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.

THE HAPPY DANCE.

When something really, really good happens — I do a dance. Not the falafel dance — which only gets busted out when I’m ordering (you guessed it) falafel — or the eighties dance, which is reserved for holiday parties and girlie roadtrips. No no, it’s bigger than that. It’s the happy dance.

The happy dance is the only way I know to express how perfectly *radtotallyastic* life can be sometimes. Professional Photographer magazine has contacted me to do a piece about Giving is Awesome in their March issue — which has led to all sorts of variations of the happy dance all day long. Since I totally lack the panache that lets you all think this is a run-of-the-mill, ho-hum happening, I’ll say…THIS IS AWESOME! JUST LIKE GIVING!

I think I feel something like this (expression courtesy of Ava, from my last session):