You'd love to have a family portrait session that fully captures who you are, how you connect, and how much affection surfaces when all the members of your family are present within the camera frame.

We're happy to capture your family in our studio, complete with gorgeous light and minimal distractions, or in your comfy-cozy home full of familiar toys and routines. No matter where our session takes place, we'll delight in your delight. And we'll encourage you to pay attention to one another instead of the camera, because there's no 'add happy' button in Photoshop.

We don't care whether you're barefoot or wearing fuzzy slippers, and we won't be sending over a twenty-page list of suggestions about what to wear. (We can make you look beautiful in sweat pants if you love each other.) We just want to capture your family. Your habits, your quirks, and your love. And when you view the images we've created together for the first time, we want the depth of love you feel for your family to grab you by the collar and bring tears to your eyes.

The video below provides a peek at how portrait sessions unfold. If you have questions or would like to schedule a portrait session, click on the 'Contact' link above or call 215-206-3689. Oh -- and thanks for stopping by, lovely!

-- Kristen & Haunani, Essential Imagery owners

P.S. That's Kristen up in the header -- Haunani is camera-shy.

THE GIVING IS AWESOME TOUR!!!

YOU can change the world. Really, you can. Here’s a simple way to help.

Lenovo and Microsoft are sponsoring the ‘Name Your Dream Assignment’ contest, which grants $50,000 to the photographer who wins to shoot whatever/wherever they would like. You know what that is…Giving is Awesome shoots! To get more people to sign on, and to spread the photographic love, and to get this thing bigger and bigger and bigger!

The details — PSST! STEAL THE WORDING BELOW AND POST IT ON YOUR BLOGS, PHOTOGRAPHERS!

Giving is Awesome was founded in December of 2008. It was a simple premise: photographers give a portrait shoot and products to a family who deserves it, but can’t afford it. In the twelve weeks since then, over 530 photographers have donated over $550,000 worth of custom portraiture to families who couldn’t afford it. Artists in places as far flung as Australia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and Mexico joined in. Giving is Awesome is also featured in this month’s issue of Professional Photographer magazine, and we’re looking to continue to spread the word about giving.

What better way to spread the word than to load 12 photographers into a tour bus and hit up cities with Giving is Awesome shoots? The blog traffic generated by the tour would easily reach 50,000 photographers per day, thus multiplying the number of photographers who sign on for the 2009 version of Giving is Awesome. (The goal: 15,000 photographers for the 2009 edition.)

…but how would we decide who to shoot for those tour bus Giving is Awesome giveaways? Why, we would rely on our friends at ConKerr Cancer, an international charity, to provide our subjects: children currently living with cancer. We’d be bringing awareness of both utterly smashing organizations to light, spreading the photographic love, AND rockin’ a tour bus! Now we’re talkin’!

What if this project doesn’t cost $50,000? Easy! ConKerr Cancer receives the funds to purchase cameras for their chapter coordinators, less the expenses of the tour. This allows the impact of the tour to go much further than the people on the bus, or even the photographers associated with Giving is Awesome. It’s the ripple effect in its truest form, giving sparking giving sparking giving.

For more information about the organizations mentioned: http://www.givingisawesome.com & http://www.conkerrcancer.org

DIG IT? GO VOTE! The world will thank you! (You’ll have to register to do so, but I promise it’s worth it! Pretty please, vote?)

Hit up the link, or use the flash doo-hah below, people!

http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/givingisawesome/giving-is-awesome-tour/