I met Mariko and her family of four girls while shooting her sister’s wedding. And you would expect with four girls, you would find complete and utter chaos. But Mariko, their mom, was so calm and fun to talk to. We chatted about Nat’s program at Yale, my art school- all while she was getting four litte girls ready for a wedding.

So I was excited to go back and get family shots of all the girls. I show up to two of the girls playing on scooters in their house (I want a cool mom like that! No offense mom! I still love you even though your death glare comes out when people don’t remove their shoes when they come in the house- I’m the same way now, ha!). Their gorgeous home in New Canaan is full of spots to shoot. A big playground. A pool. And plenty of historic stone walls.

Thankfully, the girls were ready to play and not at all shy. I had gotten to know them a bit at the wedding and even discovered at the end of the night, Alexandra was holding my hand while I shot the first dance. So I mostly watched them play, took photos, gathered them for group shots and then watched them run away in 30 seconds. And reeeeeally really tried to get Brooke, the youngest to smile. She mostly was running around trying to do everything the bigger girls were doing and getting frustrated when she couldn’t. But after some swing time with Mommy, things got better Thank you Mariko for letting me shoot your lovely family!

So more than a year ago I was photographing Cynthia and Ryan’s Virginia wedding. At the time, Cynthia already knew that they were not only getting married but soon to have a baby. Jackson was born a few months after their wedding and has been keeping them very very busy. Everytime I see a facebook update from Cynthia it’s something like ‘Exhausted!!!’. I laughed when I got a picture text on my cell of Jackson dressed up for Halloween last year as a monkey. He was just laying there like “What are these people doing to me?’.

Jackson turned one just a few weeks ago and I was excited to get an email asking me to do some family portraits to celebrate Jackson’s birthday. Can you believe all these pictures were taken when it was 96 degrees out? That’s how much of a trooper Jackson was. He sported his new onesie at the end, ready to wriggle out of his clothes in the heat.

Ruth just finished her first semester at Yale and was asked to write an article for the Times of London about being an Irish student in the Ivy League. The paper asked for a photo that was fun and showcased some of Yale’s architecture. So Ruth contacted me and we set off to do a few headshots in the freezing cold. The wind was literally blowing right through my Northface jacket, but Ruth totally didn’t let it show on her face(we lasted 10 minutes in the cold and called it a day). We plan on doing a big headshot shoot in the Spring when we can actually enjoy being outside! The first picture is my favorite and you can see how strong the wind was blowing.

Gaby and Pietro were one of my first clients when I started my wedding photography business and so I was super excited to learn they had just had a baby. So a family portrait session was in order.  Gianluca is only 4 months old but he’s a big, healthy boy. He was all smiles, enjoying the many stuffed animals Natalie and I were tempting him with to look at the camera. He didn’t cry once. And even more exciting, shortly after we shot this family portraits, Gaby learned she’s pregnant with their second child! Mazel Tov! We already are planning maternity shots when she gets to be farther along.

It’s so weird to believe that my niece is a toddler, not a baby anymore! She’s crawling like a speed demon, taking her first steps, and becoming a real little girl. So we all traveled up to New York to celebrate her birthday and we had so much fun. Shyia adored all her new toys but mostly she loved the cake.

My brother-in-law doing his ‘rabid hippo’ impression that always makes his daughter die laughing.