The Westlakes for a Candlewood Lake Family Session

You know when you plan to do something and then you wake up on the day and it is at least 20 degrees colder than the day before?  You just don’t want to admit that maybe you really should wear much warmer clothes or reschedule for the next day when the temperature will certainly swing again? If you live in New England then there is a pretty good chance that you have been there…..

As an adult you suck it up and deal with the cold, as a toddler your nose goes red, you hunch your shoulders and you brace against the wind!!!! Candlewood Lake was so cold the day we met that for the sake of Erin and Brody we quickly decided to regroup a few days later at a park in Brookfield for one of those glorious bright, colorful, leaf crunchy kind of days.  Of course we got some great shots on both occasions so here are a couple of my favorites of my good friends and former colleagues from Raw Photo Design days.

Stacey from Blush Couture and her family are pretty cute too….. They were much happier to be away from the cold breeze on Candlewood Lake!

Happy New Year guys!

Janet xo

Sandy Hook Memorial Shoot at Lover’s Leap, New Milford, CT

The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School is a day that so many will remember for the rest of their lives. I was sitting at my computer when headlines started to appear about something going on in our neighboring town of Newtown. Sirens could be heard and reports of a massive police response to an elementary school were enough to send our town into lockdown and the nation wondering what terrible news was about to be revealed. No one could quite imagine just how terrible that news would be and the lives of so many families were changed forever.

After the tragedy there was a huge outpouring of support and love for Newtown and a movement to pay-it-forward began in this area and probably further afield too. In my Starbucks drive through addicted days the chain of customers paying-it-forward would last for hours and we all became aware of how simple acts of unexpected kindness can impact both the giver and receiver in so many ways.

On the anniversary of that fateful day and to honor and remember the victims of Sandy Hook I offered to shoot a session for a local deserving family and include a package of framed and printed portraits. The nominations and suggestions were amazing – so many people responded with stories of selfless, wonderful families.

Out of so many deserving families this one jumped out…..

Maria was my daughter Olivia’s bus driver. She cares about her bus kids as if they are her own and they in turn love her. She has two high spirited boys and a hard working husband and she was the perfect fit for my memorial shoot. We waited until fall of 2015 to meet and we chatted and walked through the abandoned mill at Lover’s Leap on the banks of the Housatonic river. I know she treasures these images of her boys and I hope to make this memorial session an annual event.

If you know of a family who would be a good fit for a special session of family portraits then please comment below. I want to make sure that I can continue to pay-it-forward in memory of those 26 angels.

Janet xo

NY Photographer – Thanksgiving Birthday Cake Smash Celebration

I love to see my Planet Photo families grow and change and I was thrilled to be part of Frankie’s birthday celebration session. Frankie’s birthday is close to Thanksgiving so that was an easy choice – we had a theme. The images would be made into his birthday invitation so we did the session a few weeks before his official birthday to give us time to create and send them.

The cake was one of my very favorites from this year. It was another spectacular creation from The Sweet Spot in New Milford, CT and they blew this one out of the water! Frankie loved the cake but he was also rather partial to the fresh picked apples from Averill Farm…… so we had an authentic fall day in Connecticut.

Frankie’s mom found his adorable outfit on etsy and I made up the banner to match the theme without ever taking the emphasis off the star of the show. Sometimes ‘less is more’ with themes and decorations, you never want to overpower the image with all the details, keep the focus on your child. I am always happy to advise on decoration and can give you links to some of my favorite etsy vendors.

Happy 1st Birthday Frankie!

Love, Janet xo

Sullivan Farm CT – Family Photos

I remember visiting my cousins as a child; I grew up on the east coast of England and they mostly lived on the west coast, close to Liverpool. My grandma would either bring them to us or we would go to them for a few weeks over every summer vacation. The age differences didn’t matter, the fact that we saw each other only a few times a year mattered even less. We were cousins and that was more important than anything else. We probably drove my grandmother crazy in hindsight but we loved those long summer days. I managed to visit some of my cousins when I visited England last year and I am happy to say that bond has lived on through the years and the many miles between us.

Mary and Finley have that same cousin bond. They are so cute together and they get it…. they are cousins!

When you are visiting family in Connecticut in the fall then you just have to schedule family portraits, right??? We met at Sullivan Farm in New Milford to capture some images of two adorable families and the cousins playing together. I hope to see them again on their next visit.

Love, Janet xo