No season is perfect, but every season has reasons to celebrate with joy.

Honor motherhood in the season where your feet fall now.

Your house might not be perfect. Your clothes might not be perfect. You might be between haircuts — or frankly even showers, but this is the season you are in. 

This is for new mothers, seasoned mothers, and grandmothers.

Mention a joy your mother, wife, or children bring to you for $100 off a This Season session
or
add a FREE medium print to a Mini Session

Sessions must be scheduled before 5/12

Not sure you want to be in the photos? I’d urge you to do it anyway. Photographs create a sense of belonging. 

I often tell people that I’ll photograph year round, but rarely get takers in the winter. It’s been fun over the last few years that families I’ve photographed many times have realized that I’ve photographed them in many nature-driven-seasons, so they reach out to make a complete set. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Maybe it’s the sunscreen I’m smelling on my skin and the heat from the start of summer, but I’m thankful for all the chances to photograph year round. I have been able to photograph under spring blossoms, summer’s carnivals, in the crunch of fall leaves, and folks wrapped in blankets and sipping warm drinks and embracing for warmth.

I remember the hot sun glaring down on us during this family’s engagement session and the cold air on their New Year’s Eve wedding. And countless times with the additions of their sons in between. They reached out midwinter for snow photos to help round out their collection, and we hung in there, watching the weather and touching base every time there was a reasonable chance for snow.

It was so worth the wait and spur of the moment scheduling.

I focus often in my photography and writing on the idea of the passage of seasons and the details that fill them up. The daily and mundane that become the treasures in our memories. The tiny toes curled under a high chair. The stack of books from the library. The trinkets chosen to decorate a shelf at any given time. Or the jewelry signifying a special connection with a loved one.

This season has been especially trying for me, as I have been enduring a long-term illness and as a result have missed out on my morning walks with my family. As a way to help my kids with sensory processing disorder start their days literally on the right foot, we started taking short walks before school and work a few years ago, and it was a special time for all of us.

My illness has meant that I have to sit out during those walks. In fact, as I write, they are walking.

Being outside is one of my favorite things. MIssing out on those walks is so hard for me. My sons are so thoughtful, that without my asking, they bring me their treasures, showing me the passage of natural seasons during this emotionally and physically draining season for me. I line my sill with blossoms from a blooming tree, the biggest leaves from the tree a few blocks away, or the smoothest rocks. I get mini forests of sprouted maple trees, weed-flowers, and flowers plucked from sidewalks after storms. And an occasional roly-poly.

They bring the walk to me. So whenever I cross the kitchen, I get to go on a walk through the neighborhood, too. The season is displayed on my sill, right next to my full sink, my splattered window. When I look out to check on the kids playing in the backyard, their discoveries and gifts are there waiting for me.

Each season has special details, and that’s exactly what my This Season sessions are designed to highlight. What are the details surrounding you?

One of my favorite ways to photograph a family is in a This Season session.  This style of photographing results in tons of details, variation, and a series of photos that in traditional portraiture are eliminated to show the “just right” moments.

This Spring I drove a couple of hours to visit a family I have been photographing for a few years to photograph them at their new home. Since I had seen them, they had a new baby, a new home, and big brother had grown up so much.  They are in the thick of rock piles and squishy baby legs, singing the ABCs and soft-fluffy animals, and decorating a new house (with tons of PLP photos!). Their new home is near a special grandma who loves to snuggle her grandbabies, and that is certainly part of this season to share.

One of the special parts of a This Season session to me is that we can include so many of the moment we might otherwise neglect, like those quiet moments when a toddler is feeling shy and needs some comfort from loving parents.

These are tender, special moments, which for a parent are precious memories, and for children help them view their preciousness in strong imagery. These send powerful messages to our children about their worth.

Having photographs of details and moments are such a gift as we have them to look back on and remind us of little things so quickly forgotten.

‘Tis the season to be merry and bright!

One of the things we love to encourage is to Celebrate Family and also to savor each season of life that you may be in.  Some are rather bitter and some are sweet, and as we’re learning quite deeply, many seasons hold both simultaneously.

One of the types of sessions that we offer is a This Season session, when I spend all morning, afternoon, or evening with you photographing the details and candid moments, along with a handful of portraits.  

It’s in the common and everyday things that we find the extraordinary moments that fill us with appreciation and deepen our love for our families.

With Christmastime upon us, I photographed those special moments of decorating for Christmas with my family, which though ordinary with bright blue tubs from the basement are also sacred. Our family is reminded of Christ’s birth and we grow in unity through shared experiences as family joined together from a fragmented past.

Though the muted, vintage decorations may contrast with our cheery, bright decor, it reflects us. We hope through the creativity, order, and presentation of our home that we are also reflecting the Savior.

May the everyday moments of your own season, whether sweet as candy or bitter as chalk, find you thankful. May you take time to simply Celebrate Family as you celebrate with your family this holiday season.

Seasons Greetings from Purple Lemon Photography to you!