Our 2023 Holiday Portrait Sessions in Saratoga Springs

I always look forward to our holiday portrait event, and this year was no exception! Each year, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have so many families that come to the studio year after year for their holiday portraits! It’s always a joy getting to catch up with them and see how their kids have grown. Plus, it’s so much fun coming up with our setups each year! Honestly, I really do look forward to these holiday portrait sessions each winter. 

For this year, I wanted to create something really special! When I first saw these golden arches I knew that they would be incredibly versatile and that they would look gorgeous with garland & some sparkly ornaments. I love how this turned out! I think it’s such a classic holiday look. It was the perfect spot for kids to warm up to me and get ready for more portraits!

We always create two setups in the studio for families to have some variety in their holiday portraits, and you know I’m a big fan of neutrals because of how timeless they are. This year I found the perfect stockings with little pearl accents, and I love the simple & luxurious touch that they added to our setup alongside my simple Christmas tree. 

To every family that came to celebrate the holidays with me this year, thank you! It was so special to have you in the studio and I hope you have a wonderful season with your loved ones! 

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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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Personal Post: Christmas Portraits of My Two Little Loves!

This year the holiday season feels extra special because we have a baby in the house again! Every year since my son was born has been more and more magical and I truly love watching the holiday season unfold through his eyes, and now we get to do all of those fun holiday traditions with Grayson AND his baby sister, Adelaide.

I was a little late in getting my own children’s holiday photos done (what’s that they say about the cobbler’s children having no shoes? Yeah, same thing for the photographer’s children!) but we finally made it happen and they were so smiley and cheerful. I may have forgotten to plan shoes for my son, and we might have improvised with a super simple wreath for the backdrop, but everything about these portraits leans into my minimalist style of photography and I love the moments we captured of these two for their very first Christmas together.

As I have always believed, this proves that you don’t need much for a great portrait besides beautiful light and connection between the subjects, and not too many props or colors to clutter the background and distract from the people you care about in the photo!

These are some of my favorite sibling portraits of my two little loves this year, and I’m excited to share them on our holiday cards, as prints for the grandparents, and with you on the blog!

We also did a VERY FUN photo series with headshots and holiday ornaments for each child. I absolutely loved this setup, and it was so much fun to create and pull off. Grayson really enjoyed setting it up with me (I love how excited he gets about the photography studio!) and he was eager to see how his portraits turned out. Isn’t this so cute?!

And then Adelaide’s had gold, rose gold, and sparkly pink ornaments. These looked so beautiful with her creamy skin and bright blue eyes, and I loved using a dress and headband from the studio wardrobe!

We’re off to continue celebrating the holiday season and filling each day with a little bit of holiday magic. Thank you for following along on our journey this year and for supporting this small business, and I hope that your family enjoys this beautiful holiday season!

From my family to yours, happy holidays!

Our favorite holiday tradition: our felt stocking Christmas calendar

Today, I want to share something our family does every year during the holidays: a felt stocking Christmas calendar. This was all inspired by a photo a few years ago in Real Simple magazine, created by A Beautiful Mess. Now it’s one of our favorite traditions! 

I made our felt stocking calendar in 2020.  That was the year that everything shut down and we all readjusted our priorities and dug deep into new & old hobbies.  I sewed each stocking and embroidered little details onto them to make each one unique.  I felt like I was tapping into my childhood years of sewing projects for this one, and I spent many November nights at the dining room table working on these little stockings so that we would have them ready in time for December that year.  Making these was very fulfilling and I loved knowing that this was going to become a core childhood memory and a magical holiday tradition for our family.

Starting on December 1, each stocking holds a little treat, trinket, or note with an activity on it.  We do one stocking each day from December 1 through December 24.  I don’t fill them all up at once because I have a four year old who would peek ahead and spoil the surprise, but I do keep a list of what I want to put in them so that I know and can do it quickly without too much effort.  Most of what we do are little holiday activities that do not take much prep or time, and every now and then I will include a treat or a toy.  Tossing in a chocolate or two is a super easy one if I do not have time for an activity that day!  If the items do not fit inside the stockings, I use a clothespin to pin them to the back side of the stocking.

I do this instead of Elf on the Shelf because I wanted to start a tradition that was extra special to our family, and one that would let me make lots of fun holiday memories with our little ones.  Also because the idea of moving an elf into different spots and creating scenes for him every single night for 10-15 years is completely overwhelming to me, but sprinkling fun and traditional holiday activities and joy throughout the month of December is much more fulfilling to me.

Because of this, my four-year old LOVES “Christmastime” and he understands that there is a difference between Christmas Day and Christmastime.  He spends all year looking back through our photo albums and flipping through the pages filled with activities from previous Decembers, and as winter approaches he asks me what I think we’ll find in the stockings this year.  He knows that “Mama does the little stockings but Santa does the big stockings”, and I love that I am able to pass my love of the holiday season on to him – and eventually on to our daughter when she is old enough to understand, too!

‌Here are some of my favorite items and activities that we’ve included in stockings for our countdown to Christmas.

‌Trinkets/Treats:

●      Wooden Christmas cars

●      New hat & mittens

●      Silly holiday glasses from the dollar store

●      Candy cane

●      Hershey kisses

●      Andes mints

●      Tiny snow globe

●      Decorated holiday cookie

Activities:

●      Visit the Christmas tree farm

●      Go watch the holiday trains at Sunnyside Gardens

●      Go to the Victoria Streetwalk

●      Bake Christmas cookies

●      Bring Christmas cookies to a neighbor/friend

●      Make a gingerbread house

●      Go see Christmas lights

●      Have a picnic in front of the Christmas tree

●      Drink hot cocoa in front of the fireplace

●      Hang twinkle lights in their bedroom

●      Make Christmas pancakes

●      Wrap presents

●      Pick out a gift for someone special

●      Visit the library to pick out holiday books

●      Do a Christmas craft/painting

●      Mail holiday cards

●      Have a holiday music dance party

●      Walk through the Christmas aisles at Target

●      Write/Mail a letter to Santa

●      Visit with Santa

●      Paint a holiday project at the ceramics shop in town

●      FaceTime a friend and sing Christmas carols together

●      Make a Christmas ornament and hang it on the tree

●      Watch a Christmas movie together‌

I hope that no matter what your traditions are that you have a beautiful holiday season with your loved ones!! 

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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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4th of July Portraits Over the Years with Red, White, & Blue Backdrop

In 2018, I created this backdrop for a cake smash session. Since then, it’s become a family tradition to pull it back out and capture 4th of July portraits of my son, Grayson. Now that we have another new member of the family, it will be fun to see how they both grow each year!

Since 2018, I loved watching Grayson grow and seeing his personality evolve over the years – especially through these images. As a mom and photographer, it’s been fun to work on this series over the last 4 summers. I’m so happy that now we get to include our daughter, Adelaide, in this tradition, too. 

Since Grayson has been with me for the last few years as I’ve grown the studio, any time I get to document him is incredibly special to me. This fun summertime tradition is something we both look forward to all year long! Summer is already a great time full of family moments and traditions – so these red, white, and blue portraits are one more thing to enjoy about these hot summer months! Enjoy a peek into our family’s summertime tradition! 

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Tips for successful holiday portrait sessions

Holiday portraits are always a super fun time in the studio, but I know they can feel stressful for families. Everyone wants the perfect smiling photo of their families to send out on the cards or share online, so I get it. That’s why I’m sharing a few tips for successful holiday portrait sessions with you today. Some are way easier than you think! And I want to reassure you: no matter what, we will have a holly jolly time together and I’ll capture gorgeous portraits of your families. As as seasoned photographer (and mom), you can trust that you’re in good hands!

#1: Schedule your session when your children are happiest!

For younger kinds, this is especially important. Think about the time of your day your children are in the best moods, good listeners, and cooperative. Generally that means right after a nap or first thing in the morning. If your kids are older, consider a later appointment if they’re usually in good moods then!

#2: Come dressed and ready to go!

By showing up in the outfits you want the family to wear, we can ensure no time is wasted in the studio. If you’re ready when you arrive, we’ll jump right in! And if you are going to change outfits (like into cute Christmas pajamas), do that last. It’s way easier for everyone to relax near the end instead of changing into something more formal at the end.

#3: Make sure your outfits fit.

We’re all busy - but take the time to try on your outfits the week before your session to make sure everyone fits. Encourage your little ones to wear their outfits for at least half an hour so they’re prepared to wear it in the studio. Make sure tights, shoes, and accessories look good together. This also allows your kids to get used to the feelings of the fabrics. Holiday outfits are often different than every day outfits!

#4: Have snacks beforehand.

This is a super easy tip! Simply make sure your kids have eaten. Full bellies = happy kids! The same goes for babies or big kids, too. Everyone’s less grouchy when they’ve eaten. It never fails!

#5: Don’t underestimate the power of a bribe!

No judgement here! I keep snacks in the studio for kids to have after we finish their portraits, and it's amazing how a package of goldfish crackers or chocolate chip cookies can get them to smile and hug their siblings. Seriously.

#7: Keep your cool!

This one’s for the parents out there. Don't stress if your kids are acting like kids (instead of angels!). I fully expect them to act their age, and I promise I'm clicking the shutter button at just the right moment to capture all of the smiles, cuddles, and laughs. Stay calm and they will feed off of your energy, and everyone will be happy! These holiday portraits should be fun - not a stressful, anxiety ridden experience.

#8: Plan how you are going to enjoy your portraits!

Holiday portraits are about more than just holiday cards, and I know you're not doing this session just to mail out a bunch of 5x7 cards that will hang on your friends' fridges for a month and then get tossed. Plan to print some for an heirloom holiday album that you can pull out year after year. Put a few on the wall, or create a wooden photo keepsake that you can pull out every holiday season to decorate an end table or the mantel. Don’t forget to make copies for the grandparents and share them on social media with your friends!

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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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2021 Holiday Portraits in our Saratoga Springs Photography Studio

Holiday portrait sessions are some of my favorite moments to capture in our Saratoga Springs studio! I wait all year long for these days to arrive because they’re always so much fun and filled with joy. This year, I chose to offer three new setups for holiday portraits. We had a white snowflake room, evergreen seamless paper with a loveseat for the family and some flocked trees and a holiday bed. Everyone LOVED getting in the holiday spirit here in the studio.

I welcomed lots of longtime clients and families to the studio over our holiday sessions. It was so great to see everyone again and catch up. I also had the chance to meet plenty of new families too. I’m so excited to have been part of their holiday tradition this year!

Thank you to every family that chose to come celebrate with me this year. Here’s a little sneak peek at some of my favorite holiday moments in the studio this year!!

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A Peek at Some of This Year's Custom Holiday Card Designs - Saratoga Springs Portrait Photographer

Tis the season to run to your mailbox and tear open the envelopes to see so many smiling faces inside!

I always love sharing a peek at some of the holiday cards that families are sending out with portraits from their sessions with me, and here are a few that are hitting mailboxes all over the country this year!

I really enjoy designing and printing holiday cards for families, and the options for customizing really are endless! A few things that you get to choose when designing your holiday cards?

• fully customizable templates

• change the colors & font & text

• choose how many images for the back of the card

• choose from 3 types of paper

• multiple envelope styles

• return address printing is included

• the option to add on recipient address printing

And my favorite card of all? Ours! Check out how adorable Grayson is on this one!

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!!

Making Spirits Bright | Our Studio Holiday Sessions

Fa la la la laaaaaa, la la la laaaaaa. As I type this post, my studio smells like a Christmas tree, tiny lights are twinkling behind me, a peppermint marshmallow candle glows on the table, and Ella Fitzgerald is singing Christmas carols on Pandora.   There are presents to be wrapped, cookies to be baked, and cards to be mailed.  And there's definitely a mug of hot chocolate waiting for me somewhere.  It's mid-December, and our holiday cheer is officially at 100%.

I love the holiday season.  Could you tell?  ;o)   The lights, the traditions, the scents, the cozy foods, the gatherings with friends & family.  There is nothing better than those first few weeks of December when the world is a truly magical place.  These are the weeks when everyone is talking about their elves, Santa, and flying reindeer.  The tree in your living room inspired breathtaking wonder, and the colorful lights in your neighborhood fill your evenings with cheer.  The magic of childhood is more tangible than ever.  That same magic that I adore capturing all throughout the year is on full display this month, and I feel so, so lucky to be able to preserve that for the families that I work with.

We hosted our first in-studio holiday sessions, and I had so much fun creating the perfect dreamy set up for our little ones.  We turned the studio into a winter wonderland, a soft cloud-like space where children sat beneath golden stars and told me all about their wishes for Santa and what their elves had been up to lately.  There were giggles, jingle bells, Christmas jammies, candy canes, and songs.

Our holiday sessions were short and sweet, and allowed just enough time for a simple rustic set up, too!  After all, I acquired a vintage sled from another photographer over the summer, and I couldn't let a holiday season pass without using it for some adorable photos!

Wishing you all a magical holiday season!  Take the time to slow down, create memories, and start a new tradition with your family.

Create magic, and inspire wonder.  After all, that's what childhood is all about!