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. Die-hard beach goers? World travelers? Animal lovers? Trekkies? We wanna see it. 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.

PLEASE, STOP THE TORTURE.

Dear kind blog readers, I need your help. I desperately need a hobby, as I made my hobby my career, and I’d love to have a down-time activity that uses my hands. The following is a result of my being bored, playing with a flashlight, and hunting down my long-suffering pets:

Hobbies I have TRIED VERY HARD to love include knitting, crocheting, and sewing. Mostly, I love touching fabrics, feeling yarns, and buying more and more lovely silky bits of textiles — not actually making anything with them, ever. Same with scrapbooking — I enjoy trinkets, wibbly bits, and found items, but don’t do anything with them.

Hobbies I think are nifty include gardening — but it only takes about 10 minutes to make a terrarium, as I learned last week. Also, cooking. I like chopping, shredding, mixing, simmering and the like — but mostly, I like eating, so this hobby shouldn’t go f ull-throttle.

What do you think? Painting? Encaustic beeswax collage making? What trips your trigger, peeps — or better yet — any local resources for fabulous classes would be much appreciated!

I JUST WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING WITH MY HANDS!

Little Kitty would be most grateful for your help.

Posted in kristen tells all

show hide 4 comments

Nicole - a) I adore that second photo of your lit up cat, and b) maybe you’d like needlefelting?

Amy - try scrap booking or painting.

Laura Green - How about candle making? They are fun to make, fun to give away as gifts and great to enjoy while you are just kicking back to relax.

keva - oh, great…now i must find my flashlight tonight. thank you for giving yet one more fun thing to try with my camera….

and I am exactly the same way about fabrics and collecting scrapbookig stuff.

once my mom saved dryer lint and used it to make lovely (strange) pictures….maybe you’d like to to try your hand at that…and then post some pics of it!