It’s that time of year again…the time where I sort through all 236 sessions that I photographed throughout 2024 in the Greater Boston area and come up with some creative awards. Please know that I adore ALL of my clients and just because your session isn’t featured doesn’t mean that I don’t love your images! Without further ado, I hope you love these featured images!

Superlative #1: Most famous baby

If you don’t follow Caroline Parker (@mummysflippinhouse) on instagram or tiktok, you’re missing out! She is a mommy blogger who is real, relatable, and hilarious. I was totally honored when she hired me to photograph her third baby’s fresh 48 before they moved back to England. Olivia was a highly anticipated baby by all Caroline’s fans and thus, she wins the award for the most famous baby of the year!

Superlative #2: Furthest Session from home

February brought travel to a bucket list destination for me, White Sands National Park in New Mexico! I had the honor of photographing a family in the national park in conjunction with NAPCP. It was an epic, epic evening. High winds, sand blowing everywhere….resulting in one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen. This family hung in there through it all and the results had me feeling that photography high that is hard to come by after 10 years!

Superlative #3: best sibling portrait

While I take many, many sibling portraits each year that melt my heart, something that makes me laugh out loud will always win my heart. Hands down, my favorite sibling portrait of the year was this big brother side-eyeing his crying little brother. Honorary mention to the other sibling pairs and trios below!

Superlative #4: best newborn walls and sheets

If you know me personally (or have been following me for a while online) you’ll know that my other love besides photography is home design. My face turns into a heart-eye emoji when I stumble upon a nursery with an epic feature wall…or really cute patterned crib sheets. Here are a couple of my favorite patterns this year!

Superlative #5: favorite brand session

I truly don’t like to pick favorites HOWEVER, those who know me know I am a book/reading addict and generally read 9-12 books a month. If you had asked me before this year what would be a dream brand client, I would’ve had “bookstore owner” on my list. Imagine my sheer delight when I got an inquiry from the most adorable bookstore ever. If you live around Melrose (or even if you don’t and want a fun day trip), please check out Molly’s Bookstore. Photographing it was a dream come true!

Superlative #6: Best Blooms in Boston

The Spring blossoms in Boston this year gave photographer’s a true run for their money. Some were early, some were late, and some just never showed at all. This forced us to get very creative and switch up all our normal locations in favor of what WAS showing up for us this year….and that best bloom award, hands down, goes to the cherry blossoms this year. They showed up in full color and stayed for longer than I have ever experienced before. Three cheers for cherries!

Superlative #7: Most Go With the Flow Family of the Year

One family is missing from my cherry blossom images above and that’s because I am singling them out for another award…this family drove pretty far for a blossom session. They left work and activities early and pulled 5 people together. Got hair and makeup done….and then Mother Nature laughed and, out of nowhere (0% chance of rain) POURED right as they were arriving and didn’t really stop the entire time. Instead of rescheduling, this mama just wanted to go for it. And you know what? Her kids had a BLAST! They were laughing and dancing in the rain and little bro was barefoot by the end… it was a very memorable session for all of us!

Superlative 7b: Most Go with the Flow Wedding Couple of the Year

On the subject of people rolling with it, Anna and Kerin were blessed with the luck of rain on their wedding day. Did they wallow in despair? Nope! They embraced it more than I have ever seen anyone embrace rain before. By the end, they tossed the umbrellas aside and embraced the whole of the Boston Public Garden in all it’s rainy glory.

Superlative #8: Best Scenic/Wide Angle

My favorite category every year is the scenic/environmentally focused wide angle images. If the location allows, I *love* to include a wide angle shot highlighting the area in which we do our photoshoots. I once had a client tell me that they don’t want any kinds of images like this in their gallery and it just about killed me soooo, if you don’t love an epic landscape focused shot, we might not be a good fit ;). While Boston doesn’t have the epic mountains or sunsets over the water like the PNW or Colorado, we do have varied terrain and I love to try to highlight the beauty of our state. Here are some of my favorites…I am always inspired by colors, sunsets, epic clouds, a hint of wind in a dress….etc!

Superlative #9: Most unique Elopement

It’s no secret that I love elopements. While I used to do full weddings, I found myself absolutely LOVING the ceremonies and portraits and absolutely DREADING the receptions. While many wedding photographers absolutely nail those creative dancing portraits, it’s just not my jam….enter elopements….everything I love about weddings and nothing I don’t! The coolest spot I had the honor of photographing an elopement at this year was…..drumroll please….the Boston Public Library!!

Superlative #10: Most Unique Location

At the beginning of 2024, I sent out an email saying that I really welcome all out-of-the-box location ideas. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore a wildflower field at sunset and I don’t foresee me getting sick of that ANYTIME soon, but I also love to flex my creative muscles and try something new. Most unique this year ended in a tie between a garage rooftop and castle ruins. Pretty different but both unique and so fun to explore. I absolutely LOVED both setting so if anyone else wants to try either out in 2025, let me know!!

Superlative #11: Best Wildflowers

People in New England go nuts about being photographed with the Autumn foliage, which is admittedly beautiful, but my heart lies with the Spring blossoms and the Summer wildflowers. Wildflowers, like Spring blossoms, are finicky. Their brilliance and timing depends a lot on the amount of sunshine we get as well as the rainfall. Each year’s climate yields something different…just to keep us guessing. This year’s standout was the Queen Anne’s Lace. It was prolific and gorgeous and this session hit the peak right on the nose.

Superlative #12: Smallest Space

By far, my smallest space to get creative in (which was also a top favorite session of the year) was the sunset sail family session on this amazing boat. This was already a favorite family of mine so combining that with a sunset sail and you get….well, perfection.

Superlative #13: Most Colorful Session

One of the other amazing spots I got to experience this year with a family was the amazing Tower Hill Botanical Garden . I have photographed a couple elopements there but this was the first time exploring with a family. We got amazingly lucky to overlap with an amazing art installation and the colors were just WOW! Not only that, we got to close out the session with one of the most amazing sunsets overlooking Wachusett. Swoon-worthy color from start to finish!

Superlative #14: Most Active Session

As a veteran boy mama, there was no one else who was going to win this award besides these absolutely incredible parents of five boys. When you have twin toddlers in the mix, there is no choice but to RUN, run, RUNNNNNN. So that’s what we did. We chased and laughed and tickled and chased some more. I don’t think any of us stopped running for the entire session!

Superlative #15: Most Heartwarming

While this type of session might not be for everyone, there’s something about a backyard session in the Summer. This client worked so hard preparing her backyard so that we could soak up everything there is to remember and love about having little kids in the Summer…playfulness, bubbles, sprinkler, popsicles. We also got a surprise sun shower, a rainbow, and had to bribe one kid (no names mentioned) to go through the sprinkler. But the result is such a time capsule of what regular life is like with two littles.

Superlative #16: Sad Beige Family Award

While I do love color, I admittedly love a good neutral. This mom and I laughed about our mutual obsession with the instagram “sad beige family” trend. This mom knows how to layer neutrals like a BOSS and I am always obsessed with the family outfits she puts together. Also, as you’ll see from these photos, I really should rename this the HAPPY beige family award.

Superlative 17: The most joyful

I have shared over and over that my favorite emotion to photograph is JOY. It may be from growing up in a big, loud, Italian family that loves to laugh until we are falling over and can barely breathe. Some photographers love calm, emotive images. I’ll take laughter any day. Without a doubt, this family brings the laughter and joy to every single session they have with me. And it’s not just one of them…they all are just so joy-filled. See for yourself…if you can’t feel the genuine joy shining out of every smile, then I haven’t done my job properly!

Superlative 18: favorite black + white

Some photographers provide all images in black and white. This is definitely not something I do because I convert only those that I think make a striking black and white image. For me, it needs texture, contrast, dynamic light, and/or emotion to make a compelling black and white image. Here are my favorites of the year!

Superlative 19: Favorite Image of a Mom

Last but not least…Moms are the most underrepresented parent in photographs so I always like to include this category in my superlatives. Picking a favorite mom image is SO hard and some won in other categories, but here are some not-to-be-missed favorites of mine from this year!