Wasn’t I just cuddling this little guy as a newborn?  Gosh, time flies!  I’ve been keeping up with baby C on facebook, and seeing how handsome he is, I was dying to see him again for our next baby plan session!  Mom and dad brought the most adorable outfits and we headed outdoors for a fun 6 month session by the bay.  C loved watching the swans and boats while chillin’ in our cutest baby-boy props!  Enjoy your sneak peek mom and dad.  So great seeing you again!  xo

We love Mother’s Day at HHP!  That’s because our community of clients and friends is comprised of so many amazing, inspiring, and loving mothers. In the past year we’ve witnessed the wonder of women becoming mothers for the first time. We’ve seen them nuzzle their new love and captured the indescribable feeling that was written all over their faces. We’ve seen the joy of mothers watching their older children welcome a newborn baby into the family with a shower of kisses and snuggles. We’ve seen grandmothers doting over their newest grandchild, remembering what it was like a generation ago. We’ve been amazed at the strength of sleep deprived moms wrangling armfuls of kids in a pair of heels.

The best part of what we do at Heidi Hope Photography is celebrating families and the amazing moments they want to remember forever. This mother’s day, we wanted to something special for all of the moms that choose us to capture their most wonderful life moments. They are the moms that have become like family to us here. They are mothers that love photography, but all too often are the ones behind the camera rather than in the photographs! HHP moms, we are so grateful that we can be a part of your lives, and we want you to know, you are a very special part of ours too.

We planned this Mommy and Me party for our current HHP moms so they would know how much they mean to us!  We thought a “mommy and me picture” would be the perfect gift we could give them this Mother’s Day!  We had so much fun, we might just do it every year!

When planning our party, we had visions of a beautiful day at the park, celebrating in the sunshine, catching up with friends, and indulging in treats from Sweet Indulgence. Mother Nature had other plans for us however. We ended up with a very rainy day and over 100 people visiting our tiny studio. It was often too dark to even get a decent photo but, we did what all moms do, we made it work! We hung some colorful backdrops and captured some great snapshots of our mommies and their babies. I hear the kids are all still talking about the fun cupcake party! Thank you so much to everyone who came in to brighten our rainy day with your smiles and especially to Sweet Indulgence for the amazing confections table that made it a real party!

3,000 photos, over 100 guests, and countless cupcakes later, our Mommy and Me Party was a success! Despite having to move it indoors due to the rain in the morning, we had so much fun catching up with clients and capturing how they’ve grown. A full blog post and facebook album with all of the mommy and me portraits is coming soon, but we included a sneak peek of the sets here!

Thanks to Sweet Indulgence for the treats, and all of our clients that took the time to come party with us. Happy Mother’s Day!

Remember this cutie with his planes and snowboard? Throwback Thursday is my good excuse to share more family photos from K’s session. We wanted the session to be really fun, candid, joyful, and kinetic, so we laughed, smiled, and kept things moving. Don’t you almost want to be a part of this family after seeing these? So stylish and fun!

~Mariah

I’m finally getting caught up after a whirlwind trip to Seattle to teach at the Chic Retreat last week.  I had a fun week leading up to my trip and I’ve been dying to share these last previews with you.  The S family has been patiently waiting for a sneak peek of their little cutie H, who visited the studio almost 2 weeks ago to celebrate her first birthday.  H was 100% one-year-old sweetness, so her cupcake themed cakesmash was perfectly fitting.  Big sister C had a similar theme 2 years ago, so mom and I came up with this set to coordinate with C’s session while being new and special for H.  Her cupcake print dress inspired the set.  I love all of the soft blue with her beautiful blue eyes.  You can check out how we made the Tissue Paper Pom Poms in this Tips Tuesday Post.  Mom dressed the whole family perfectly for our session.  Simple, classic shades of blue work perfectly in our studio.  Great seeing you again S family, enjoy your sneak peek!

Just HAD to share a few of these from a recent shoot with this beautiful pair. Mom spotted these trees on the way to our original outdoor location, and we stopped on the way back to grab a couple shots. 20-month-old L was picture-perfect for her whole shoot, and was so enchanted by the flowers. I’ll share more of this shoot soon!

Who else wants to use these gorgeous blooms for their photos?! They’ll be around until mid-May!

~Mariah

Such a sweet session from last summer! E is walking and talking now, and it’s fun to look back at how little she was in her lovely parents’ arms. This makes me excited for all of the outdoor family sessions coming up this summer!

This little one came to us just about a year ago when he was first born. Here he is, so tiny and new:

And here he is a year later, full of personality, humor, and just as much sweetness! We learned that R loves water and music now, so we let him play with our nautical-themed props and our fun musical instruments. Mom owns a dance studio up in MA, and you can tell he’s got rhythm, too- he started dancing as soon as he got into the studio! He also loved smashing his cake at the end of the shoot, and thought frosting on his feet was pretty hilarious. 

Happy Birthday, baby R! We’re so happy to have been a part of your first year!

I loved meeting this sweet baby girl and her family last week.  Mom and I chatted a few weeks back and she had so many great ideas for our session.  We started off surrounding L with a wall of flowers.  She was so pretty in pink!  Then everyone changed into their fabulous black outfits for our family portraits.  I’ve been loving all of the formal wear we’ve been seeing for family pictures lately.  There is something so fun and celebratory about it!  I could just picture those photos with mom and dad being displayed at her wedding some day as I was taking them.  We had such a fun morning, I can’t wait to show you the rest!  Enjoy your sneak peek!  ~ Heidi

Mariah, here! This preview was a TOUGH one to narrow down to just these photos. Seriously. Heidi had to come help me, haha. The planning process for this was even fun- mom and I went back and forth on Pinterest, and ended up with a ton of variety and fun shots. I love it when clients are involved in the planning (pinning) process. 9-month-old K loves books, planes, and his family snowboards, so you can see where our photo set ideas came from. 

They also wanted really fun, non-traditional family photos, which I was totally up for- wait til you see the whole series! I’ll have to do a Throwback Thursday sometime soon with the whole shoot.

~Mariah