Some Personal Christmas Photos

Every year I’m so busy getting my clients’ holiday photos done, that I tend to leave my own shooting and editing to the last minute! Here are some of the personal holiday photos I've been shooting this season.
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For the last few years, I've been decorating a small studio tree with some of the camera ornament overflow from my big Christmas tree (I have roughly 1,000 haha).

​ Last year I picked up a small real tree from Waterdrinker Family Farm in Manorville, and decided to put it up in our kitchen instead of the studio so we could see it more often. 

We did the same thing again this year. I took a few shots of my mother and my nephew Seth decorating it earlier this month. Each time he found a new camera ornament in the box, he pretended to take a picture of me with it. He's too cute. 

I also took a few shots in the studio of my beautiful daughter Gracey, who is a very unwilling participant when it comes to photos 😂. I usually have a only a few minutes of cooperation before she decides the session is over. Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve been doing this long enough to be able to get a decent amount of photos of even the most unwilling subjects, so I was able to snap some adorable portraits of her in less than 5 minutes, and she was handsomely rewarded with a smorgasbord of treats for her time.

I also did family photos for my sister Lisa, brother in law Will and nephew Seth in Port Jefferson this year. We found a Christmas tree right outside the Village Center and did a quick session there for some photos to go on their Christmas card this year. Seth was rewarded for his cooperation with a trip to the candy store after, and a walk up and down his favorite set of stairs that he visits every time we're down port. 

Then Seth was treated to two more photo shoots in the studio. I broke it up so as not to push my luck. There's a short attention span when it comes to four year olds and I always want to keep photos in Aunt Laura's studio to be a positive experience for him, so that it's something he doesn't come to dread! Because, let's face it, I'm never going to stop dragging him in there because he's so darn cute. First he wanted to take a few photos with my dog Gracey, because he loves her so much. I have to admit those were a struggle, so I only got one good one, and it was heavily Photoshopped haha! Then we took some photos of him in his Christmas outfit. I gave him a stuffed bear to hold onto to keep his hands busy.

Then another day we tried again in some Christmas pajamas for more photos with his huge stuffed moose, who he named Horns, which was his big Christmas present last year. He likes to sit on top of Horns and has decent balance, but he was getting a little wobbly toward the end, so I added a little support for him so he could be antsy on top of Horns and we wouldn't have to worry about him taking a tumble.

Happy Holidays everyone!