In July we had the honor of helping Bathurst Family Therapy tell the story of their dynamic and life-changing couple’s retreat on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii through destination branding photography.

As with every session we provide for our clients, we didn’t pick up our cameras until we sat down with owners and founders Dr. Stephanie and her partner in work and life, Alex, in order to fully understand what’s most important to them in communicating their message. 

Together we collaborated to devise a photography session experience that would create a comprehensive portfolio of imagery featuring the inspiring surrounding landscape of Hawaii. This would set the stage for showing the deep, rejuvenating connection experienced by every couple who says yes to the great adventure of a couples retreat with Bathurst Family Therapy.

Here’s what Dr. Stephanie had to say about her experience working with Lux Summit Studio as her official Personal Branding Photography Provider. 

“The personalized care and detailed attention received from Lux Summit Studios always surpasses my expectations. Kristen and Dave have been my core photographers for family photos, professional portraits, and formal business branding. Each day of shooting is preceded with a well-organized agenda and communication of timeline so that I could come prepared with my wardrobe changes prepped and an idea of how the shoot will go.”

Everything was streamlined, easy, and playful. Both Kristen and Dave have such compassionate and playful demeanors that whether you want to talk throughout the process or be calm in a state of inner peace, you feel at ease with them.

Each with their unique photography specialties and styles, Kristen and Dave both bring invaluable contributions to the session to create a comprehensive creative experience that shines through in the personalized, expressive and interesting portraits that they process for you. 

My professional portraits have been used for ad development, website profiling and to increase general professionalism in media statements. I receive much positive feedback on these profile images and happily refer colleagues to Lux Summit Studio whenever I get the opportunity. My business branding photoshoot is being used to rebuild my entire website for enhanced visibility. 

I [Dr. Stephanie Bathurst] continue to work with Kristen and Dave as my core photographers. They are worth it. The experience and product that they offer simply cannot be compared.

The post Capturing Transformation: Destination Branding Photography appeared first on Lux Summit Studio.

Live Life Lux Events are an opportunity to create space for joy and fun, to stop and reflect.

Through Live Life Lux events we can connect deeply with this one precious life with great intention.

Our first event was a BYOB event at Rosebridge Farm & Sanctuary in Montgomery County, PA. Rosebridge is a self-ascribed “hidden piece of paradise, as it is home to many rescued animals.” They are 100% correct about that. They offer in-person bottle feeding and snuggle animal husbandry sessions and so much more. This truly is a magical place nestled in suburban Montgomery County, right outside of Philadelphia.

One of our Live Life Lux events included a farm tour and piglets!

Lux Summit Studio, in line with our Live Life Lux philosophy, hosted an event which included baby goat snuggles, calf feeding, piglet pets, and a farm tour. The evening concluded sipping wine with the goats while the piglets were put to bed and the rescue camels (you heard me right) settled in for the night.

We were so grateful to be surrounded by familiar faces of past clients and friends as well as fresh faces.

The very first Live Life Lux event was a huge hit. We were so grateful to be surrounded by familiar faces of past clients and friends (like Maria, founder of Life Foundation, and Liz Italia, Cat behaviorist and owner of Liz’s Kitty Boot Camp) as well as fresh faces. Mark your calendars for September 15th when we’ll host another Live Life Lux event returning to Rosebridge Farm for more rescue animal therapy.

Check out the official behind-the-scenes video from our very first Live Life Lux event at Rosebridge Farm.

Caution: Contents of this video may melt your heart.

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Live Life Lux:

Perspectives From Philadelphia Entrepreneur, Photographer, Author and Speaker Kristen Kidd

The importance of joy and fun in life can easily be lost in our hectic daily living. Prioritizing joy and fun in our adulthood can feel frivolous. In the midst of a never-ending to do list, it’s the first thing to drop off. We wonder, “How could I possibly go for a hike right now? How could I join that club or take that class or go on that vacation?” Sometimes we take it a step further. We label the desires of our hearts as selfish. Surmising that so many around us need so much from us, we couldn’t possibly divert precious resources for our own joy. We can’t “afford” to prioritize our own joy, let alone fun. What science is teaching us (and our inner voice of our highest self, if we listen) is that we can’t afford not to make joy and fun a priority. It is essential to being our best self, living our best life, and doing the best for ourselves, our loved ones, and the world around us.

As Simon Sinek says, “Putting yourself first is not selfish. Quite the opposite. You must put your happiness and health first before you can be of use to anyone else.” 

“With joy your don’t have to put on a happy face.

You can be joyful in the midst of the toughest situations.” – Neal Samudre 

It’s important to differentiate between joy and happiness. Joy is an embodiment and state of being that transcends a feeling. Whereas happiness is a feeling. In a fantastic article in Medium by Neal Samudre, cofounder of Enjoyco and therapist specializing in joy, he differentiates happiness and joy this way, “Happiness is a fleeting emotion based on external circumstances…But joy is an internal positivity that’s connected to hope. It’s the feeling that everything will turn out okay. With joy, you don’t have to put on a happy face. You can be joyful in the midst of the toughest situations.”  

Joy can help ward off the daily grinds to our well-being.

In that same article, Neal shares three reasons joy is essential to our lives. He qualifies each reason with scientific evidence. These reasons include the fact that joy makes us resilient and resistant. He explains, “If resilience is about bouncing back from disturbances then resistance is about being immune to disturbances.”

Of course, we will experience devastation in our lives, but joy can help ward off the daily grinds to our well-being and help us heal when challenges do come our way. Neal shares the third reason joy is essential is because it makes us healthy. Citing research indicating that one of two reasons life expectancy dropped in 2018 was despair and research linking laughter and high-quality relationships to longevity. 

Cultivating a practice of fun can feel like a whole other level of self-absorption. In the face of continual global and personal devastation, who would be so entitled as to make fun a priority? Writer Jack Gilbert answered this best in his poem, A Brief For The Defence,

“If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,

we lessen the importance of their deprivation.

We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,

but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have

the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless

furnace of this world. To make injustice the only 

measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.”

Jack Gilbert

In the article How Having Fun Makes You Healthier And Smarter, Outside magazine makes an argument for prioritizing fun citing research that shows playful adults live happier, more satisfying, and healthier lives. As if that weren’t enough, studies have shown that the more you laugh, the longer you’ll live. 

Joy and fun, like every way of being, is a practice.

It takes time, intention, and other resources to cultivate and maintain.

Did you know humor can ­reduce stress-related hormones that suppress the immune system? Outside magazine’s article also shares that when we have fun “the body releases the feel-good neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, which leads to elevated mood and a healthier cell-proliferation process. Hormonal balance is crucial for our immune system’s strength and our ability to recover after strenuous athletic activity, as is cell growth, which helps the kidneys, lungs, and other organs regulate body functions. Meanwhile, some studies suggest that serotonin released by enjoyable activities could help promote neurogenesis, or cell growth in the brain.”

So, what brings you joy? Joy and fun, like every way of being, is a practice. It takes time, intention, and other resources to cultivate and maintain. It’s not something that we can phone in or squeeze into our schedules. It starts with a choice and choosing over and over again. We look for joyful moments big and small every day. Talk about it and share it with loved ones.  We’re honest with ourselves about what we want and choose to embrace the desires of our hearts. Then, we create time and space to plan the bigger joyful experiences. Chunking down the bigger pursuits into manageable steps. Even the act of clearing space for big acts of joy and making a baby step towards them is life-changing.

One small step at a time, one choice at a time we begin to see joy show up in our lives and become an indelible part of who we are. 

Family, pet, branding, and boudoir photo experiences are one way our clients choose joy. They celebrate the love of family (furry or human), their own personal strength and resilience through their boudoir experience, or the joy of their career achievements and goals through branding and headshot photography.  

The post The Importance of Joy and Fun In Life appeared first on Lux Summit Studio.

A Philadelphia Photographer’s Expert Advice

What do you look for in a headshot and branding photographer? It’s important to work with someone who takes the time to understand you, your brand, and your goals. Otherwise, you may find a photographer that can take a good photo, but that image says nothing about you and your brand other than you have the capacity to look professional. Your Photographer should ask questions and come to the table with solutions and ideas for your branding that resonate with you. Let’s talk about how to find the best personal branding photographer for you and your brand.

You may be wondering how to know if you need personal branding or just a headshot. Many people come to us and confess, “I don’t know what I need.”, to which we enthusiastically exclaim, “Neither do we, but let’s find out together.” By the end of our conversations, we both have an idea of what a clear path forward looks like. A Discovery Consult is a great place to start your journey.

Whatever you do, don’t simply check a box and price shop or you will get what you pay for.

When it comes to branding photographers, whatever you do, don’t simply check a box and price shop or you will get what you pay for. Ask your circle of influence (especially those with similar tastes and preferences)  who they’ve loved working with and why. Search online to see who fits the style and approach you’re looking for. 

Photo session experiences are the perfect opportunity to practice self-compassion and kindness.

Above all, enjoy the experience. Choose a branding photographer who helps you feel comfortable and at ease. Nearly every client that crosses the threshold of our studio shares that they hate having their picture taken. Moreover, they’re shocked to hear they’re not in the minority of people having this feeling. Most people likely look at portraits of their loved ones and scroll their feeds thinking how marvelous those friends all look and surmise that they, surely, are the only trolls that could feel this way. What they don’t know is all those beautiful people are being just as judgemental to themselves too. We’re all our worst critics and terribly hostile to ourselves, until now. Every moment is a new opportunity to choose differently.

Photo session experiences are the perfect opportunity to practice self-compassion and kindness. They’re also a beautiful space to step outside of one’s insecurities and lean into affirming your values, passion, hard work, or whatever it is about you that you uniquely bring to this world. It should be fun. So let go of that which doesn’t serve you and cling to your best self. The more you do, the more you’ll succeed.

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Life Lessons from a Philadelphia Photographer

Last month in the Live Life Lux blog we touched on Mary Oliver’s question “What is it you plan to do with this one precious life?” At face value, a beautiful and completely overwhelming question. That is, until we put it in context. The stanza’s preceding the question hold insight. We discover that it is in practicing stillness and presence – it is in simplicity of stopping that we “do” the most. 

“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?”

This month we’re exploring the third tenant of Live Life Lux; being present and connecting deeply to this one precious life. Like all things worthy of our time and energy, presence and connection are a practice. We don’t master it instantly, or maybe ever, but there is joy in becoming. We use intention to create space and time to connect what matters most to us. Regularly, we make little choices to keep us grounded and balanced. We go for a walk, play with our kids (furry or human) or meditate. Periodically, we make big choices that anchor us to our why. We bring new life into the family (furry or human), we take a vacation and discover a new world or we have a photo session and create beautiful art to treasure for generations. 

Here are some ways our clients shared their connection to the presence and this one precious life through their photo session experience.

Denna shared her family session experience, “Our individual conversations with Kristen about our life right now really encourage us to open up as individuals about what life means to us, what our family members mean to us, what we love most about each other and JJ and our little furry family members. We both left each of our conversations with Kristen enlightened and feeling very joyful and present. What I think was really amazing, was watching the emotions unfold in Jon as he walked through his own experience with Kristen. I could see a difference in him after he shared his view of our life with her; he was refreshed and more present than before. It seemed as though our individual conversations with Kristen gifted us new eyes to see our world.

All of our emotions were brought to the surface during our session. We played, smiled, and laughed. We hugged our puppies and snuggled the chicken. We were once again left with an amazing sense of presence afterwards. We continued on our special Friday by going out to lunch and spending some more time as a family – a day we wouldn’t usually have together due to work schedules.

One client shares how creating space for a new experience like a boudoir session transformed how she saw herself, connecting her more deeply to her best self,  “I never thought I’d do a session. I’m single, go to church every week. Didn’t think it was for me. Not skinny. Dislike my body. But I decided that I wanted this for me. And I’m so happy I did it. Just for me. I love seeing my body the way I’ve never thought it could look.”

Even in a branding photo experience, we can be transformed, as Craig shares, “I think it’s helped my confidence. It’s kind of a very profound experience to have someone capture the ideal, best you.

There will be times when we lose focus. We forget that we’re doing all this – life –  to have daily joy. We’re not waiting for joy to happen once we magically arrive at a destination. The destination is never reached because it’s not real and an ever moving target. Joy is now, a choice and a creation. We say yes to joy every time we choose ourselves, everytime we choose to let go of our expectations, our own time lines and open to possibilities bigger than we could’ve ever imagined. We can always choose again when we find ourselves disconnected. The future and the past don’t exist. They cease to exist anywhere beyond our minds. We can always embrace the present. 

How do you practice presence daily? How are you creating space for bigger moments to connect to this one precious life? 

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Answers from a Philly Branding Photographer

The first question we get at the studio is “What is branding photography?” We all know what a headshot is, but branding photography is a nebulous concept to many. So, let’s demystify it. Personal Branding Photography (or simply, branding photography) is a portfolio of photographs that tell the story of your brand. The portfolio often includes a stellar collection of headshots (of you and often any team members that are essential to your work and client experience) tailored uniquely to capture your brand’s voice and style. These images distinguish you and your team as professionals, and experts in your field and are captured in a way that represents the essence of your brand’s energy.

The body of work is designed to set you apart and captivate your audience beyond cookie-cutter stock imagery.

The portfolio also often includes a series of images that creatively use storytelling to share your brand’s values, passion, mission, and more. These images can give a behind-the-scenes glimpse into your work. They can be photojournalistic in style and/or stylized and staged using sets, scenes, props, etc. depending on your brand’s aesthetic and the goal of your messaging. The purpose of these portraits is to create compelling, eye-catching, personalized content for your social media, website, newsletter, blog, print media, press releases, and more. The body of work is designed to set you apart and captivate your audience beyond cookie-cutter stock imagery. Your clients and potential clients won’t be able to simply keep scrolling when they see one of these images in their feed. They’ll want to know more.

Now you know what branding photography is. You can see why some might opt for a personal branding photography experience, but are there any other reasons why this marketing tool and/or even simply headshots might matter to your success? Let’s explore. 

First impressions matter. A large percentage of your future clients are meeting you for the first time digitally. Your current clients, peers and circles of influence are digitally experiencing you continually. If you want to be taken seriously, it’s a good idea to present yourself in a capacity that speaks to your professionalism. That does not mean your headshots need to be stuffy. Far from it. They need only be intentional and authentically you. 

If your headshot is a selfie or cropped-out photo from an event, that’s not professional. Rather, akin to arriving at the team meeting in pajamas. It doesn’t instill confidence (unless you run a pajama company, then totally have at it.). Similarly, your headshot should be updated every year or two (or more if there are dramatic changes in your appearance or if you make a career shift.). As studio client and friend Ian Wright recently said, “Having a 10-year-old professional photo is just as bad as having a 10-year-old pic on eHarmony. Do. Not. Do. It.” 

Attracting the ideal client

Speaking of eHarmony, a branding photo experience can go beyond your marketing portfolio and serve many purposes. Many of our clients come in for both a headshot update and dating profile portraits. Others combine branding and family or pet portrait sessions. Often, for small businesses and professionals utilizing some of these family and pet portraits in branding and marketing content can demonstrate approachability and relatability to your avatar. Showing this personal side of your life can often increase your “know, like, trust” factor – the holy trinity of attracting your ideal client. This benefit is in tandem with creating deeply meaningful personal art for you and your family to appreciate for years to come. As a bonus, personal photographs that become marketing content can be written off on your taxes*. Regardless of whether you opt for a simple headshot session or an entire personal branding photo experience, family and all; just be sure to make the most of your photo session opportunity.

Show what sets you apart.

Another reason many invest in Personal Branding Photography is to set themselves apart in a saturated field. Real Estate professionals, Life Coaches, Nutritionists, Therapists are just a few examples, but the services, approaches, styles and vibes of each provider are as unique as the individuals themselves. So, showing what sets you apart, can send all the signals to the avatars that want to work with someone just like you. This cuts through the noise, can be sanity saving and lead to a higher quality clients. 

You deserve it.

Lastly, you deserve it. A branding session can be an act of affirmation of how hard you’ve worked and how far you’ve come. You are worthy of photographs of yourself that make you feel proud and confident. Branding or headshots can be a great way to get intentional about connecting to your sense of purpose and path forward. It’s also important to claim days for yourself where you can step outside of the daily grind, see your world a different way and experience something new. Oftentimes these are the spaces where we receive our greatest inspiration. In the book The 12 Week Year this practice is referred to as Breakout  Blocks. Branding photo experiences can provide this much needed respite and reflection. Investing in yourself if investing in your business. You’ve worked hard to get here. So get out there and share yourself and your talents with the world with style and intention. You’ll be amazed what happens next.

The post What is Branding Photography? appeared first on Lux Summit Studio.

A mentor’s wisdom on finding the joy

In the coming weeks and months we’re going to be talking about living life lux – what it means and why it matters. A mentor once shared a story with me that became a governing principle of my life. This story is the foundation of Live Life Lux. So I’ll share it here. 

Don’t lose sight of the big picture

There was a man that went for a walk. On his walk, he passed by a building under construction. As he passed by he saw three men performing the same tasks working on the building. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” The man replied, “Laying brick.” He asked the second “What are you doing?”. “Making a wall.”, said the construction worker. He asked the third man, “What are you doing?” and the builder shared, “I’m building a cathedral.” 

It’s easy to get lost in the monotony of the day-to-day and lose sight of the big picture, what we’re working toward, what we’re building, why we’re doing all this. It’s easy to get lost in laying the brick and lose touch with the pride and joy (and even fun) of building the cathedral. The foundation of our cathedral is the principle of Live Life Lux.

By acknowledging the good we find abundance

The philosopher Eckhart Tolle says, “Acknowledging the good you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” Cultivating gratitude is the first tenant of Live Life Lux. Today we want to focus on our gratitude for you. You are our why. Every celebration in your life deserves to be honored and immortalized. It is our greatest joy to share in your journey through your photo session experience. 
In 2022 we celebrated over 150 cathedrals being built through transformational photo experiences. Thank you for trusting us to help you honor the story of your life. Here we’ve compiled some of our favorite moments from a year filled with creating timeless heirlooms, helping you, our clients, stop to reconnect with your why and affirm your life and paths that brought you to where you are now. You’ve come so far.

The importance of showing up for yourself

Every moment you show up for yourself and those you love is you building your cathedral brick by brick. We’re happy to be here to help you stay connected to that truth and remember the big picture by immortalizing every brick you place. From courage, strength, and resilience expressed through a boudoir photo experience to the joy, fun and beautiful chaos of family and pet photo sessions. From honoring the legacy and the indelible mark made on our hearts through a senior pet session to celebrating personal achievement, goals met and dreams yet to come true through personal branding and headshot portfolios. These are the moments that make up your life well lived. This is how you Live Life Lux. 

In 2023 the words of Abraham Hicks guide our gratitude forward. “You have to be satisfied by what is while you’re reaching for more.” Here’s to a year of moving forward and reaching for new heights.

Author:

Kristen Kidd is founder and co-owner of Lux Summit Studio in North Wales, Pa. She specializes in pet and family photography. She and her husband David, along with their two rescue dogs Hudson and Nito, call Lansdale home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Together their full-service photography studio serves Bucks County, Chester County, Philadelphia County as well as the tri-state area, including New York, Maryland, and Delaware.

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Dakota sat by him, just in arms reach. The walls and shelves that surround us in neighboring rooms were decorated with World War Two era photos of a family members that served in the military. His own history intermingled with the past, weaving a tapestry of years of service.  

I was sitting at that dining room table because he’d called me the day before with a special request. 

Now I was following bread crumbs of his journey to the monument of a story within his heart. This, so that I could see that monument as he saw it, through the eyes of his heart. Only then could I pick up my camera and come do what was asked of me.  

Following the bread crumbs, I asked about a time that Dakota was there for him, really showed up for him in a profound way.

He recounted the time following his military tour overseas. He’d seen war abroad. Now, he was faced with a war within. He was diagnosed with cancer. He was not alone because there was Dakota. Eric remembered the grueling treatments and with gratefulness he could see himself walking through the door of his home following another round of radiation. Always, Dakota was there to greet him. Giving every ounce of love she had in her. 

I asked him to return to that moment of exhaustion, walking through the door and seeing her face in that moment, if there was a word to describe that emotion, what would it be?

“Compassion”, he said with levity. As tears streamed down his face, he stroked Dakota’s soft fur and with his free hand reached for the box of tissues across the table, he had placed there preemptively.  I’d found the monument.  It was tremendous.  

Dakota is Eric’s snow white german shepherd. Compassion is her gift in the 13 years she’s walked alongside him.

Now, he is faced with the difficult decision to make that those of us who have loved a pet for their lifetime experience. It too is a choice of compassion. It is the compassionate decision to say good-bye. Before he let go of her he wanted to immortalized her legacy. This is the tremendous monument, a thank you. He took the day to spend with her and capture their final hours together – hours of joy and peace.  Now he carries a piece of her with him always in gratitude for her years of service.  

Kristen Kidd Photography is an individual & family portrait photography studio in the North Wales suburb of Philadelphia, Pa. We specializes in helping individuals and two-legged & four-legged families stop and reconnect with the love in their lives through fun and unique photo experiences and custom designed wall art collections.

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In January of 2019 Philadelphia photography studio Kristen Kidd Photography launched a project that received an overwhelming response. The Woman’s Best Friend (WBF) Coffee Table Book project was started to support Harley’s Haven Dog Rescue. The profits from the sales of every single book go directly back to the rescue. The project sought to tell of the dynamic bond between women and their canine companions while poking fun at the masculine trope; “Man’s Best Friend”.

I wanted to create a tome that directly opposed this feeling of isolation and created a community of inclusion and understanding.

Woman’s Best Friend was born following two years of photographing women and their dogs. During that time I heard innumerable harrowing accounts of four-legged family & friends showing up for their humans in ways that other humans could not. In our darkest times they’re there for us, unconditionally and without judgement time and again. On our best days, they’re there to elevate and celebrate with us. I wanted to create a testament to these stories.

Also, just enjoy some adorable photos of magical dogs and powerful women living their best lives.

Forty women and their dogs are featured in this beautiful, fine art 12×12 hard cover. Each story celebrates the life changing joy of welcoming a dog into one’s family. This collection of stories also stands up against a myriad stigmas associated with depression, anxiety, infertility, grief, breed discrimination among other important issues. This book is full of hope, resiliency and life.

No matter your life experience you’re not alone.

Here on the blog, in the coming weeks leading up to the official book release we’ll feature some of the photos from the sessions featured in the book. We’ll also feature one of kind blogs with some of the participants that could not be featured in this edition of the book.

Pre-sale releases today. Your purchase will help save the lives of countless homeless dogs. Stand along side these women and pups and stand up against stigma. Stand up for compassion and empathy. Also, just enjoy some adorable photos of magical dogs and powerful women living their best lives. Order before July 31st and receive your copy at the book release party on September 7th (otherwise you’ll have to wait until after the party and who wants to wait?!). Reserve your copy now and save $25.00.

Your purchase will help save the lives of countless homeless dogs.

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John shows his son, Charlie, how to use the Nerf that HE (John) used when he was a child.

Harleysville family give some love to the family pet, Blue.

It’s so important for the autonomy of a couples relationship to be reaffirmed and embraced as often as possible. Before there was kids and mortgages and pets… there was the two of you.

When Dad’s got you.

Photographing mother’s lost in savoring the joy of a deep embrace from their child is one of my favorite moments in any session.

Blue was the one the chillest dogs I’ve photographed with a family. He worried about nothing while he was surrounded by his pack.

I have never met a child with the imagination of Charlie. He doesn’t have stories. He doesn’t stop having stories. There is a genius in that imagination.

Harleysville mom and son show how high they can go in their family photo session.

His eyes were like two deep wells one could get lost in.

Lashes for days.

This Harleysville family photo session keeps it beautiful and real.

Stephanie and John had a wonderful day full of stopping, reconnecting and reclaiming time for their family, right in their own Montgomery County backyard. Their nanny dog, Blue joined in the fun too.

Stephanie is a burgeoning Lansdale business owner (Boutique Tres Bien). What I love about Stephanie is her tenacity energy and what you see is what you get attitude. What you see is class with a dose of moxie. You see beauty with an edge of determination and vigor and carefree spirit – the kind that says, “Yes. As a matter of fact, I’m going to wear of long, flowing gorgeous teal chiffon dress while I play with my kids in the backyard because I deserve to feel beautiful whenever the hell I want and No. No I’m not going to cry or care when dirt inevitably finds its way on this dress while I’m searching for ants, or playing airplane or stealing hugs, because life was made for beautiful dresses and backyards and mud and sometimes all at once.”

John a hard working, dedicated family man. I loved John’s soft-spoken deep gratitude for everything real and true in his life. At their design consult, following their session, he gave me the gift of luxuriating in their joy and perspective from the day they’d claimed for their family. This gift came when, immediately following their cinematic slide show of photos in the North Wales studio, he said, “You know, sometimes it just feels like you’re running around, chasing kids all – scooping them up from here or there or getting into this or that, but when I stop and look at it from this perspective and see it this way, I can see this is everything.”

This is the beautiful chaos that is family. This is real.

Stephanie and John embrace it with every fiber of their being and for that, they will richly look back on these days of crazy adventure, every maddening and delightful moment and see it for all it truly was to them. For now and always, their best selves are immortalized in these moments and proudly displayed in their home through their wall art.

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