Recently I had the pleasure of doing a little mini session at home with one of my favorite clients – Jacq Gould (who is the owner of Your Inner Babe, and a treasure to women everywhere). I came over on Valentine’s Day and we did photos of her and her daughter Monrow playing with make up. Though it was a very quick shoot, and it took place in but a small corner of their bathroom, it brought up so many feelings for me. This sounds silly to say, but my own bathroom at home has become a very special place for me. It has become my sanctuary. A place to pay homage to the temple of Me and my body. Th ..read more

This blog post is for you if you’re interested in getting to know me more deeply as a person or photographer… or if you’d like to connect with me over the hardships of parenting. I once was told that you should share from a scar not a wound, but today I am sharing from a big gaping wound. You see, about 9 months ago we had our third child. Our first son! I will never forget the moment I found out we were having a boy… I woke up and looked at my clock. 6 am. I grabbed my phone and saw an email pop up from Quest diagnostics. Test results are ready. OH MY GOD! Without even thinking I opened it up ..read more

This blog entry is simply for those who wish to understand me as a person or a photographer better… or perhaps relate to an experience of grief and loss.. This week I was reminded of the time my dad called me and told me was going to die. It’s strange… when you first lose someone close to you, it seems impossible to consider ever going a moment without thinking about them. Waves of grief and pain wash over you from minute to minute, hitting you so frequently you feel suffocated by it. Then you cling to it, out of fear for forgetting the person you’ve lost. And then slowly but surely as the yea ..read more

To be honest, I’m one of those people that has loathed having a photoshoot done of my family (I have 2 scorpio children and a gemini if that explains anything). Well, actually, I should clarify that I started to loathe having photos taken of us after we had our second child and things became more complex with multiple children to prep outfits and nap schedules, feeding etc. I mean, I personally love having our picture taken but it has traditionally in the past come at the cost of dragging my family through a rather stressful experience IYKWIM. So while on maternity leave this winter with our t ..read more

It took me 13 years, but I finally hired a virtual assistant – her name is Jen Madigan and she is the BEST. Last year was the first full year I had her as part of my team and just like everyone told me I would feel, I wish I had done it so much sooner. Because running a business is not supposed to be a one person show. You never see a successful restaurant or grocery store or department store or agency ever operating with just one person alone. Because it truly takes a team to build something great! Or like how they say it takes a village to raise kids. Because doing hard things is always so m ..read more

“Do I put my pricing on my website or not?” I have so often heard this question, and asked it myself. As a photographer, is it better to put pricing on my website or not? In my earlier years of business I did not have my pricing up on my website for all to see. In hindsight, I was insecure back then and honestly felt like if other photographers were able to see my pricing they might somehow copy and undercut my offerings so I decided that it was best to keep my pricing hidden. As I progressed in my work and my confidence, I still decided to keep my pricing hidden because I felt that I would bo ..read more

This year I’ve discovered that one of my absolute favorite things to do is to meet up and photograph another mom who loves taking photos as much as I do. Like, really just loves having fun with it. Loves to play dress up in different outfits and create different ‘scenes’ together. It’s truly the ultimate adult play date! (or at least this is my version of it) I discovered this after coaching other pro photographers and often hearing them say directly or indirectly, “Suzy I just don’t really love my work, I want to fall in love with my work.” Because as I coached others how to work through that ..read more

At a time where there isn’t a whole lot to do, my job has felt a new level of servitude to clients as a photoshoot has become so much more than just creating beautiful photos. Booking a photo session has really become such an experience for families this year as everything is shut down and traveling feels so out of reach. There is also a lot of concern for parents though to make sure that they are engaging in activities right now that are safe, and I take my conduct very seriously in regards to making sure that the families I work with are safe when they shoot with me. For those interested in ..read more

Though this holiday and winter is feeling so different and challenging in so many ways (especially for us parents), I’ve been trying to turn inward as the weather gets colder and our family has been forced inside together. I’ve started to really pay close attention to what feels good and what doesn’t for me, for our family… starting to think about how can we restructure our home and our life to feel more fun and joyful despite all that we are having to miss out on this year. Though there is so much I am grieving and sad to miss out on, one thing’s for sure, the most important thing to me this ..read more

Today I’m going to share with you one of many games I like to play with my 3 year going on 4 year old. Because while she is super cute and sweet and awesome, she really doesn’t love posing for pictures constantly. And really I mean, who does? If you want to get great pictures out of your toddler, you have to make it fun. And when you’re using your phone camera, it’s just too easy. So today I went outside and I needed to get one last cute photo for the launch of my brand new mobile presets I created (click HERE if you’re interested in checking them out!). I first asked her to stand and smile (r ..read more