2023 was quite a year! A year of incredibly early Spring blossoms, a year of endless rain, a year of fleeting foliage. But also a year of amazing clients, me learning to pivot over and over, dramatic skies, and the intense process of consulting (and ranking the accuracy of) many weather apps at one time. December is the time to celebrate this year of learning with my all-time favorite yearly post:

it’s client superlative time!

In no particular order, let’s get started on this year’s “winning” families.

2023 Family Photography Winners

1. THE BEST FOLIAGE WINNERS

Foliage is one of those fickle things that is impossible to predict. One day, everything is still green and the next we are bursting with yellows, reds, and golds. This year, we went from full “bloom” to naked trees in (literally) less than a week. It was one of the most wildly unpredictable years that I can recently recall. These sessions below that happened to hit the foliage *just right* took place between a Sunday and Saturday (6 days) the last week of October. By the next day, the leaves were totally gone. What a wild ride!

2. THE WETTEST FAMILY SESSION

Who doesn’t want to win an award for the wettest family session?! HAHA. You’d think the title would imply disaster but these two sessions were some of my favorites of the year. The first was a beach session at Salisbury Beach. It might seem like a no-brainer that families get wet during a beach session but you’d be surprised at how many families get upset about wet clothes. Not this family! They fully embraced the water at the end of their session and we got so many amazing shots of everyone frolicking together as the sun set.

Secondly was not an intentionally wet session. So many weather calls this year turned out to be dead wrong and this was one such session. There was not rain in the forecast, but sure enough, it began misting as we arrived. This mama wanted to go for it as long as I was up for it (I always am!) and we made magic in the Summer rain.

3. THE CREEPIEST (CRAWLIEST) SESSION

It’s not often that I get to award someone the creepiest session award but I got to work with Bug Bully for their brand session this year. Mike and his team were awesome and we had a blast getting creative with extermination gear and learning more about their process for critter and bug removal.

4. THE SWEATIEST SESSION

In past years, the sweatiest/hottest session award has gone to families who braved temps in the upper 90s. While I had a couple of those this year, the sweatiest session was definitely the branding sessions I did for Jessica at Emotions in Motion. The mamas at bootcamp, sunrise yoga, and stroller fit were sweating it out, laughing, chatting, and being generally amazing while I photographed them. Such a blast!

5. THE MOST MEANINGFUL SESSION

This was probably the easiest superlative for me to award. This past February, I had the honor of trying out birth photography for my little sister as she brought my nephew into the world. Watching her and my brother-in-law work together with their doula Shannon to overcome all the challenges thrown their way was moving in a way that I can’t explain. I also learned that I am NOT good at staying up all night, haha.

5. THE MOST COLORFUL SESSION

This superlative was also a no-brainer. If you haven’t checked out Audrey (@homerunballerina) on instagram yet, her feed brightens my day literally and figuratively. The way she embraces color and pattern in her home, clothing, and life is so refreshing. I had the honor of traveling to CT to photograph her home tour featured on Cup of Jo and I have wanted to add more color to my home decor ever since!

6. THE FUNNIEST BURST OF PHOTOS

As a photographer of (mostly) small and very active children, I shoot on what’s called “burst mode” on my camera. This allows me to take many photos per second which aides me in capturing children in all their moving glory. It also sometimes results in hilarious outtakes like the one below. Please note the simultaneous look of horror/shock on Dad’s face and complete glee on his kiddos face. Please note that he landed very happily on his feet and that last image was taken in the next second!

7. FAVORITE SILHOUETTE PHOTOGRAPH

Silhouette images seem to be either loved or hated by people. I am team “love them” because I think they add such cool variety to a gallery. Not all locations and lighting conditions allow silhouettes to be taken. You need either elevation or a very reflective surface and some strong light. Someday I’ll get someone to take a silhouette for my own family as I think this would be an amazing addition to a gallery wall!

8. FAVORITE SIBLING PHOTOGRAPH

If you have more than one child, you know that the sibling relationship is one of the most amazing things to watch grow as a parent. No one loves and hates each other harder and more frequently throughout the course of a day like siblings. Here are some of my favorite moments of siblings interacting with each other that I captured this year.

9. FAVORITE MOM MOMENTS

Favorite mom moments and favorite dad moments are probably the two hardest categories for me to narrow down to the winners. I could honestly probably pick a favorite from every single session I have photographed, so just know that this was an almost impossible decision to come to. With that being said, here are my favorites in this moment in time.

10. FAVORITE DAD IMAGES

I’ll be honest here, photographers do tend to grumble about dads a lot…simply because they often aren’t as “into” getting family photos as their partner may be. But not all dads are like this and even if it wasn’t their idea, I am lucky to work with SO MANY dads who jump right in and snuggle, throw, spin, twirl, bear hug, and tickle their kids with abandon during their sessions. More awesome dads in 2024, please!

11. MY FAVORITE BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES

Some photographers will provide their clients with a black and white copy of all the images in their gallery. I do not do this, simply because I don’t feel every photo is a good candidate for black and white conversion. For me, the ideal black and white image has strong light and a good amount of contrast and is used to highlight emotion that the color version can sometimes lose. Here are five of my favorites from 2023.

12. DOUBLE THE FUN

I have a strangely LARGE amount of families with multiples (even triplets, which you’ll see in the blossom superlative) and I always think that these families who successfully birthed, raised, nurtured multiple babies at once deserve allllll the awards. Here are some of my favorite twin images from this year.

13. THE CUTEST GRANDPARENTS

When you’re booking a full session with me, please know that grandparents are always welcome to join. There’s nothing sweeter than a grandparent and grandchild relationship…especially if they are on board with a lifestyle approach so that we can capture their true bond. Here are some of my favorite grandparent images from the year.

14. MOST ADORABLE FUR SIBLINGS

Human siblings are great but let’s not forget the furry variety! Last year I had a lot of unusual pets including a tortoise, birds, chickens, and even cats in a field at sunset. This year wasn’t as wild, but the dogs and cats this year were full of personality and not shy about getting on camera! Here are some of my favorite pet images from 2023.

15. BEST SKIES

If you follow me on instagram, you probably know that I am a *little bit* obsessed with amazing skies. I love the security of a cloudless sky just as much as the next photographer, but give me some amazing stormy clouds, ideally with some sun peeking out, and I am in heaven. Here are some of my favorite skies of the year.

16. BEST NEWBORN HEAD OF HAIR

2023 brought me a lotttttt of bald babies, which always makes me smile because my first baby was completely bald too. These four babies, however, had enough hair to spread around to several babies. Look at these gorgeous locks!

17. THE BEST MCDONALDS HAS EVER LOOKED

Yes, I am awarding this superlative to the McDonalds across from the Boston Common because these two amazing people brought a whole new level of style and class to the Big Mac and fries meal. When these two first inquired and said they were planning on doing a city hall ceremony followed by a snack at McDonald’s I was intrigued. Little did I know how much fun we would have laughing and eating fries on their wedding day. Check out more images from their Boston City Hall Elopement here!

18. THE BEST “PROP” AT A SESSION

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a traditional “prop” photographer. I am not going to pose your newborn on a plane or in a bread basket. However, if your kids want to dress as superheroes at the end of your in-home session, or hold a rock concert in your kitchen, snuggle a stuffed banana, or even refuse to let go of the car charger adapter from your car during their session I am here for it. Happy kids photograph well and we all need more happiness and less rigidity in our lives!

19. THE BEST BLOSSOMS

Without further adieu, my last superlative (and quite honestly, my favorite) award goes to the families that snagged the best blossoms of the year. From Spring apple blossoms, to June lavender, to August wildflowers… I JUST LOVE ALL THE BLOSSOMS. I love them more than I love foliage….I know, I know. For all you foliage fanatics out there, try a blossom session sometime…you won’t be disappointed!

…and that’s a wrap on 2023! Thank you to all my amazing families. I can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store.

XOXO Lyndsay