happy new year!

Wishing you all a healthy and giggly 2013.

snow queen

Merry Christmas | Hudson Valley Family Photographer

My final session of the year felt perfectly appropriate. When Father Shane, of Cold Spring's St. Mary's Church, emailed asking about a last minute session, I jumped at the chance. After all, this is the man who said yes to me holding a full day of mini sessions using the church's amazing grey stone walls as a backdrop. Yup, see that familiar backdrop above? That's actually right outside of Father Shane's front door. But the church grounds kind of feel like Cold Spring's own square: It's located at the corner of our two main streets and has the perfect sledding hill, a view of the mountains in the distance and a line of gnarly old trees. So glad I was able to capture this amazing family in pictures. Merry Christmas to all of you Christmases out there!!

saunders farm | hudson valley family photographer

Running through a field of massive cow poop. The joy of childhood at is best. ;)

joy | hudson valley family photographer

Coleco Vision | Hudson Valley Family Photographer

When I was little, ColecoVision was a big deal. And yes, I'm aging myself here. My mom is Greek and somehow let out that in Greek, koleko means (her word) tushie. So my sister and I would run around the house screaming TUSHIE VISION over and over. Hysterical, right? We thought so. It's a fond memory, and one I thought about again when looking through this session to blog. I mean, how chic are these coleco-covers? This is a way-off topic way of introducing these two beautiful sisters, who I had the pleasure to photograph in Poughkeepsie last year. I couldn't get enough of their creamy skin and sparkly eyes. But the best part of the session: watching (and capturing!) the first steps of a toddler. I can't wait to watch these sisters grow up... and run around the house screaming TUSHIE!!

fall foliage | Rockland County Family Photography

I'm playing catch up (again) and am excited to share some fall sessions from last year. Danielle--an interior designer, find her at Gelb Interiors if you're in the market for some great taste!--really wanted fall foliage photos, and the day of her session was just perfect. She took me to a beautiful park in Suffern and I was just smitten. Beautiful paths, serene reflective ponds, old stone walls. Plus her kiddos--twins!--have the most mesmerizing eyes. Danielle had inspiring plans for these photos--including and one transformed into wallpaper for her kids playroom! I can't wait to see the result.

fall snow • hudson valley family photographer

This beautiful fall snow is reminding me of my fall minis last year, which looked a little more winter than fall. This one is still a favorite. The first session of the day, and the snow (and subjects!) was just perfect. 

the other place | hudson valley lifestyle photographer

Eveyln and Sharr are creative geniuses.

I knew this before I discovered that Sharr is a playwright. A playwright whose amazing show The Other Place is going to BROADWAY this December.

I knew this before I heard Evelyn reading James Joyce aloud.

I knew this before I saw them dressed up as Mad Men characters for Halloween.
And here's how I know.

They bought a house in my town. (See? Genius! Joking…) A house that I had looked at and written off as a disaster. It had a concrete backyard and an above ground pool. The kitchen was dark and dreary and full of depressing dark wood. Not that I avoid dark wood as a generality, but trust me, this dark wood was indeed dreary. And this couple had the vision to take this home and create something bright and airy with an eclectic mix of traditional and modern and comfortable and funky.

I walked in and Sharr--who had already baked a berry pie (he writes and bakes pie!)--and his kids were creating knightly costumes out of cardboard. As you'll see from the photos, they took this activity very seriously. :) And Evelyn was creating one of her signature cocktails with herbs fresh from her backyard. Cause that's how she rolls. I want to live in this house. But getting to photograph this super-cool family in said house was almost as cool.

PS, the adorable girls in these photos are Evelyn's nieces visiting from Italy. Cause if you're a creative genius, you must have ties to Europe, of course.

Every year, for Rosh HaShanna, we celebrate a sweet New Year by dipping apples in honey. Which is a delicious tradition. Really, everything should be dipped in honey. It's become a tradition in our house to serve different and unsual fruits so we can say the shehecheyanu, a blessing to celebrate experiencing something new. To that end, my aunt has begun scouring Chinatown each year to bring us exotic (to us) treats. This year, she found a dragonfruit, and I couldn't resist a photo, cause it's so darn pretty. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, for one, it's kinda interesting, no? But really, I need to offer an apology. The fall brings a new school year, fall foliage, my busiest work season...and an onslaught of Jewish holidays which muck up my work weeks. So I'm behind. Behind in correspondance, behind in my edits. Just behind. And while the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur have passed, we're still in the middle of Sukkot (a super fun harvest festival!). So please be patient! I've got loads of fun photos to share, and new clients to photograph. I'm super excited and hope to get back into the swing of things soon!