Lazy Days of Summer - A Fun portrait session at an ice cream shop!

I always have so much fun photographing this family, and when mom told me she was up for a nontraditional session of her boys this summer, I knew just what we should do:

ICE CREAM!

We’ve done cake smashes and milestone sessions together, holiday portraits and family photos outdoors in the summer and fall. But with two toddler boys, you know what we’ve never done? MADE A REALLY BIG MESS AND JUST PLAYED!!!

I suggested we meet at a playground adjacent to an adorable little ice cream shop, and she loved the idea! This is my favorite local ice cream shop because not only is the ice cream delicious, but the red and white striped umbrellas are picture perfect!

Oscar & Miles were definitely up for the challenge of enjoying their ice cream cones, and they didn’t mind one bit that it dripped everywhere with sprinkles raining down all over their clothes. I couldn’t stop laughing with their mom & dad, and we had such a blast watching these boys enjoy such a carefree summer activity. My favorite part is that they’re going to get to look back on these summertime photos for yearssssss and remember their boys just as they were at this stage, with ice cream dripping down their elbows and sprinkles dotting their tiny fingers.

Are you considering a more relaxed and non-traditional portrait session for your little ones? Let’s chat about what you LOVE to do, and what you want to remember most about this stage of life with your kids!

---

Inspired by this fun summer session? Pin this image or any from the post above!

Fall in New England: Fall Family Portraits at Monument Square in Charlestown with Boston Family Photographer

Joanna & I have known each other for EIGHT years -- honestly, even typing that I have no idea how so many years have passed since we first met moving boxes into an apartment one summer!  We were roommates in Boston in our twenties, and we enjoyed so many adventures together with the other girls that we lived with. 

Now she's on a whole new kind of adventure with her husband and their handsome little toddler in Charlestown.  When she suggested a family portrait session at Monument Square in Charlestown, I was so excited to get to explore this beautiful location in their neighborhood that they visit every night with their son Holden to tire him out before bedtime.  

She wanted a perfectly New England vibe, with sweaters, flannel, beautiful foliage, and a hint of glamour with a gold sequined skirt from Rent the Runway that looked AMAZING on her!

Holden, of course, was such a little flirt and he loved posing on my tiny wooden stool and smiling for the camera.  How adorable is he with those rolled cuffs peeking out of his sweater?!?!

One thing about toddlers during portrait sessions is that they are always in the "Energizer Bunny Mode".  We went up and down the hill, chasing Holden all around the monument as he was on the lookout for all of the puppies out for their evening stroll.  This little boy is obsessed with puppies, and they were the only thing that made him slow down and smile -- so cute!

I just LOVE this family shot of Joanna, Matt, and Holden all together at the base of the monument.  Thank you for such a wonderful session!  

A Peek at our Sweater Weather Family Portrait Sessions - Saratoga Springs, NY Family Photographer

We may have spent most of the summer at the beach, but that means we're spending the fall surrounded by beautiful foliage at local parks!  I'm falling back in love with my 85mm lens with the gorgeous soft backgrounds that it's creating in our outdoor portraits this fall.  The greens, yellows, oranges, and reds are so dreamy, and I am loving all of these fall family sessions in Saratoga Springs and in Boston!

We enjoyed two days of Sweater Weather sessions at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, and at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline.  I got to catch up with so many families that have visited me at the studio over the years, and I loved seeing how their children had grown and developed these amazing personalities!  I also loved getting to meet many new families for the first time, and it was so much fun getting to create these memories with them at the park.

Plus, we had GORGEOUS weather on both days!  Perfectly clear skies, lots of sunshine, and enough warmth to avoid the jackets and scarves!

These fall portraits were our last big "HURRAH" for outdoor sessions until the spring, and I am so excited to share these beautiful portraits with these lovely families.  They're going to have the best holiday cards this year, don't you think?

As we move indoors for the cooler months, the calendar is filling up with maternity, newborn, Fresh 48, milestone, and birthday sessions.  We're now booking through March 2018, and I would love to see your little ones in the studio this winter!  Please email hello@nicolestarrphotography.com and let's plan your baby's next portrait session.

An Extended Family Session at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs NY - Saratoga Springs NY Family Photographer

Let's bring together all of the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, and grandparents and CELEBRATE YOUR FAMILY.

Extended family sessions are always a lot of fun, and when this family reached out to me about a session with 17 family members, I knew that we were in for a very memorable evening together!

The grandkids were so much fun and they had us running all over Congress Park chasing the ducks.  During these sessions we always capture portraits of the grandkids all together, with their grandparents, and individual portraits, too!

This session was a special gift to the grandparents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  In 50 years, they have created this huge and loving family.  That's pretty amazing that they are all together today all because two people fell in love 50 years ago!

So playful!  These brothers kept me on my toes and we had a lot of fun and shared a lot of laughs during their family's portraits.  And every time that Connor, the littlest one, wasn't looking at me?  It's because he was looking at the ducks!  Ducks are clearly much more interesting than photographers.   ;o)  

Alexzandra was home from college and joined us for their session.  She was also the professional cousin wrangler a few times during the shoot!

These boys just blew me away with their compassion.  When I asked what his favorite thing was about his brother, one of them replied "I think his best quality is that he's always very complimentary.  He makes everyone feel good."  What an insightful young man, who completely melted my heart with that comment!

Thinking of a family session for mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and the grandkids?  How about some cousins, aunts, and uncles?  Let's get together and plan your session today!  
 

Family Portraits with Twins at Rexhame Beach | Boston Family Photographer

Another beautiful family portrait session at Rexhame Beach in Marshfield!  I just love this expanse of beach, and it's a new favorite spot for our sessions in the summer and fall.  

I have been photographing Finley & Bella since they were teeny-tiny 4-pound newborns.  These girls have come to me every few months for portraits, and I have loved watching them grow into happy, playful toddlers!  At the same time, I have such a hard time believing that they are growing up so quickly and that they're already running around and starting to talk!

This little ticklish moment below is my absolute favorite portrait of them -- those chunky little toddler legs peeking out from their dresses, their smiles, the nose wrinkles, and the way they stick their tongues between their teeth.  Perfection.  This one shot makes me fall so in love with this stage of toddlerhood!

The girls were all about the TICKLES.  They loved tickling each other and receiving tickles from mom and dad.  Bella even started tickling herself and cracking up, which of course sent all of us into peals of laughter!

Beautiful Finley.  We couldn't tear her away from the water, and later in the evening she sat down in the waves and let them wash right over her!  Once she was wet, she was happy and kept going back to get even more soaked.  Thankfully we captured a lot of photos BEFORE she was wet & sandy!

Bella wasn't as much a fan of the water, and every time her mom tried to lower her toes into the waves she would pick her legs up the second the water came near.  She loved the sand, though -- give her some sand to sift through her fingers and a few rocks to collect, and she was a happy girl!

Watch Finley & Bella grow!  Check out a few of their other sessions in the links below:

A Salt Air Session in Eastham | Cape Cod Family Photographer

I always feel so lucky that I get to do this job every single day.  I get to hang out with families, play on the beach, enjoy lots of baby cuddles, and watch families grow and change over the years -- from babies to toddlers, from kids to teenagers. 

I first started photographing families in 2012, and that is when I met the G family!  Five years ago we enjoyed a session at the beach near their summer home in Eastham on Cape Cod.  Their youngest, Lulu, was a tiny little preschooler back then.  This year she was missing a few teeth, telling me all about how she's going into 4th grade next year.  And her oldest brother is a teenager now!  That, of course, made me feel quite old!  All of the kids must be a foot taller than they were when we first met, and they're all turning into such interesting young adults!  

We started their session off on the same private pathway leading to the beach that we did last time, winding our way through the sand dunes and sea grass to the beautiful expanse of beach at the end.

I absolutely LOVE working with this family!  They're all so close and playful, and it makes for a very easy-going session filled with laughter.

The kids ended the evening splashing in the saltwater, and the best surprise was when their dad joined in!

A Springtime Mommy & Me Session in our Saratoga Springs Studio

This sweet little family was so much fun for their springtime session at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio!  If you haven't noticed, I have been loving all of our spring sessions lately.  I'm shaking off the winter blues by incorporating lots of flowers, greenery, and pastel colors.  Plus, these adorable little headbands from Sweet Ivie are my new favorites, and they're part of a new collaboration I'm doing with the designer!

This family has been living abroad for a few years, and they just moved back to the U.S., so it was the perfect time to capture some sweet memories of this gorgeous mama and her little ones!

Federico had the most amazing curls, and such a spunky personality!  He is an adventurous little guy who brought his big imagination into the studio.  The moment he saw my curved bench he decided that it was (of course!) a racetrack, so he pulled his toy cars out and started racing them up and down the seat of the bench!  Love his creative little mind!

Daphne was the sweetest little thing, and she loved pretending to feed the birds on our new hand-painted Lavender Fields backdrop by walking over to them with flowers in her hands and letting them have a little nibble.  She spent the second half of our session bonding with the birds, and we were able to capture so many adorable images of her and those sparkling blue eyes!

Love her dress?  Me, too!  It's from Nellystella, and you can rent the same one from Rainey's Closet for your upcoming session!  You'll be seeing a lot more of Rainey's Closet on our website in the coming months because their dresses are so soft & whimsical, and absolutely the best quality out there for unique looks for your session!

Love the backdrops?  Check out a few other recent spring sessions at the studio!

Hazel & the Lavender Fields Backdrop

Two Sisters with their Sweet Ivie Headbands

A Playful Family Photo Session at the Beach | Cape Cod Family Photographer

Beach sessions are my favorite, but the summer beach season is always too fleeting here in New England!  That's why I'm always so thrilled when families ask me to join them for a family photo session on Cape Cod during their summer vacation.  Don't get me wrong -- I still love going to the beach all the other months of the year, but there's something so classically summertime about a sunny day on Cape Cod with sand between my toes, bare shoulders, and a beautiful sunset with the song from an ice cream truck dancing through the air.

I met Tess and her family at Corporation Beach in Dennis, and we had such a great time exploring the sand dunes and checking out the sea creatures in the little pools of water that the low tide had left behind.  Her boys are full of energy, so of course we were up and down the beach running all over the place during our sunset session.

Newborn photographers joke that newborn sessions are their cardio (except that it's not a joke and it's true that a three-hour session in an 80 degree room is a very good workout!).  Well, beach sessions with an hour spent running through the sand in the summertime are a family photographer's cardio.  ;o)  

I loved exploring the beach with this family to keep up with their two sons, and we had a blast on the lifeguard chair.  Their mom later told me that they're normally not allowed to go up on the lifeguard chair, so they were beyond thrilled to climb on up during our photo shoot to play!  Just look at those smiles!

Thank you for such a wonderful session together, M. family!  

I hope you'll enjoy these classic summertime memories for many, many years!

A Saltwater Family Portrait Session on Cape Cod

The email started a little something like, "Hey Nicole!  We're going to Cape Cod in July.  We'd love to have you come join us at the beach for a photo session.  Are you free then?"

Without missing a beat, I was 100% in!  I absolutely love photo sessions on the beach, creating beautiful sandy & salty memories for the most amazing families.  Plus, I was thrilled to see this family again.  We first met last winter for baby Amalia's newborn session, and we've stayed in touch throughout the year planning more opportunities to capture some gorgeous memories for their family.  I was so happy to join them at the beach for a large, extended family session when all of their family would be in the same state, and when I learned the meaning behind this session I loved it even more.  Read on...

Many years ago, when their own children were little and before they were known as "Gigi and Grandpa" and were instead just "Mom and Dad", this grandmother was in her dentist's office when she saw a beautiful family photo taken on the beach.  Her kids grew up going to Corporation Beach in Dennis every summer, driving there in their sandy beach buggy every day to splash in the waves, dig in the sand, and soak up the sun.  Right then she knew that she wanted to do a photo session like that of her own family one day, but the years passed and her children grew, and eventually they had children of their own.  And still, no photo session.

So this summer they decided to make it happen.  Both of their granddaughters would be back in Boston at the same time, and all three of their children would be here.  They decided to bring the whole family to the Cape for a fun vacation and a gorgeous session together, and this grandmother FINALLY got her portrait session on the beach that she had first dreamt of twenty years ago.

I'm heading back to the Cape next week for a few more family sessions.  Will you be joining me on the beach?  I can't wait!!