Alice Park Photography » Blog

It goes without saying that if my house were to burn down and I had 60 seconds to grab our family’s dearest possessions, my family albums would be at the top of my list.

No, not my external drives that host all of my digital images… My printed family albums.

I am often asked what I do with the captures I take of my own family.  I create heirloom albums for my clients as a living, so naturally when it was time to put together a plan for documenting my own children, I knew I wanted something simple, beautiful, and timeless that I could pass down.  Here is what I’m currently doing…

1) Annual Albums:  If you haven’t been following my blog or Instagram, I have been chronicling Lyon’s life since the day he was born.  I’ve missed days here and there, yes.  But for the most part, I’ve been journalizing every single day of his life and piecing together annual albums of Lyon’s life.

Part of what I love about this project are the words I include with my daily captures.  Journal entries written to Lyon about our struggles, our triumphs, our milestones, and our enormous amount of love for him.  These albums are simply designed, beautiful, and meaningful in so many ways….

2)  I’m also putting together smaller coffee table books of our trips as a family.  Mixed Instagram images + professional shots of our adventures using one of my favorite new book companies, Artifact Uprising.  I absolutely love how simple yet visually stunning their books are.  It takes me less than an hour (compared to the whopping 20 hours I spend on Lyon’s annual albums) to put together these books online.  I absolutely love them.


3)  And lastly, I’m constantly printing images.  Hard copies of my favorite digital negatives, whether they make it to an album or not.  These images are priceless to me, and I know they will be treasured more so printed and in a box than stored somewhere on a hard drive.  My favorite vendor is postal pix and printstagram via our mobile phones.

We all are constantly capturing our family’s lives through our mobile phones, point&shoots, and DSLR’s.  What we often fail to do is convert those priceless images into something tangible and beautiful for our children.

I’d love to challenge each of you to start printing those memories and formulating a plan for making this an annual project for your family.  I promise and cross my heart that you will not regret it….

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Becoming a mother was a life changing experience for me.  And not just the everyday changes like no longer being able to EVER sleep in again, or finding the time to do anything that didn’t involve my child.  It was more than that.  It was deeper…  And just when I thought I had mastered the art of selflessly organizing my life around his, it’s time to let go.

My baby starts preschool this Fall, and the sentimental mom in me decided to start the tradition of photographing his first day of school every year until he officially leaves the nest.  I may not be able to keep him home with me forever, but I sure will have a lot of memories that we’ll treasure forever.

For those of you sentimental moms who love documenting those first day memories, here are five tips that will help you master those photographs:

1)  Make this a fun tradition.  First days inevitably happen every year.  Just like birthdays.  Pick one element that will remain consistent every year, whether it’s a black chalkboard plaque or your front door, and photograph your child each year with it.  He/She will literally grow up before your eyes…

2)  Allow yourself time to really enjoy this experience.  In other words, don’t attempt this shot when you’re already running 10 minutes behind.  Plan your morning so that you have at least 10-15 minutes to play around with ideas and really capture their expressions and emotions.

3)  Get to know your camera. Find the most flattering light on your child.  And when in doubt, take out your smart phone and get a snap shot before the moment passes…  They say the very best photographs are the ones actually captured.  Trust me, you will love it just the same.

4)  Don’t forget to capture their last day of school too.  Amazing what changes happen in a year!

5)  Share your captures.  Facebook it, Instagram it, Blog it.  There is an amazing community of moms out there who understand exactly what it feels like to let your baby go out there into the world, and chances are – they are a little bit emotional about it all too.  Embrace this milestone in your child’s life and proudly share it with all that you love.  We are your biggest cheerleaders.


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I just wanted to publicly shout out to my favorite little peanut – Jack – a very happy & fun-filled 5th birthday.  What a huge milestone, my buddy!

I have been chronicling Jack’s life since he was just a few days old…  I’ve watched this family grow over the last 5 years, closely observing Matt and Jessica go from being nervous, anxious and excited new parents to ones that can tackle just about anything their two children throw at them.  Whether it’s a handful of new allergies to a 10 hour car trip listening to their now 2 year old scream, they’ve become quite the parental role models to me.  To say I just adore this family is an understatement…  I am just excited for the opportunity to one day give Jack a toast to his new bride on his wedding day 🙂

To celebrate Jack’s 5 amazing years, here are some favorite photographs of mine….

Just a few days old –

Fast-forward 7 months, and here is the happy, silly Jack we all know today.

Hallelujah, we made it to a year!

It snowed for us in Virginia Highlands when Jack turned 18 months.

And a few months later, Jack welcomed his new baby brother – Ben.  Absolutely precious.

Jack is 2!

And then we celebrated Jack turning 3!

Wow, then how did 4 sneak around the corner so quickly?!

We traveled that summer up with the Royko’s for their family’s vacation in Cape Cod.  I could not *not* go with them.

And I even helped dad plan a little clambake for his family up there.  What a fun trip that was for Jack!

I have a hard time looking back at the recent images we’ve captured of Jack’s last year.  He looks so incredibly grown up here at the train museum….

And these were captured a few days ago right before his 5th birthday.

Watching Jack grow up over the years has given me such a meaningful excitement for what to expect in my own little boy.  His sweet and enduring personality still win over his parents every time, and his spirit still keeps me on my toes during every photo session with him.  They grow too quickly, and before you know it – they’re in kindergarten and making girls swoon.

Happy 5th birthday to the Royko family.  I’ve loved being there for every one of Jack’s biggest milestones!

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Congratulations to my friends at Baby Braithwaite for the beautiful new launch of their website!

Chaffee and her team spent months preparing for this – late, late nights on the many details that make this site so special – and I truly feel the finished product compliments their sophisticated storefront perfectly.  I’m *so* proud to introduce the new e-commerce home for Baby Braithwaite….

I photographed most of the editorial photography featured on their site, and it truly was a dream commercial project for me to take on….  I loved the collaborative effort from Chaffee, myself, and her team; I adored the little models and their mommies; the shooting space we worked in was just perfect; and this project was easy for me because I sincerely understood their brand.

Some of my favorite shots already featured on their website.  There are so many more favorites I’m dying to share, but you’ll just have to follow Baby Braithwaite’s site to see more as they add fun, new editorial content!


There are many new features on the website that makes the shopping experience so special.  One in particular that I love is the “Chaffee loves” section…  This dynamic page features hand-selected favorites that Chaffee loves to gift to friends and use with Erich.  With the sometimes overwhelming selection of beautiful things offered, this page makes it *that* much easier to choose the absolute perfect item.

Another new feature that I love is their new registry page!  After going through the baby registry process with Lyon, I appreciate the beautiful new system Chaffee and her team created to make this paralyzing process easy, fun, and almost addicting!  Every new mom wants to be sure that she’s thought of everything her baby could possibly need in those first few months.  With Baby Braithwaite’s new and powerful registry system, she can rest assured knowing she has all of the essentials.  The Moms on Call collection is my personal favorite 😉

And one last touch that I especially love is the “Complete the Collection” selections offered when viewing a particular product.  Chaffee’s paired some of the most adorable pieces together that you would never think of!  (making shopping so much more fun)  It’s almost like she’s shopping right there with you online…  How adorable would those frog sunglasses be on Lyon paired with the seersucker swim trunks?!

I love all of the new content, the ease of navigation, and of course – beautiful new “look” of the website.  Baby Braithwaite will be adding a lot more editorial content in the near future, and I’m thrilled to be collaborating with their team on that.  Be sure to visit their Facebook page often for updates on all of the new things coming.

Until then, Happy Shopping!

 

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It’s so fun to share this beautiful maternity session today.  Lindsay contacted me a couple of months ago to see if I could document her and her husband’s reactions as we revealed the gender of her baby.

With careful planning and some creative thought put into this session, I am thrilled with what we were able to capture – the absolute thrill and JOY from their faces as they found out their first baby’s gender is priceless.  Absolutely priceless.

Chris and Lindsay are going to be amazing parents, and I’m so excited to document their journey into parenthood…

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