Category: Toddlers

The Carlsons' Extended Family Session

3/6/2024

There was a quote floating around social media that I saw recently and loved. "The best compliment you can give your photographer is to keep inviting them back to document your life". For me, there's no one that better describes than my awesome client Sarah. She first got in touch with me back in 2018 to photograph her twin newborns with her beautiful Airedale Terrier, Benjamin Franklin. She's invited me back into her life every year since then to document her family as it grows, which I appreciate so much.

At our latest session, she undertook an even bigger task when planning for photos, including her parents, her in-laws and her brother for an extended family shoot. Coordinating that many schedules is a herculean task, so I admire her greatly for getting everyone there (and dressed and happy)! Her brother John even came straight off a tour with his band Moon Tooth, driving home from a show in Canada two days before. Check them out!

We had to have a last minute venue change from their back yard and Sarah's husband AJ came to the rescue and secured a new spot for us (he's a volunteer firefighter so he's used to saving the day). Everyone was very patient with me while I snapped waaaaay too many photos, to make sure I had enough images to swap heads, hands, whole bodies, etc. in Photoshop. That's always necessary for big groups, and especially so when there's three kids and a dog involved!

Though extra subjects can mean extra work, it also means having extra hands on deck to assist in tasks like tying shoes, wiping runny noses and picking the right music to keep the kids engaged and smiling. Their favorite song right now is Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon, a very impressive pick for their age. Thank you to Sarah and her lovely family for being so patient and helpful!

Here are some of my favorite photos from this very special session.

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

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James’ First Birthday and Family Session

7/24/2022

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I first photographed this beautiful family in 2018, and every year since then I've had the honor of being a part of documenting their family's memories. When I dropped off their products from this session, mom Sarah showed me the many places around their house where my photos are displayed. It meant so much to me to see that!

This last session was done to commemorate their youngest James' first birthday. We decided to do it at a local dog-friendly park so that their furry eldest child (Benjamin Franklin, a consummate professional), could join in on the fun. James takes after his family in that he can pose with the best of them. We joked that with his suit and bow tie, he looked like an adorable tiny Godfather.

Older twin siblings Nathaniel and Caroline blew me away with how well they behaved. They were about 2 months away from turning 4 at the time we shot this, and they listened so well, I was thoroughly impressed! As long as we allowed them to do the occasional silly shot, they were game for anything. You'll see one of those shots in the slideshow below. I love showing these types of photos to clients because (though I am -AHEM- a serious artist and professional businesswoman) I am at heart a very silly person myself.

As a small business owner, when clients come back repeatedly, it's such a gift. To have clients who book every year and really show their appreciation for what you do, I can't tell you how much it means! Here are some of my favorite shots from our session!

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

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Seth's Easter Photos 2022

4/17/2022

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I love every opportunity to take photos of my adorable little nephew Seth (if you've read my blog before, you probably know that haha). So when my sister bought this super cute Easter outfit for him and asked me to take some shots of him in the studio, of course I obliged.

Now, Seth is almost 4, and not a dog, so he's a little outside of my expertise. I'm so used to photographing newborns and pets, that I almost got dizzy with the little ball of energy that was bouncing around my studio. Three and a half year olds don't fall asleep if you give them milk and they don't sit and stay for jerky treats, but I did have some luck promising him he'd get a present if he'd sit still for more than 1/4 of a second. If all else fails, I'm not above bribery.

Even though it was a chaotic session, we got some beautiful shots. He can be such a ham. Like in the first shot below, I didn't even ask him to do that with his hands. I guess being my constant model since the first hour of his life has taught him a few things! Here are my favorites from Seth's session!

Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

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James’ Newborn Session

9/3/2021

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I first met this awesome family a few years back when they had their twins Nathaniel and Caroline. They wanted photos of them with their eldest child, a beautiful Airedale Terrier named Benjamin Franklin! You can see those here! I got the pleasure of photographing them again for the twins’ first and second birthdays and it’s been amazing to see them sprout up into sweet toddlers and see their personalities develop over the years.

This year I was so happy to be there to photograph the newest member of their family, baby James! While James was getting ready for his close up, I started off getting some shots of the older bunch. Nathaniel and Caroline were a little hesitant to start but once they watched the master Benjamin Franklin pose, they felt much more comfortable. Once we got those, sweet baby James made his debut and joined his siblings for some group shots.

After he dipped his toe in the modeling world with his brothers and sister, he was ready for his solo career! He followed in his elder siblings’ footsteps and did such an amazing job posing. The theme of James’ nursery is space, so I brought my moon and star props, including my big white wooden moon which I love to use. Here are some of my favorite shots of this new little man!
Welcome to the world, James!

Get in touch to book your newborn session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

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Happy Easter! 2021

4/4/2021

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Spring has sprung here on Long Island, even though most days it doesn't feel like it temperature-wise! I've been feeling more and more hopeful these days about the state of the world, even though we aren't out of the woods with this pandemic yet. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy and enjoying your Spring holidays! We're celebrating Easter here at Laura Pea Photography, so I brought my nephew Seth into the studio for some Easter photos. We didn't get around to taking them last year with everything so crazy at the beginning of the quarantine, so we were eager to do them this year!

I love photographing Seth, but as he gets older, I'm reminded more and more why I chose to specialize in newborns and pets. 2 and a half year olds are crazy little balls of energy and they don't fall asleep like newborns and they don't sit and stay like dogs! Luckily he still finds it funny when I pretend to sneeze a stuffed animal off of my head, so I was able to get some beautiful smiles out of him.

Here are my favorite photos from Seth's Easter shoot! (Wait until the end to see a behind the scenes shot of how the studio looked after Seth was done with it! 😂)

Happy Easter!

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Seth's Christmas and Family Session at Prosser Pines

12/21/2020

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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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Dominic's Christmas & Family Session at Prosser Pines

12/9/2020

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You might remember Dominic's adorable session at the Stony Brook duck pond recently for his second birthday. I was so happy to get this little guy in front of my camera again for a Christmas and family session at Prosser Pines in Middle Island! His mom brought a super cute mailbox and a letter so Dominic could send out his wishlist to Santa. I hope he gets everything he wants!

We did some individual photos of the handsome boy and a lot of family shots too. The light was so beautiful that day in Prosser Pines and we had a lot of fun exploring the trails, despite one alarming incident where Dominic dropped his Larabar snack on the forest floor and was NOT PLEASED when it got taken away from him! I feel you, buddy.

There are these cool tree structures in the Pines that Dominic loved to dart in and out of. I'm not really sure what the story is behind those or who made them, but they look pretty cool. If anyone has any insight into how those came about, comment below because I'd love to know. Google has failed me and I'm curious!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our session!

Get in touch here to book your session!

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Lily's Christmas Photos 2020

12/5/2020

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Lily's parents Brandon and Richelle are friends of mine, so it's always nice to photograph her because I get to hang out with her awesome mom and dad too! I haven't seen them in a long time because they live in Connecticut and because of this darn pandemic we've all been dealing with for what feels like forever. But we got together for a socially distanced photo session where Lily could have her run of the yard and stretch those legs out after being in the car for so long!

Lily wasn't super interested in sitting on any of my little rugs. She wanted to RUN. She was having a blast finding acorns, holding up gigantic sticks and ripping leaves off the trees. At one point Brandon said "These are going to be the weirdest Christmas photos ever", but you know what? I've been a photographer long enough to know that a 2 year old just does their thing and I have to be quick enough to capture the smiles when they happen! Luckily from years of experience and from photographing my nephew Seth so much, I have a very quick trigger finger!

After she was done exploring the grounds to her heart's content, I finally lucked out with a prop she was interested in. My trusty Radio Flyer wagon with a tree plopped inside of it never goes wrong. She had lots of fun pulling it around and also using it as an acorn receptacle. Whatever keeps them smiling for the camera is alright by me!

Here are some of my favorite photos from Lily's session!

Get in touch to book your session here!

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Happy Thanksgiving! 2020

11/26/2020

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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!

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Happy Halloween!

10/31/2020

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Halloween is absolutely my favorite holiday. Even though I couldn't have my annual spooky party this year and the holiday looked a lot different than usual, it was still fun to dress up Seth and Gracey and take some photos. We didn't have even one trick or treater this year, so I'm going to be suffering from a sugar high for the next few weeks while I eat through all the candy!

I bought Gracey's costume waaaay back in May when I saw it on clearance at Target. I loved dinosaurs when I was a kid, so I was excited to dress her up as a little Triceratops. She actually cooperated very well for her photos. There were a good few treats involved! My favorite one is a shot I caught just as she was licking her lips. She looks like a fearsome little beast (which she is sometimes) haha!
Here's my little Gracey girl!

Seth's costume was thrown together a little quicker! My sister Lisa didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a costume he was going to wear once, since we weren't going to bring him trick or treating this year. So she decided to dress him as cousin Eddie from the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, one of her and my brother in law Will's favorite movies. She bought him a robe and a hat, figuring that he could wear both of those again after Halloween! We put him in a pair of rainboots and went up to my studio for a few photos! If you've ever tried to take photos of a toddler in a hat, you know that the first thing they usually want to do is rip it right off their head. But I've found through much trial and error that if you slip that hat on just as you give them something else to hold and take their mind off of it, you'll be able to keep it on a lot longer. We gave him a little cup to hold and it completely distracted him from the hat!

Happy Halloween everyone!

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<<Previous

The Carlsons' Extended Family Session

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

James’ First Birthday and Family Session

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

Seth's Easter Photos 2022

Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

James’ Newborn Session

Get in touch to book your newborn session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

Happy Easter! 2021

Happy Easter!

Seth's Christmas and Family Session at Prosser Pines

Happy Holidays!

Dominic's Christmas & Family Session at Prosser Pines

Get in touch here to book your session!

Lily's Christmas Photos 2020

Get in touch to book your session here!

Happy Thanksgiving! 2020

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

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Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]​ or call (631)256-7476.

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected] ​or call (631)256-7476.

Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

Get in touch to book your newborn session today! Email me at [email protected]​ or call (631)256-7476.

Happy Easter!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Author

Categories

Archives

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

Get in touch to book your session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.

Get in touch to book your newborn session today! Email me at [email protected]
or call (631)256-7476.