northwest family road trip circa 1990

LIFE IS GOOD

I named this session after my father who passed away five years ago after battling pancreatic cancer. Often he would reminisce about our trips to the apple orchard. He lead our family in our annual Easter egg hunts. He loved Christmas and made our traditional Finnan Haddie and poached eggs for breakfast every year. He was the grandpa who possessed the infamous candy box that would appear at the end of a visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. He’s the one who loved to entertain our whole family at our cabin in The Redwoods. During his short battle with cancer, his motto was “Life is Good”. He had a baseball cap with that logo on it in every color that he wore daily during chemo treatment. He cherished family and knew the importance of being together doing what you loved. After he passed away, each of us kids was given one of his hats with the logo, “Life is Good”. I thought it was the perfect thing to name these family tradition sessions I have created. Do I wish I had pictures of THESE family trips to the apple orchard? Absolutely. I would cherish them. But I hope I can record those images for you and your family that you will cherish throughout the years.

Traditions are the glue that binds families together.  They are anxiously anticipated.  They are unique and defining to a family. Each tradition holds importance.  These are the events that create special, lifelong memories.  They are what families will talk and reminisce about through the years.  Stories will be handed down from generation to generation.  I know my kids have heard all about our trips to the apple orchard.

As I’ve been taking pictures of people professionally this past year, I’ve thought a lot about what I can do to create significant images for others.   I believe it is crucial to take portraits of families together on a regular basis and I want some of those images to be of families doing what they love to do together.  So, along with portraits of babies, children and families, I am  offering a new type of family lifestyle session,  the LIFE IS GOOD session.

making salt dough ornaments circa 1978

My desire is to record your family traditions.  I will tag along with you  and capture the moments that create memories so that you’ll have them forever. So you can hang them on your walls and remember the truly important moments in your life.   So you can pull out your beautiful session album when you’re reminiscing and have pictures to show your kids and their kids and their grand kids.

Not sure you have a tradition worthy of recording?  Nonsense!   All traditions are not only worthy of recording, but crucial to record in some way.  Nobody is promised a tomorrow.  If you don’t record these traditions now, you may not have the opportunity later.

My style during this session is very photo-journalistic.  I’m like a fly on the wall.  Very little set-up takes place.  I use my skills and passion for traditions to place myself in the best positions to capture the moments.  Don’t get nervous if I’m lying on the ground, or perched on the counter, or running ahead of you.  My goal is to create images that are natural, that make you forget there was ever a photographer present.  I want these images to stand the test of time.  That will not go out of style in a few years.  My favorite processing is timeless black and white but I may include some colored images as well.  Your session includes a beautiful leather-bound session album telling the story of your family tradition from beginning to end.

Contact me if you’re interested in scheduling a LIFE IS GOOD session.  Together, we’ll discuss and plan just the right session for your family.  For a limited time, I am offering this session at 50% off.