event and I truly enjoyed every magical moment! Enjoy a peek at some adorable kiddos and families, and so much holiday cheer!

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Sneak Peek of Our Holiday Mini Sessions with Saratoga Springs Baby Photographer

It was another magical year of holiday mini sessions at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio! I look forward to these Christmas sessions every year. I love seeing the babies & children all dressed up in their holiday plaid, fancy dresses, sweaters, and bowties, and it’s always so much fun watching them cuddle up in their cozy holiday pajamas, too!

Here’s a little peek at some of my favorite portraits from our 2019 holiday sessions. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and as always, a huge thank you to all of the families for trusting me to capture these beautiful memories for their families this winter!

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2018 Holiday Sessions

It’s my favorite time of year! The studio has been filled with twinkly lights, Christmas trees, and plaid accents for weeks now, and holiday music has been playing nonstop on the Alexa. Santa gets mentioned at least once every session, a couple of jingle bells have been my go-to trick to get little ones to look at the camera.

That can only mean one thing…

It’s time to share a peek into our 2018 HOLIDAY SESSIONS!

We did sessions in both the Saratoga Springs & Attleboro studios, and so many families joined us for lots of festive portraits. As the years go by I tend to favor simpler backdrops that keep the focus on the family with just a touch of festive cheer. This year we had a bit of a farmhouse touch to our holiday backdrops inspired by some Joanna Gaines decor — boxwood wreaths, plaid throws, a rustic hand painted sign, and a wooden ladder, yes please!

All of the families brought their A-game in CUTENESS! So many Christmas cuddles and lots of adorable smiles!

The More the Merrier! A Peek at our Holiday Sessions | Saratoga Springs and Boston Family Photographer

I love Christmas.  Every year I look forward to the holiday season because it is filled with twinkly lights, delicious aromas, cozy family traditions, and so much festivity everywhere you look. 

That's why our holiday sessions are always some of my favorite sessions of the year here at our studio.  So many families come and visit, and many are families that I have photographed for years, plus there are always a few new families that I'm excited to meet, too!  This year we did holiday portraits with families in Saratoga Springs and in Boston (at our Attleboro studio), and it was so much fun creating a little holiday magic with these babies and children!

Our set-ups were simple & classic this year:

A fluffy red and white bed that was adorable with Christmas pajamas.
And a huge wreath filled with twinkly lights for some family portraits.  

CUTENESS OVERLOAD with these adorable twins!!

Holiday Session Sneak Peeks!

It's that time of year again... holiday portrait season!  We hosted four days of Limited Edition Holiday Portrait Sessions between our Saratoga Springs studio and our Boston-area studio.  So many families brought their sweet little ones to the studio for fun & playful sessions, and I love all of the sparkly and snowy memories that we created together.

I absolutely loved being able to offer a unique portrait experience to my clients this year with two gorgeous hand-painted backdrops from Heidi Hope's line of artist's backdrops.  I can't even begin to count how many families "ooooooh-ed" and "aaaaaah-ed" when they walked into our studio and saw the set ups for the very first time, or how many moms sent me excited messages before their sessions to plan the perfect outfits for their little ones.  

These were a huge hit with our clients in Boston & New York, and I am so happy to have been able to enhance their experience with these gorgeous set ups! Plus, you know how much I adore creating magical scenes to lend that element of whimsy to our photo sessions, so these were everything I wanted and more!

Tomorrow is the day our galleries go out and families will get to see all of their images for the very first time.  I'm so excited to share these magical holiday memories with everyone, and I can't wait to create their holiday cards & portrait gifts for their families to enjoy!

For now, enjoy our photo overload, and be on the lookout for many more gorgeous holiday memories on our Facebook and Instagram pages in the coming weeks!  Actually, you should head over to our social media pages right this very second to enjoy one MORE sneak peek that isn't shown in this blog post for each family!  

Did you miss out on joining us for our holiday sessions at the studio?  Not to worry!  

We still have a few more openings for holiday sessions in November and the first week of December, and we would love to invite your little ones into our Saratoga Springs photography studio for a playful session that will give you gorgeous images for your holiday cards and stunning artwork for your home.   Email us at hello@nicolestarrphotography.com and let's pick a date!