Rachel Halsey Photography ~ Photo Blog

Yay! I finally get to share another shoot of the most precious little family – the Tolleys!
This time around I am SO happy to finally formally introduce brand new miss Lydia Katherine!

Lydia decided that her birthday would be on April 23rd (which I personally think was a fabulous decision on her part… I’m sure Rach agrees!) and she had a head full of beautiful dark hair and the most perfect little nose… seriously! Look at that cute little thing!

Matt and Rachel, it is such an honor to be able to photograph so many different seasons of your life.
I remember photographing Anna when she was barely walking… and now to see her as a big sister seriously could bring tears to my eyes.
Your family is so precious and I am so thankful for all of you.

Anna, you are an amazing big sister!
Your auntie Abbie pointed out to me that you and Lydia have exactly the same difference in age that she and I have.
That fact makes me SO happy because as most people know, Abbie is one of my best friends in the entire world ;]
She is my cheerleader, my secret keeper, and the person I want to talk to when I’ve had a bad day.
I have no doubt in my mind that you and Lydia will be the very best of friends.
Seeing how much you love your little sister is amazing to me… You will be such a wonderful example for her for so many things!

Congratulations to the Tolley family and I wish all the best for you as you embark on the adventure of being a family of four.
I know that you will do such an amazing job and make a lot of people envious (like really, how is a family this good looking?) ;]

Lots of love to each of you!

Mini Sessions are some of my favorites! It’s a fairly quick, painless (haha), and affordable option to get some quality family photos that you will cherish for the rest of your life.

You can see some of the photos from our fall mini sessions here.

Email me to book your spot – spaces are filling up fast!

rachelhalsey@gmail.com

One of my favorite families is back! Matt, Rachel, Anna, and introducing…. Lydia!
Well, technically Lydia will be gracing us with her undoubtedly adorable presence next month… But I am super excited and can’t wait to meet the newest baby Tolley :]

Rachel and I had been planning this maternity shoot for forever but kept having to reschedule because it would NOT stop snowing! I seriously think it was 3 or 4 times (if not more!) that we scheduled and rescheduled. Oh boy.
That’s New England for you… Is everyone else as ready for summer as I am? ;]
Needless to say, we finally made it happen. And it was wonderful.

We met up in downtown Dover and walked around a bit… It was sunny and a little chilly but we all had a great time.
Rachel is one of those people that just pulls pregnancy off beautifully. She is so adorable and always looks so cute. I know she’s probably the most ready to meet Lydia…. but Rach, I promise – you look AMAZING.

Anna, as always – was a delight and a half. This kid cracks me up. She is so full of personality and has the sweetest manners I’ve ever seen. I’m sure she is going to be such an amazing big sister.

Oh, and we knew it was our lucky day when we made it to Harvey’s right at closing time and they sold us some Petit Fours anyway ;]

Tolley family, thank you again for allowing me to capture your precious family. I can’t wait until Miss Lydia is here and we can take some updated family shots… Maybe it will be warmer then, too ;]

xoxo!

I don’t dedicate nearly enough blog posts to the photoshoots that take place for the clients closest to my heart – my family. More specifically, my sweet sister and her husband and their itty bitty sunshine girl, Clara Grace.
Abbie and I have always been closer than close… but her having a daughter has made me realize even more so how lucky I am to have her in my life. She is such an amazing mom – Clara Grace is seriously the luckiest little girl on the planet. But Abbie and Nick lucked out quite a bit too – because Clara Grace is definitely the cutest and most hilarious baby in all the land. She has such a sweet personality… I can’t believe how much she’s changing and growing every single day…. And that nose crinkle she does when she’s extra happy – ah! My heart!
Your little family makes me SO happy and I am just so honored that you’re not only MY family – but I get to photograph you too! It’s really just the best kind of deal.

I also need to publicly thank Abbie – she is my second shooter at 99% of my shoots and seriously – I couldn’t do it without her. She is the peanut butter to my jelly and life is so much easier on me because of her. Taking family photos for her when I can somehow seems like THE VERY LEAST I could ever do to repay her for all the love and support she gives me on a daily basis. But – she knows she has a lifetime of free photoshoots to use up, so I will continue letting her think that this somehow makes us “even” ;] Love you Abbie – thank you so much for being such a huge part of my photography business. Maybe it’s about time to start talking about “Tolsey Photography” – ha!

~

Well, 2012 wasn’t my year for blogging… but what’s new? ;]

As I look back over the past twelve months I am extremely overwhelmed – mostly with extreme gratitude.
2012 brought a lot of new changes… and a lot of things have stayed the same…
I am still working full time while juggling a growing photography business.
I am so excited to think that one day I will be able to devote 100% of my day to my business. This past year has been another year of growth and promise and I’m happy to think that I am one year closer to doing photography full time.

Thank you to my AMAZING friends and family… but especially to my wonderful clients.
I couldn’t even think of following this dream without you… Your patience and understanding are invaluable… and your trust in me is amazing.
As I was looking through my sessions from this year, I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness for the amazing clients I have had the experience of knowing and working for. I look through your photos and I am reminded of memories and relationships – it really does feel like looking through photos of dear friends.
I guess in a way, that’s exactly what it IS.
You have made it possible for me to follow my dream and I am so grateful that I am the one who has gotten to preserve these precious memories for you.

My hope is that years from now, when you or your children or your grandchildren look at these photos of you – they also will be overwhelmed with gratefulness. Gratefulness that there was such an abudence of love – and also that it was important enough to be documented. This gift will live on forever and we will never know what kind of impact it will have.

So thank you again. I wish you all the happiest of New Years and I hope that 2013 brings even more love, laughter, and great memories to you and your loved ones.
I hope that this year will be filled with even more photo sessions… more love, more weddings, more babies, and more family… This life we’ve been given is such a gift.
Let’s document more of the love in our lives so that we can stop time for just a moment…. and we can be thankful.

And now – some of my favorites from the year….

Families:

Couples:

And last but not least, we experienced some pretty amazing weddings in 2012!

Of course, individual blog posts of all these amazing sessions will be coming… some day ;]

Until then, continue keeping up with me by visiting my Facebook Page.

Exciting things are coming… I am already in the process of putting together a plan for another day of mini sessions this winter… I am a firm believer that there should be more photos of families playing in the snow together!
If you are interested in recieving more information about these mini sessions, please email me at rachelhalsey@gmail.com or leave a comment on my Facebook page.

Lots of love to everyone… and a very happy 2013, too!

I really do want to be better about posting my personal photos on this blog. It’s so easy to get caught up with client images and deadlines and this or that, etc. but when I think about all of the reasons I got into photography, I think about Christmas.

Let me explain.

In 2001, I was twelve years old. It was this Christmas that I asked for my first 35 mm SLR camera – A Minolta Maxxum 5. I loved that camera with all of my heart. I remember how excited I felt when I opened it up… I put that first roll of film in and the rest is history (as they say). I can honestly say that this is one of the biggest and earliest events in my life that absolutely shaped the way I saw things. From that Christmas on, I preferred looking at things through the viewfinder of my camera. Capturing something on film was empowering to me – I could turn something ugly in to a beautiful piece of art work (“beautiful” of course being up for debate). I could freeze time. Forever. I really do believe that even at such a young age, I “got it”. This is what I was supposed to do for the rest of my life.

This Christmas, I opened up a beautiful 50 mm 1.2 portrait lens from my generous sister and sweet husband. My heart immediately remembered that Christmas half my lifetime ago… Who would’ve thought I’d be here? I certainly didn’t… but boy, am I thankful.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. It’s a time of family and love and hope and wonder… and I always get so excited about capturing those things so that I can re-live them year after year. Ever since my brother and sister have had children, I have viewed Christmas even differently than before. Christmas has become somehow even more exciting and magical and I look so forward to seeing the huge smiles on those tiny faces that I love more than life itself.

~

This past fall, we decided to offer something a little bit different for those who had contacted me about wanting a shorter photo session for the purpose of Christmas card photo options. Introducing…. the fall mini session! We dedicated an afternoon at Prescott Park in Portsmouth to these fun little shoots… Just 20 minutes each, we promised each family a CD with 15-20 different image options for whatever they’d like – Christmas cards, photo gifts, etc.
The mini sessions were such a huge hit, I’ve decided to try to start offering them each season. I’m not sure we’ll do a winter one (although if I had enough interest, I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to it!) but I am thinking we will most definitely do a spring, summer, and another fall day.

If you would like to be included in our next set of mini sessions, please email me (at) rachelhalsey@gmail.com and I will put you on the list!

And now ~

~The Aube Family

~The Boston Family

~The Carpenter Family

~The Dorais Family

~The Kilbourn Family

~The Roy Family

~ The Audino Family

~ The Norbert Family

This is my second time photographing the lovely Cotter family, and I must say, these kids just somehow keep getting cuter and cuter.
Will and Charlie have the best little boy smiles and the most amazing eyes you’ll ever see. They are so full of energy and excitement and wonder and amazement. As we walked around and looked for places to shoot, I loved watching these brothers as they turned our entire time together in to a lovely adventure.

And then there’s Sara and Dan. Sara is one of those people with one of those smiles. You know the type, right? She always looks beautiful and joyful and the happiness on her face always makes me smile. She is such an amazing mother. You can tell by watching her with her boys for five minutes. She and Dan are doing such a great job as parents… and the two of them together are just so sweet. There is obvious love in this family, and I felt so honored documenting it.

This family is so typical in so many ways…. beautiful kids that are growing so fast you almost can’t see it…. and then you catch a glimpse. A glimpse of the summer days to come and another year down. These days just fly by and are gone so fast. I love mom’s like Sara who make sure to make time for the important act of documenting her life as it is right now. This second. Whole and beautiful and barely resting long enough for her to take it all in.

No worries. That’s what I’m here for:

Shawn and Maranda contacted me about doing family photos of them + their four little ones. After emailing back and forth with Maranda about our session, I absolutely couldn’t wait. Little did I know, these four little ones would be even more precious than I ever could have imagined.
Arilyn is so obviously the big sister – and such a great one. She was such a huge help in getting baby Alexa to smile… and her quiet but oh-so-sweet personality simply shines through in every photo I took of her. She is such a beauty, too… so naturally photogenic and so calming to be around. Her personality actually reminded me a little of my own favorite big sister (cough cough, that’s you Abbie!).
And then there’s Addison. Addie found a special place in my heart… I saw so much of myself as a little girl in her personality. She is so outgoing and such a little sweetheart… by the end of our session, she kept referring to me as “her new friend” and we held hands the whole way back to the car. Melt my heart… this little girl is something special.

Owen is such a little boy amongst these little beauties. Just looking at his sweet little face makes me smile so big. Look at those eyes! I especially loved watching Shawn with Owen as the relationship they already have as father/son is obviously so special.

And then of course there’s Alexa! Aw, I love those baby cheeks and those big baby blue eyes. What a sweetie.
Seriously, this whole family was almost too good to be true. These children are beautiful and happy and such a pleasure to be around. And of course their parents are beautiful and happy and so very loving. It’s hard to be around this family and not smile the whole time. Trust me!
Shawn and Maranda, thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to photograph your family. I loved watching how much you all love each other. Photographing families like yours makes me so excited about having a family of my own one day.

I am already looking forward to our next session and seeing how different everyone looks (especially little Alexa!) as your little ones continue to grow and change.
You are the kind of family that I secretly (or not-so-secretly) hope I get to photograph year after year after year ;]

Lots of love from my home to yours!

Another session with one of my favorite little families! Matt, Rachel, and Anna are no strangers to this blog. For those who may be a little confused, Matt is my brother-in-law Nick’s twin brother (Nick is married to my sister Abbie). Hence the strangely intense family resemblance going on here! I always love taking photos of Matt and Rachel (and of course Anna) – their little family is just so beautiful. And – exciting tidbit of info – their sweet little family will actually be growing by another little girl in only a few short months! I’m already so excited about those family photos to come :]
We met up at the beach for some relaxed/casual family portraits.
I’m always blown away by how photogenic the three of you are. Rachel – you’re beyond gorgeous. Seriously.
And of course I have to mention how especially photogenic little Anna is too… I can’t even handle how much of her sweet personality shows through in photos. And that hair… In the sunshine it looks especially red and I couldn’t be more jealous. She looks like a model to me :]

Because this blog post is so delayed (I know, I know…. I’m such a broken record), I actually already have another shoot with this sweet fam already on the books! I will be doing Rachel’s maternity photos this weekend and I’m so excited to post some previews of those so stay tuned!

~