It’s a huge honor to be able to turn a couple’s wedding day into artwork…
But wow, when they come back as a family…
There’s nothing like journeying through life with a family. Documenting their growth. Creating a vision together that tells their story, one they will show their children daily. I’m so grateful to be a part of their lives, and to witness it both in person and through the lens.
I’m thrilled to be a part of this family’s ongoing endeavor to celebrate their growth through family artwork.
When their first son turned three, they were living in another state, and celebrated the occasion with a photoshoot to cement the memory. They framed and hanged the images.
By the time their second son turned three, they were living in Atlanta, and I was thrilled to expand their gallery. It was a bright, summery session - a stark contrast to their previous session up North in the Winter. You can see it here.
Now, their precious daughter was turning three, and they wanted to round it out with a gallery that was “giving fall vibes,” to really give the sense of the changing of the seasons, the passing of the years.
We originally planned to meet at a park, but circumstances shifted, and we chose their backyard instead. Zero regrets.
The fall snuggles are captured forever. They will be admired daily.
The moment that takes your breath away: seeing it on your wall for the first time.
My first memory of Miri was seeing her push her single buggy past my home on her regular strolls with her husband. Little did I know soon she’d have a double-stroller, and they’d one day make my home/studio the destination to capture her beautiful family.
She began talking to me about a session soon after the birth of her second. She came to the studio to check out the artwork in person, and talk through all our options. As he neared his first birthday, she was ready, and so were her kiddos, with their beaming smiles.
I know it can be intimidating, bringing littles, hoping it works out. This was the day after the time change, so they were already in their “witching hour,” and naps hadn’t been successful. But when our goal is focused, rather than our goal just being to make them perform for an hour, then we can put our energy into nailing what we need, and stop shooting at the first signs of angst.
We shot the first images on the trails in the woods behind the studio, and then ran to the front of the house to chase the sun for individuals of the kids.
Miri had the perfect space for her collection. We had a great time exploring the different sizing and configuration options.
She loved the funky vibe of the square prints, but wanted a touch more room and emphasis on the whole family. These will be matte floating metals.
Next? I send to print, and then head over there to install them! I can’t wait to see them up. A journey worth every step.
“Hold on, Kiddo, I gotta make sure everything is charged up in the studio for tomorrow’s session.”
She follows on my heels like a puppy.
“Will you take my picture?” She asks.
If there’s only one thing I can gift my kids, for them to pass down to future generations, it is this.
Time is precious, we’re all changing so quickly. The opportunity to mark this time is now.
My sister and her family were in the country for the first time in a year and a half. I had been aching to have this. Getting everyone in the studio simultaneously would have been a challenge. Instead, I booked everyone in slots over the course of two days. Each unit was able to select their favorite version of themselves, and then I combined them into one piece.
This also gave me the ability to create subset groupings, to gift for Chanukkah. (Not so much a surprise…)
I’m feeling how critical family is. This moment won’t live on, but this piece of artwork for my home will.
I think most people who know me, know I (and my family) am friends with this family.
But did you know I was their photographer first?
They hired me for a family session, the gallery wrap still stands on their mantle (soon to be replaced by one from this session!!) We didn’t know each other prior, but hit it off instantly. By the end of the session, they were urging me to move to their neighborhood, and join a women’s trip to Israel.
And the rest, they say, is history.
This is my fourth session with the Kahn family. But more than that, this is five years of amazing friendship. From family trips to mad cocktail experiments, we’ve been such a match.
But let’s get to the point of it all. Naomi. While I’m obviously fond of the parents, our daughters are fond of each other. Watching their friendship blossom through the years has been so lovely to watch. And now this beautiful and thoughtful girl has reached Bat Mitzvah, and we are so delighted to celebrate her.
She’s polite, and radiant, and so good with her brothers.
Speaking of brothers… Yosef needed a moment. He had us in absolute stitched the entire session.
Mazal tov to the Kahn family! May we have only Simchas!
Behind the scenes
I LOVE WHEN THIS FAMILY COMES TO THE STUDIO!!!!
This is the second year creating a family image for their holiday card. They are just straight up models. The come in, stand with ease, connect to one another, and then flash some megawatt smiles. Boom.
And then we sit around, chilling, chatting, talking about vacation plans. We probably spend more time hanging out than actually shooting. Because, trust me, you want to hang out with the Kosoff family. You don’t want them to leave. All of them equally. The kids are just as relaxed and engaging as the adults.
Do I still have their photo on the mantel? Why yes, yes I do. Because looking at their card is a guaranteed smile, every time.
I call our yearly family self portrait the “annual insanity.” But I can’t use the term anymore, I’m afraid.
Our synagogue is asking everyone to submit family portraits for a mosaic project (which I’m so excited about!). I was editing portraits for two other families at that moment, and I realized I haven’t done ours since the beach two years ago! The shoemaker’s children have no shoes!
I add every year to our wall gallery - how did I skip a whole year??
Even more so, I realized we needed to update ours mere days before my daughter left for her first time at summer camp for a month, so with no time, I grabbed items from everyone’s closet, and hauled my tripod and lights to the front yard.
The top portrait will move to the stairs, and the new gallery wrap will take its place:
This is where I normally post a hilarious outtake. But there are none. Because my kids crushed it. So I guess I can’t call it “Annual” OR “Insanity” anymore!
(But I WILL do better! Every year or bust!)
Update! Galleries updated!
We have a formula.
In 2018, we did our first Cohen family session. Their three precious girls dipped their hands in the water.
In 2019, we recreated that image.
In 2021, we captured it again.
2023…
We also do a family photo.
And then each year we alternate, Dad with girls, Mom with girls. It was a mom year.
And then individuals of the three girls.
Every year we combine them into an accordion album to gift the grandparents, so they can enjoy them all on the go or displayed on a shelf.
What was cool, as we designed this year, is we continued to build upon what we’ve hung the previous three years. But did so with an intentionality regarding where we want to hang things next year, and the next. Avital has a vision, that she wants to continue to build every year “until they turn 18.” She loves being able to directly compare their growth and their journey. She is creating their legacy, she’s creating it now.
Behind the scenes, thanks to Avital!
Some were on their way in. Some were on their way out. But it’s so rare they are all together, Robin wanted to make sure she had it to remember.
Some were moving to Israel, some were off to camp and then Seminary. Great grandma down to newborn baby, Robin has it all to keep and admire daily.
Robin is passionate about art. Her touch is in every inch of her home. This is another way for her to show who she is and who she loves.
Our virtual gallery design. Art is not yet actually on her wall.
The actual gallery, installed!
If you live in Atlanta and haven’t met the Kosoff family yet, YOU MUST.
Warm, friendly, and hilarious, your life needs them. Birmingham’s loss, Atlanta’s WIN.
And it’s all of them. Sometimes you find you click with a family member or two. But 5/5 Kosoffs are awesome.
We were very focused on this session. They needed a family portrait for their holiday card. We set it up, made a few adjustments as we went, nabbed the image they were going for, and were done. Too soon. I would have been good with hanging with them a while longer.
Adrienne and I go back to middle school, and all these years later continue to play together. I photograph her maternity and newborn, she paints murals on my children’s walls. I capture her family as it continues to grow, she helps design my photography studio. I respect her as an artist, and am delighted to continue to call her a friend.
Her husband plays, too. He’s a musician with the band, Hinder, and plays beautifully with their girls.
Who else plays? Their little one and Ben! Since we were in studio, my kids were excited to see Adrienne again, and snuck their way in. Adrienne’s younger daughter begged to play with Ben in our playroom, so after our session, the adults got to catch up, while the littles indulged with toys. There’s something so striking and precious about peeking in and seeing your child playing with the child of a lifelong friend.
I’m grateful that this is my fourth session with Joey and Esther. I got to capture them with their parents, once they became engaged, a wedding re-do, and most recently with their sweet baby. He’s the most good-natured 11 month old! A true people person, eager to connect and beaming ear to ear. We’re keeping him off social media at this point, but I’m grateful to share this sweet family with you here.
Joey and Esther kept gushing about how all the grandparents were going to need prints of their sweet baby. They loved this image, saying it truly is the essence of their son. I can’t wait for him to see these as he ages, always with a proud sense of self, and then show his own children one day.
Dana reached out looking for a last minute photographer, wanting to capture the moment with her family before her mother was scheduled to begin Chemotherapy that week.
My stomach lurched. Both my mother and mother in law are, thanks to G-d, cancer survivors.
Dana’s mother is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. But she wanted to keep it quiet during the session, because her brother still didn’t know about it. He has Fragile X, and she wanted him to enjoy the session.
I wondered if I would. I wondered if I would keep it together.
It was an expectedly emotional process. Both the session and when we viewed the images and came up with a plan for them. I am so grateful to begin the process of creating an album for her, one that she will be able to pass down to her daughters.
I wish Dana and her family a lifetime of health and joy.
Update:
Sara wanted a session commemorating her son’s upshern (3rd birthday). Originally, she had in mind that we do the session before the party, since they were dressing up anyway. Ultimately, she decided to separate the two, as she wanted a low pressure session where it would be the only thing on her mind.
We shot in their home, moving only a couple pieces of furniture and taking advantage of the lovely light in their space.
We reviewed the images together, then she chatted with her amazing interior designer (I need to get her name and link her here!!), and together, we created a vision, and I edited her images accordingly.
Left: our design, virtual on the wall, Right: the actual installation
It was tremendous fun creating images to fulfill our final vision.
EDIT! And then…
Sara reached out, craving one more image. She wanted a color shot, to gift her husband for his office:
*Edit at bottom
The final installment…
Alexandra was coy when she first called, requesting to learn about three sessions in a year. She finally came out with it, and stopped claiming it would be nice to capture different seasons: she wanted to capture her family as a threesome, through maternity, and then as a foursome. She wanted to tell the story of their growth.
May I present, the family of four:
Most fun, was creating their wall gallery!
We’ll be hanging them in their living room, over a new couch due to come. I can’t wait to see them up!
I have to say, this has been a really touching journey. It’s so beautiful to be a part of people’s growth, milestones, fears, and celebrations. This family has so much joy, so much humor, so much sass and spunk. Every part of the process with them has felt like a celebration. I’m so grateful. And I will try not to cry when I see this on their walls. Thank you for this opportunity.
There’s a common scam photographers get, someone asking them to capture a “reunion,” and then pay the other “vendors” for them…
But I knew this one was legitimate, because the call came directly from Ramah Darom, explaining that their retreat center was hosting a family reunion, and that family portraits had been requested. Eliana, who runs the retreat center, said that she was coming to me because she and the family wanted to gift finished artwork to the matriarch for her home, as they were gathering to celebrate her 80th birthday.
I wanted to capture the sun rising behind the family over the lake. The two hour drive in the dark up through the mountains was stunning nonetheless. They really do have the most fantastic venue, and as I trekked, I reminisced about my pivotal time working there.
Ramah had put together an outstanding itinerary for them, featuring truly quality together time. I arrived as they were finishing their breakfast buffet, and then went to fine-tune the location I had in mind.
It was muddy, and there were tire tracks… and I was thrilled that the family was good sports about it, because it was PERFECT.
I got to know the family a bit. They had ventured in from all over, including California and Israel. They were a vibrant group, whom while diverse, were cohesive under Elaine’s leadership. When she and I had our selection appointment, she took me through their journey as a family. One of discovery, adventure, and risks with a big payoff. She had a clear vision for her family, and this reunion felt for her like the culmination of all her goals and efforts. She has such deserved pride for all that the generations she created are achieving.
I can only dream of glowing the way Elaine does when I’m 80. To have such sharp and radiating memories, and tangible proof of a life that was worth living. May we all experience such joy.
This year’s family session was a continuous metaphor for our times.
NEVER did I expect that this year’s family session would take place at the beach. But beauty emerged from the storm… literally.
When my husband and I had both been vaccinated, we were seeing little impact from Covid on children, and infection numbers were nonexistent, we took a leap and booked a theme waterpark/hotel for the last week of vacation before school. Because most schools were starting before ours, we assumed a light crowd.
Then the numbers skyrocketed, and we were seeing a tear of infections in our neighborhood in children. Including a hospitalization. I tried reaching our booking via email and received no response. I tried calling, and was passed from system to system. Finally, the Friday afternoon before we were scheduled to leave on Sunday morning, I reached a human, who reported they were booked to capacity, totally slammed.
I postponed the reservation.
The twist? We had already rented out our own home for while we were away! Determined to give my children a safer vacation, I jumped on Airbnb and booked a condo for Panama City Beach… for 36 hours later.
Fresh air, sand and salt.
We hauled my photography equipment, optimistic.
Then, the night we had planned to shoot, with best window of time for sunset being 7:00-7:30, the weather did this:
I made everyone just stand at the door and wait.
I said, either this means we're going to run for it, have 5 minutes to nail it, and the sunset will be SPECTACULAR... Or we will have absolutely nothing.
This entire vacation AND the result of this photoshoot, all of it, was about a leap in faith. Being spontaneous and wild and jumping into chaos, and hoping for beauty.
In the ocean, my children learned they could battle the waves or embrace them. They could get slapped in the face and choke on the salt, or they could put on their goggles, take a deep breath, and dive into them. Even moreso, they could submerge, and relax beneath the turbulence. The choice is ours.
What fun would it be without an outtake?
I plan to print as a gallery wrap for our living room.
In 2018, we did our first Cohen family session. Their three precious girls dipped their hands in the water.
In 2019, we recreated that image.
In 2020, we paused. Covid took precedent.
In 2021, we captured it again.
Each year, we capture their growth, and mirror both the past, and what we desire for the future.
In 2019, we added metals to the year prior. In 2021, we reinvisioned the arrangements completely, forming new groupings to tell new stories.
We are continuing to select matte metals for Avital, not only because it lends cohesiveness to her expanding galleries, but because she raved: “I love these with my kids! I don’t worry as much about fingerprints or damage. The kids love exploring them and touching them and pointing to themselves, and I know these are durable enough for that.” She also loves treating their parents to accordion albums- tiny leather-bound brag books they can carry in their bags, and display on their shelves.
So I get a call from Maya. She’s just had a new baby, her second, and she is unsurprisingly exhausted. She knows she wants to capture this transition beautifully, but she also wants it to be EASY. She asks if we could do a lifestyle newborn family session in her home, and I’m delighted.
As we talk, she reveals she has a 3 year old that is, shall we say… a powerhouse. And that she can be a bit rough with her new baby… Ben.
I’M SORRY, SAY WHAT??
Because I’m pretty sure that it was exactly five years ago that I, exhausted to tears, told people that my rambunctious 3 year old daughter loved her baby, Ben, “aggressively.”
Ohmigosh. We. Are. The. Same.
Needless to say, I felt trained for the job!
What’s great, coming in as the better rested outsider, is that I was much more equipped this time than with my own.
They were delightful. Really, truly delightful.
Does it make me long for the days, when my two were exactly like this? For a moment. And then, nope. I’m so thrilled to watch mine become real little humans.
It’s really remarkable to reflect, via my clients, my own journey thus far, and get to witness theirs.
This (unedited) is the mockup for their 20x30 semi-gloss metal in their kitchen. The one of the two kiddos will be a metal in their playroom, and the other two are prints to be framed in the home.
The finished installation!
