I combine traditional and documentary photography with portraiture to capture genuine images for you to treasure for a lifetime. My style strives to be organic, natural and sentimental while having a fine art quality.  As your photographer, I will provide a generous gallery of images that can be displayed in your home as pieces of art or archived into custom albums to be treasured for generations. These photographs will be an investment in your family history. Images from your session often tell a story, by capturing a treasured moment in time. I do not try to make you look perfect, stiff or unnatural. I am not after that "one" shot of everyone looking at the camera and smiling. Sure, we may get some with everyone looking and smiling, but I promise if we do, it will be because it happened naturally, not because it was forced.

I am a natural light, on location photographer. Together we will choose the perfect location for your session. Newborn sessions will take place in your home.

I like to do newborn sessions as soon as possible within the first two weeks of life, but understand life happens and anytime the first month is fine.

When I first get to your home, I will take a look around to check out all of the rooms we plan on shooting in as well as if we need to scoot any furniture around.    I will typically take a few minutes to get to know the children so they feel more comfortable with me in their space.  During our session, don't worry about looking at the camera.  I will always instruct you when you need to look at me.  Everything will depend on which locations we have chosen to shoot in.  Expect me to be silly and I will guide most of everything you do.  Don't worry about having to plan the day, that is up to me!

Kids will be kids. This is why I start by getting to know the children and setting a playful tone for the session. It is important for the parents to relax, knowing that your children don't need to be anyway except themselves. If you have a young child that cries or whines, don't worry! Snuggles make for some of the best photos. Kids pick up on parents anxiety, letting go will lead to the best types of sessions. I’m there to grab all of the real!

Clothing choices are totally based on your families style. If you love simple, go for simple.  Want fun?  Grab some color! What I do NOT recommend is changing outfits too many times, if any. We tend to loose the kids. Also, stay away from totally matching. You can coordinate, but matching is not real life. Depending on what type of session is happening (breakfast, outdoors) we will coordinate based on activities. My best advice is to be comfortable and be yourself, but if you need anymore outfit advice please don't hesitate to ask.

Photographs grow in value over time and become family treasures. I know the importance of archiving and saving digital images. I offer simple, all inclusive collections where you receive all the high resolution digital files delivered via direct download and a print release. All images delivered to you will be in both color and black and white. I will send you the link for your photos within four weeks of your session date, but will always aim for a shorter delivery time.

I look at each and every image I capture at your session and hand select the best images. I guarantee a certain amount of images in each package, but there are usually many more included. Lucky you!

My style of photography strives to capture collections of images, making mini sessions hard, but not impossible. I will offer them from time to time, great reason to like my Facebook and Instagram pages to find out when they are!

I am so glad you asked! You can email me directly at mary at five2fivephotography dot com or via the connect tab above.