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My sister, brother in law and my nephew accompanied me on my shoot at Prosser Pines with our friend Lauren this year. When they were there they took a walk around the preserve and afterwards said "Ok, can we do our Christmas photos here too?" Of course! It's such a beautiful spot for it! Lisa had the idea to use Seth's Little Tikes car in the photos and put some of my little tree props on it as if Seth had gone to the woods to chop down his own tree. The problem was that his car is green with yellow dinosaur scales! But that's where Aunt Laura's years of Photoshop practice came into play. It was more time-consuming than my normal edits but I was able to turn his car red to match her vision for the photos. We wrapped a string of fairy lights around it to complete the look and Seth was happy to pose in it, because he loves his dino car! He wouldn't wear the trapper hat we brought for him, but that's ok because they still came out super cute. We also took some sweet family shots of the three of them, but most of the photos were about Seth, because he's obviously the star! Here are some of my favorite photos from our session! Happy Holidays!
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In a year as hard as 2020 has been, it can be kind of hard to feel thankful. The year started off very rough for my family when my grandmother entered hospice care in January and we lost her in early February. Shortly after, the quarantine started and it seems like it's been a real downhill slope since then. But there have been bright spots this year, and there is still a lot to be thankful for. Even though I haven't seen much of my family this year, we're all still relatively healthy and most have managed to stay virus-free. My friends and I have managed to stay connected digitally instead of in person, and I'm happy that they're only a text or a FaceTime away. Although this year will be so different than others when it comes to meeting for a Thanksgiving celebration, I look forward to next year when we can hopefully get together without any fear. Since March I've been staying with my sister Lisa and her family to watch my nephew Seth during the week so my mother who usually watches him won't be exposed to any germs. Even though it means we have to stay six feet from my mom, I'm grateful I get to be with Seth every day and that I'm quarantining with my sister who's my best friend, even if we've been driving each other a little crazy. I'm so thankful I have my girl Gracey here with me. She's the most affectionate and silly little dog and I love her so much. I'm thankful my business has survived a year that has been the death of many small businesses. I had so many inquiries and reschedules from the lockdown, that I booked up really quickly for the year once I was able to work again. I've worked with so many wonderful clients this year and I also created so much personal work with the downtime I had, which was so invigorating creatively. We didn't go out much at all this year, even after the final phases of reopening happened. We've been very cautious. But we did go out one day after taking Seth's Christmas and some family photos at Prosser Pines to visit Fink's Country Farm. We thought he'd be overjoyed to see all the animals, but his favorite part was actually the pumpkins. He has a real affinity for them like his Aunt Laura and it was so adorable to see how happy he was running around and patting all the pumpkins in sight. That's a memory I'm thankful for. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Happy Thanksgiving!Little Stella is so smiley because this year is her First Christmas! Actually, she's just always smiley because she's a super happy baby. But she was really happy to go with her big sister Addison and her mom Lauren (one of my besties) and dad Mike to Prosser Pines this year for family photos! Every year there seems to be one spot that get super popular with my clients. One year it was Blydenburgh Park, another year it was Islip Grange. This year it was definitely Prosser Pines in Middle Island. I always give clients a few suggestions based on the kind of backdrop they want, and this spot was the big hit this year. I think maybe because it's in the woods where we can spread out and there aren't a lot of people there, so it turns out to be a good venue for photography in the age of COVID-19. When we met for this session, the leaves were at their most beautiful I think. The color of the fall foliage was so gorgeous, and the girls did such a good job! Here are some of my favorite photos from our session! Get in touch here to schedule your session!I've been following Brody on Instagram for a long time. Not only is he super cute but he and his mom Debbie are out there doing a lot of good. Brody is a registered therapy dog. He regularly visits the Stony Brook University Hospital to cheer up the patients there. The kids there especially get a lot of comfort from Brody. Right now because of the pandemic, Brody and Debbie aren't able to visit the hospital to do their important work and I know that they're definitely missed by all their friends there. They can’t wait to be able to get back into the hospital and bring comfort to people who desperately need it. I really admire what they do and I hope they can get back to their very inspiring work soon! We met at the Stony Brook duck pond to do these photos. The light was beautiful and my subjects were so sweet. We did some family photos, then some super cute shots of daughter Lauren and her boyfriend and their dog Augustus, all in adorable matching outfits! Then Brody joined in for some solo shots, some portraits with Mom and then a few photos with his dog nephew Auggie! It was so nice get to know this family and their sweet pups. Check them out on Instagram: @adailydoseofbrody and @augustus_frenchieboy to follow along with these adorable boys! Here are some of my favorite photos from our session! Get in touch to book your family and pet session!I've had so many memorable shoots with this family since I first met them at one of my pet portrait library programs! I always have so much fun with them! Last year's newborn session for Evelyn was a Fall lover's dream. We used pumpkins and hay bales and sunflowers, so this time we kept the theme going by visiting the sunflower field and pumpkin patch at one of my favorite Long Island spots, Waterdrinker Family Farm in Manorville. We started out doing some family photos in the sunflower field. Then the rest of the family took a break to enjoy some of the fun stuff the farm has to offer, while mom Nina and Evelyn and I stayed in the field to take some individual first birthday shots of Evelyn. She's such a smiley baby! Sometimes it's a struggle getting kids to smile when I have my mask on to shoot sessions, but with Evelyn it was a breeze. She's just a naturally happy baby, so there was no problem getting her to have fun for our photos. Nina brought lots of stuff we had used at her newborn session to the first birthday session. I love when clients do that, it's always so sweet and sentimental. After we were done with Evelyn's close up, we met back up with her dad and brother Owen and sister Juliette and we took a few more family photos in the pumpkin patch. Evelyn was very happy to stand up holding onto the big pumpkins and to spend some time sitting in the pumpkin carts! After we finished up, Owen and Jules were rewarded for their good job modeling by going back to play more on the farm! Here are some of my favorite photos from this very fun session! Schedule a session with me by emailing me at laurapeaphotography@gmail.com or calling (631)256-7476!Dominic turns 2 this month! This little cutie is the son of one of my best friends Dina and her husband Mike, and he has always rocked his photo sessions with me, from newborn to 1 year to Christmas photos to now! He's such a happy little guy and he's got a great smile. For this year's photos, we decided to visit the duck pond in Stony Brook for some socially distanced photos. Dominic loves to visit the geese by the water near his house, so I had a feeling he would enjoy the pond, with its large population of ducks, geese, pigeons and swans. I've shot a lot of sessions at the duck pond and I'm always cautious when I go there because of an incident I had there once, involving a close encounter with a swan. Thankfully the swans kept their distance that day, but the ducks, geese and pigeons practically swarmed us at one point because a passerby had the unfortunate idea to bring out some food! Dominic loved it though and he had a fun time following around the birds, climbing onto stumps and throwing things in the water. Ah, throwing. A two year old boy's favorite past time. Here are some of my favorite photos from Dominic's 2nd birthday session! Want your own fun visit to the duck pond? Email me at laurapeaphotography@gmail.com or call me at (631)256-7476.I got an email recently that made me SO happy. I've been nominated for Best Pet Photographer on Long Island! The awards are presented by Bethpage Federal Credit Union. If you're an islander, you've probably seen these Best of Long Island signs occasionally hanging in your favorite local shops, in the Long Island Press, etc. I never imagined that one day I'd be nominated for one of these awards! When I heard, I went to my sister, "did you do this?" and she said "I didn't even know I could nominate you or I would have!". I'm still not sure who nominated me, but thank you so much to whoever did! I don't expect to win my first year in the running, but I'm completely honored to even be nominated in the Best Pet Photographer category. If you'd like to vote for me or any of the other amazing photographers nominated this year, you can do so once a day every day from today, October 1st through December 15th! The link to vote is HERE. Thanks to Bethpage Federal Credit Union for presenting these awards and giving Long Island businesses your support.  Vote for me here!When Tucker's mom Caitlin emailed me a few days after the new year, I was instantly sad to read what she had to say. She was getting in touch to get photos taken of her, her husband Joe and her dogs, which normally makes me very happy, but the reason she wanted photos was because their biggest pup, Tucker James was sick. I get these kinds of sessions a few times a year, and they're always very bittersweet. I'm so happy that the family is going to get great photos of their beloved pet, but it's also very difficult to know that our session will likely be the first and last time I meet a very special animal. It was so great to meet Tucker and his family. He's a big beautiful dark shepherd. He has two smaller dog brothers. Keegan is a black and white terrier mix, and Tucker is a Maltipoo. Yes, you heard that right. Tucker has a brother named Tucker. I waited about 15 minutes into our session, when I finally said "Ok, so what's the deal with you guys having two dogs named Tucker?". Caitlin and Joe both laughed and told me how they both used to live down in North Carolina where they were neighbors. The two neighbors met one day and got to talking and they found out they both had a dog named Tucker. From there, they fell in love, got married, moved to Long Island, and voila...two Tuckers. That's why they distinguish them as Tucker James and little Tucker. All three pups were incredibly sweet and photogenic, as were their parents! They braved a super icy cold day to meet for our session at Blydenburgh County Park and they did such a great job looking at the camera for me. It also helped that we had some well-timed passersby to walk right past me to get all three of them staring in the same direction without me having to make my incredibly stupid noises for their attention! I'm sad to say that Tucker is no longer with us, but I'm so glad that I got to meet such a sweet and wonderful boy, and I hope these photos make his family smile whenever they miss him. I know how devastating it can be to lose a pet. The whole reason I began doing pet photography was because I lost my cat Duchess and my dog Basil within a few months of one another. I'm glad that I can provide at least some small comfort to my clients when they go through a loss like this. Hug your pets close! Here are some of my favorite photos from our very special session. Like I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm not taking sessions at the moment. Due to the pandemic, I'm not allowed to shoot sessions for clients right now. I miss my clients and their babies and furbabies so much! I have no idea when I'll be able to get back to shooting sessions, but I will update you here the minute I'm able to take clients again! That being said, I do have gift cards available. If you want to pay ahead of time for a session with me, feel free to purchase a gift card! You can purchase in any amount starting at $15. I also want to give a shoutout to Tucker's mom Caitlin who is a nurse. Thank you to her and all our healthcare workers who are on the front lines of this pandemic, saving lives and risking their safety to do so. We appreciate what you do so much! Stay safe and healthy everyone!When people get in touch with me to photograph a first birthday session for them, it usually involves cake and a toddler. This session, however, was going to be a little different! Karen got in touch with me to photograph her dog Schatzie's first birthday! She wanted to get photographs taken with her and her daughter Kayli! We decided to hold our session in Port Jefferson because it's close to both of us and such a dog-friendly town. We started at the park on the harbor and worked our way down to the dog beach next door. Schatzie is a beautiful German Shepherd and she was very well-behaved for a young pup! She had a ton of energy and was up for anything we asked of her. She even let her mom tie balloons onto her collar for some festive birthday photos. She was also happy to share the spotlight for some photos with her family on the beach at the end of our session. Here are some of my favorite photos from Schatzie's big day! This is the part of the blog post where I usually say "Book your session with me today! Email me blah blah!" BUT unfortunately I'm not taking sessions at the moment. Due to this crazy pandemic, I'm not allowed to shoot sessions for clients right now. It's been a really rough go not being able to work and I would love nothing more than to get back to serving my clients and photographing the babies and furbabies of Long Island. I really wish I could tell you when I could get back to booking sessions, but I have no idea. All I can say is I'm so looking forward to getting back out there and capturing memories for you. What I can tell you is I have gift cards available. If you've been wanting to book a session with me and you have that government stimulus check burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to purchase a gift card to use at your next session. You can purchase in any amount starting at $15. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there! Purchase gift cards for your next session here!Reilly's mom Rita got in touch with me in January with some sad news. Her sweet puggle was sick and she didn't know how long she would have left with him. She wanted to get photos taken of him while he was still feeling like himself and looking like the handsome boy she's loved since he was a puppy. I get a few sessions a year of this nature, and they're never easy. I fall in love a little with every dog I ever photograph, so while I'm happy that their families are getting quality photos to remember their pet by, it's always sad for me to meet these sweet animals when I know their time is limited. I could barely believe that Reilly was sick because he was so full of energy and spunk during our session. I even had to crank up my shutter speed because he was happily running on the beach like a young pup. We chose a beach that was close by Rita's house and one that her and Reilly liked to visit. I'm one of those crazy people who prefers the beach in the winter because it's so calm and serene and there are rarely ever any people to get in my backgrounds, so this was a perfect spot for me. Reilly had fun running in the sand and eating some unidentified dead sea creature that washed up on the shore! When the light was getting a little darker, we headed over to Rita's house because she wanted a few photos of Reilly at home too. He relaxed in her beautifully decorated basement den and was treated to plenty of cotija cheese to get him to look at the camera. Only the best for this boy! Reilly did such an awesome job and it was so great spending some time with this sweet boy. When I went to Rita’s house for our viewing appointment to show her all her images, Reilly jumped all over me and kissed me like we were best buds. Rita told me she was shocked because he never really acts like that to people he doesn’t know very well. I said “he smells a dog person”. I have to say, dogs do tend to love me. I think it’s because they can tell I love them so much. Also, I probably smell like other dogs 99% of the time! In all seriousness, my relationships with my clients and their pets is one of my favorite things about my job. If you are my client, I can tell you it is an absolute honor for me to become best buds with your dog. At the time of writing, Reilly is still with us and Rita told me he has his good and bad days. I hope he has a lot more good days ahead of him and special memories to make with his mama. Here are some of my favorite shots from Reilly's session. Email me at laurapeaphotography@gmail.com or call (631)256-7476 to book a session. |
AuthorLaura Paesano 
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Email LauraPeaPhotography@gmail.com or call 631-256-7476
All images copyright 2020 Laura Pea Photography
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All images copyright 2020 Laura Pea Photography
Contact Laura here.
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