No Cheesy Family Photos for Us!

I have two purposes today,
a: gloat at how gorgeous my family is and
b: gloat at how fantastically lucky I am to have found the most perfect photographer ever.

I am an awful mother who has not had professional photos of our family done... well... ever. We have not even had pro photos done of our kids since Ariana was 9 months old. (9 years ago!) It is not that I would not love to have a beautiful photo of our family- it is that, being adept at taking photos myself, I am extremely picky about pictures. I mean, it pains me to even hand a wedding photo in our house as I just dislike them that much. I just can not bare the cheesy sit-in-a-square-box-and-snap-a-corny-picture-of-me-and-my-family-in-our-khakis-and-pressed-white-shirts photography. You know the kind... And then, like the heavens bestowed her upon us, I was introduced to Lisa by my wonderful friend, Kam. When I saw Kameron's beautiful family and pregnancy photos, I fell in love... Unfortunately, she had gone all the way to Canada to have them taken! Yup, I fell in love with a photographer located in Ottawa! Damn it! Just my luck.

Well, it was my luck when Kameron announced that Lisa from Salt and Light Studio was coming down to Rhode Island and had opening for some family sessions. I jumped at the opportunity. I knew by her gallery that she would provide the unique, personality-filled, out-of-the-box experience I wanted... and she did that... any beyond. When she sent me the preparation email and it said, "Everyone in white shirts and tan pants is so 1995..." I knew she was the photographer for us and she really got it.

But as we pulled up to the planned scenic location and Annika was as obstinate and cranky as a 4 year old could be, Colby and I thought, "This is going to get very interesting." Even more interesting? Her choice of locale. It was a man's house who had seemingly been collecting junk for the past 60 years. He had everything from a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer truck to tractors to a graveyard. And I could not have been more excited! She clearly put together what we wanted and what would create an artistic, rare photograph. And it worked: When there were complications with the first location, her and her assistant, Kam, were able to roll with the punches and find a secondary location, which was just as fun. She got some great shots of Colby and I, where I wanted to showcase our new tattoos:

She was able to capture the girls in a more playful mode in their dance clothes:

AND- as if it could get even better? You see the fun necklace I have on? And the girls' adorable hair accessories? Lisa designs those as well! She has an Etsy shop with the cutest hair accessories for little ladies. (Her shop is on vacation now to catch up on all of her photo editing, but you should favorite it so you can see it when she reopens!)

So, now that many New Englanders have seen he photos she took over Memorial Day, there might be a petition to get her to come back down here- so, if you want in, let me know, and if she does ever get back down this way, I will see if I can get you on the exclusive waiting lost. Or, if you are just lucky enough to be located in Eastern Canada, you should just look her up- you'll thank me for it.

More photos from Lisa's photo shoot road trip to Rhode Island here.
Kameron's gorgeous family here.