Storyboards are my favorite product that clients order. These are my favorite because they are super customizable and are beautifully stunning when displayed on a wall.

This weeks featured size is a 16×24 storyboard.  These 16×24′s are very popular for all types of sessions.

16×24 storyboards are one of our most popular sizes by far! The tricky part my clients face is picking the right amount of images and the orientation because it really matters!  This week tip I focus on 3 to 4 image storyboard because thats the average number picked.  I’ve done up to nine images on one board though!  These are great visual layouts to help pick images because whether its a canvas or in an Organic Bloom frame the goal is to make the images look balanced.

Mother’s Day is so special to us here at Heidi Hope Photography because our community of clients and online friends is comprised of so many amazing, inspiring, and loving mothers.  We’ve all had a tough week in the Greater Boston Area.  We have dear friends, family, and clients who call Boston home.  Shaun’s family was standing directly across from the marathon bombings.  They were cheering on his cousin who was just .2 miles away from finishing, near the second explosion.  In a week of heartbreak for our community, we can’t help but hold everyone we love a little closer.  We wanted to do something special this Mothers Day for the mothers who are such a big part of our life at HHP.

Often times, the moments we have with our children go by so quickly in the busyness of life.  We’re so busy LIVING those moments, we don’t have the time to stop and take a picture.

We want everyone to have a portrait with their children to treasure.  Our Mother’s Day gift this year is to thank our 2012 and 2013 clients with a free Mommy-and-Me portrait party!  We want to catch up, see how you are doing, or get to know you before your upcoming session.  Come enjoy sweets from our generous friends at Sweet Indulgence, chat with Heidi and Mariah, and smile for a picture you’ll love looking back on!

Happy Mother’s Day Heidi Hope Family!

Mommy and Me Party:

Thursday May 9th from 10am-2pmLocation to be announced via email (within 5 miles of our studio, or in studio in the event of rain)

To sign up for our Mother’s Day gift:

• You must have a booked session with Heidi Hope Photography during the years of 2012 or 2013 (so our party size remains manageable for us!)
• please email mariah@heidihope.com with your time preference.  We will email you back with the times we still have left available to take your picture (first come-first served for appointment times).  Current availability is from 12-1pm.
• Email us today, we are almost completely full!
• Your portrait will be delivered to you via facebook
• One photo per mama (with up to 5 children)

Sign up for our Newsletter to be the first to know about our future events and giveaways!

If you’ve been following along with us for the past year, you’ve heard me rave about our new video portraits after having them done for my own family.  I want everyone I know to do this for their family!  It is laid back, fun, and the resulting video will take your breath away.  I was so excited when the W family decided to add on our video portraits to their cake smash session.  I first met them back when I was pregnant with Grace and mom was expecting S.  Then, I got to cuddle adorable baby S as a newborn when I was in my last trimester.  I was thrilled to be celebrating S’s first birthday last week and even more excited to capture the milestone for their family through both pictures and the videography.  A cake smash is so much fun on video because it is so full of action!  S dug right into her cake and was soon laughing and clapping at her first taste.  Thank you so much for such a fun afternoon W family, and enjoy your sneak peek.  We’ll be adding in the video sneak preview later this week, so check back for it!

And here is a sneak peek of S’s Video!

Baby S Cake Smash Preview from Heidi Hope Photography on Vimeo.

I loved meeting the W family last week.  They are one of our newest 2013 Baby Plan families!  Their sweet baby girl was a social butterfly.  Approaching 3 weeks old, she wanted to take in the world around her.  She loved to be held and cuddled and fed.  She looked like a living doll with the most gorgeous head of hair and pouty lips.  I had so much fun getting to know her and I can’t wait to spend a year celebrating her as she grows.  Mom and dad were completely in love with their new little one.  We started our session with plenty of family portraits where she cooed and smiled for us.  After 2 hours she finally drifted off to sleep and we captured plenty of dreamy images to end our day.  Enjoy your sneak peek!

I’m a pretty good secret-keeper… when I have to be!  From new pregnancies, to gender reveals, to proposals, we often get to be “in” on some of life’s best surprises!  I was so excited to be let in on the secret of J’s pregnancy back in the fall.  I’ve been photographing their family of 4 for a few years now, and I know just how much this baby will be adored (and already is!).  Big brother and sister are all ready to welcome new baby and I could feel the excitement they had throughout our session.  They are some of my 2013 baby-planners, so get ready to see this baby celebrated into 2014!  Enjoy your sneak peek!

This maternity session was almost 4 years in the making.  Mom and dad first found Heidi Hope Photography when they moved to Connecticut and were expecting their first daughter.  They booked a maternity session with me, but baby A came very early and our maternity session never happened.  We had an amazing newborn session and I’ve enjoyed taking their family portraits ever since.  When the W family found out that baby number 2 was on the way, mom called us right away to make that maternity session happen this time around.  We scheduled it much earlier than usual just in case “newt” (as they affectionately call baby number 2) decided to make an early appearance like his/her big sis!  It was a good thing we did because mom was put on modified bed rest a few weeks ago.  When we spoke on the phone she said “I’m taking it easy… the only thing I’m going out for is our session!  I just have to make it until then!”  And she did.  In fact, not even Blizzard Nemo could stop us.  Nemo came blowing in on the day of our session, but we kept and eye on the weather and moved our shoot up to early morning so we could squeeze it in before the storm started.  By the end of our time together, snow started lightly falling outside the studio windows.  We couldn’t shoot on the day of a historic blizzard without heading out into the snow for a photo or two.  This family was up for anything!  I had a hard time choosing favorites for this sneak preview because I love them all.  Enjoy your extra large sneak peek.  I hope it was worth the 4 year wait!  ~ Heidi

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I first met this happy baby girl back in 2011 when she and her big brother visited our studio for portraits.  We stayed in touch online and through the wonderful community of moms at Bellani Maternity over the years.

We were on our Holiday break this year when I saw the story spread over facebook.  A family in our community was struggling with the recent diagnosis of their young daughter.  She had gone into the doctors with a stomach bug and then their world had changed.  I soon found out it was Belle and her final diagnosis was pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) .  I just couldn’t wrap my head around the sudden news.   I sent mom a message as soon as I heard.  Whenever she was ready, whenever Belle was ready, I wanted to be there for them in any way that I could.

I have worked with many families fighting childhood illness through The Tiny Sparrow Foundation over the past few years.  It has been the most meaningful part of what I do as a photographer.  I know how much photos can mean to families fighting through treatment and recovery.  I also knew how much Belle’s beautiful curls meant to her mom.  Not for their physical beauty, or the soft way they framed her baby doll face, but because they were a symbol of Belle’s babyhood.  They were a symbol of Belle before their world was turned upside-down.  I know I would have felt exactly like Belle’s mom did.  Yes, those curls will grow back, surely more beautiful than ever, but I would have wanted to hold onto them as long as I could.  I had to get to the hospital and capture Belle’s curls.

Belle and her mom are some of the strongest girls I’ve ever met.  Mom has been incomprehensibly positive and tenacious for her daughter.  They amaze me and everyone else they meet.  Belle had already fought through over two weeks of treatment and wasn’t feeling great the day I visited.  We had endless fun, girly, dress-up toys to make her smile, but she mostly wanted her Elmo, her mommy, and her cozy blanket.  You know what?  That Elmo and blanket looked pretty perfect to me and there is nothing more beautiful than a mother’s love.

Plus, this isn’t the last photo shoot you’ll see with Belle here.  We’ll be catching up again, when she’s feeling much better.  She has plenty of tutu-twirling ahead of her!  This summer, her hair will be growing back and I probably won’t be able to keep up with her as she runs around outside.  For now, I’m happy to have captured those sweet curls before her next chapter begins.  You can read more about Belle’s story in her mother’s words on the Kent Macaroni Kids Blog.

If you would like to help Belle and her family, please visit  Belle’s Youcaring.com Page or check back in with us for the many opportunities to make a difference for Belle in the coming months.

Oh my gosh, is this not one of the cutest babies you have ever seen?  I was totally in love with her from the first second she looked at me with those big brown eyes.  Little Star sessions are some of my favorite and especially when babies are at this age.  It feels like I’m just hanging out with mom and dad, playing dress up with their little one.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m working!  M was so sweet.  She indulged us in plenty of adorable outfits and sets.  I’m wondering how I’ll ever choose favorites for this gallery!  Enjoy your sneak peek!

“Do you think I’ve gone round the bend?”

“I’m afraid so. You’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

It never seems to happen like I plan.  The idea for this shoot started out as something completely different.  I found the skirt last year at a time when Giuliana was obsessed with ballet and princesses.  I could picture the joy on her face when she got the chance to twirl around in it.  I thought it would be amazing for Grace’s newborn portraits.  I envisioned Giuliana finding her new baby sister swaddled in a basket, deep in the woods.  That shoot never happened.  It turned out to be much too lofty a goal for a sleep deprived new mother.

The summer came quickly and I had a new vision for the skirt.  I could see Giuliana running down the beach at sunset, the tulle of her skirt skimming the shallow water, stomping in tide pools, twirling in sunflare.  That never happened either.  Then autumn approached and I pictured Giuliana as a woodland fairy gathering fallen leaves and picking apples.  You guessed it… never happened.

And so, the skirt collected dust atop a pile of props in our studio basement.  Every time anyone tried to pull a prop, the skirt fell down and consumed them in a maze of tulle.   Everyone began asking me, “Are you ever going to use that skirt?”

I was.  But when?

I had started thinking that perhaps I would wait for a snowy day and finally get the pictures of Giuliana in the skirt before she outgrew it.  I was waiting for the perfect winter day.  I needed fresh snow cover, but warm enough temperatures that my kids wouldn’t freeze or be miserable.

Coincidentally, this past Friday I started looking around for a favorite photograph I took of Giuliana in the snow a few years ago and found that the original is gone.  All I have is the watermarked version from Flickr.  Do you remember this one?

Still grieving the loss of my favorite snow photo, on Saturday morning I saw the forecast for the weekend and decided I would FINALLY use that skirt for once and for all!  While I was at it, I would recreate my old favorite portrait and include Grace in it as well.

Contrary to popular belief, Giuliana does not like modeling for me and no amount of bribery will change her mind.  When I tell her we are going to take pictures she gives me a giant “aaaawwwwwww  I don’t want to!” and proceeds to hide behind the nearest large object while sucking her finger.  She’s a typical four year old, only probably worse because she’s had a camera in her face her whole life and she’s a pretty shy kid.  I actually showed her the “Princess Skirt” that I bought thinking it would be her dress-up dream-come-true and she immediately whined, “Mom, I’m not wearing that!  It’s silly.  It’s too big.  I don’t want to do pictures.”
Given her aversion to having her picture taken, whenever I do a photo shoot with her, I have to turn it into something fun so she forgets she’s having her picture taken.  As I hurriedly shopped and plundered the studio for the shoot, the idea for a scavenger hunt came together.

Giuliana ended up having a ball running through the woods, trying to sound out the words scribbled on tiny slips of paper and finding each of the treasures I had hidden for her amidst the snow.  Sweet Indulgence was the icing on the cake, giving us some sweet little confections to scatter throughout our set.  G has never met a jellybean she doesn’t like!  We even brought Grace out at the very end for a quick snap to pull off the infamous bunny tea party, version 2.0.

It all came together even better than I could have planned.  Sometimes, things just happen that way.  Here is my Alice, in her winter wonderland.

“Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

We’re so excited to be bringing back our December Deals! Every week from now until the new year we’ll be offering a special deal for a Heidi Hope Photography session.  Each deal is available for ONE WEEK ONLY.  After one week, the deal, and the opportunity, expires! If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you’re already in the know about the entire series. To hear about future promotions, sign up for our newsletter here.

This week’s deal (expires 5pm EST, December 21st, 2012): Book a Senior Portrait session for the Spring of 2013 (before May 31st), and receive 32 free wallets of your favorite pose, plus a free yearbook photo!

We’re already thinking Spring for senior portrait sessions, and want to make sure we have sessions free for the class of 2013 and 2014! This deal is perfect for seniors who want to remember their last highschool years with more than just a studio yearbook portrait. We personally make every shoot unique, and provide stylists for professional hair, makeup, and wardrobe styling throughout your session. This Spring, show off your magazine-quality shoot with free wallets and a yearbook photo!

How do I take advantage of this deal??

Call the studio (401-864-1919) this week to schedule and submit your session fee for a senior portrait session. Please note we are here to answer your calls Monday through Friday 9-5pm.  Calls during non business hours will be returned in the order received.  Session fee must be submitted before 5pm EST, December 21st, 2012.

Please visit our SENIOR PORTRAIT WEBSITE to learn more about Heidi Hope Photography sessions!

~ The Heidi Hope Team