Newborn Session - Massachusetts Newborn Portrait Photography

Yesterday was the Newborn Session for the adorable Sawyer Lashua. With my daughter growing bigger every day (as they all do), there was something magical about holding a tiny, curling, sleepy newborn again. Sawyer was a big boy, born over nine pounds, but still seemed so tiny at only 7 days old. I couldn't believe how well mom, dad, and big brother were all doing. You will see in the sneak preview below how happy everyone in the family is to welcome little Sawyer into their world. I had a great time during this shoot, and as usual, I couldn't get out of Steph's house without being fed. Steph and Sam have been taking care of my tummy since the day we met five years ago!

Check out the cute props. My mom, the very talented knitter, has been working hard on some adorable newborn cocoons and hats for me. Luckily I have lots of newborn sessions coming up so you will be able to see all of her handy work soon!

Being the bad decision maker I am, the cute factor of this baby boy didn't make my job of selecting a sneak preview any easier... so enjoy an extra large one today :0)

What am I carrying these days? Massachusetts Portrait Photographer Heidi Hope Photography

Good Morning! First I'd like to share some very happy news. My good friend Steph had a healthy baby boy on Wednesday, February 11th. Congratulations! If you check back next week you will see a sneak preview of her newborn session.

I have had quite a few people this week ask me about my equipment, so for inquiring minds...

As many of you know, I have fallen in love with a new camera. After driving my older brother crazy for months with endless camera comparisons, he finally convinced me to make the controversial crossover from Canon to Nikon. I was previously shooting with a Canon Digital Rebel (now for sale if you're interested), but in January 09 I settled on the nothing-short-of-fabulous Nikon D700. I have been a very happy customer!





One of the biggest differences is that the D700 is a full frame image sensor. The image sensor is the part of the camera that records the light after it enters the lens and sends that information to your memory card to be stored. A full frame sensor yields higher image quality and better results with high ISO settings (I'll do an ISO lesson another day!). Basically you can take better pictures with less light (indoors for example) with a full frame sensor. This has made me very happy during this extraordinarily cold New England winter.

Here is a great lesson about the differences between full frame and cropped image sensors: Digital Photography School

Because of my brand switchover, I'm working on my lens collection from scratch. I currently shoot with the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 lens and I'm lusting after the Nikkor 70-200mm. That lens is what my dreams are made of. We'll chat more about lenses another day. If you have a specific camera question, email me with it and I'll try to help you out! I guess I have to scratch the teaching itch somehow these days.

Happy Friday!

Heidi Hope Website

It is finally up! Take a look at my new site: www.heidihope.com

Massachusetts Maternity Portrait Photographer- Connacht and John's Maternity Session

Yesterday was the Maternity Session for Connacht and John. Let me just say that I could have torn the two straight out of a JCrew catalog. That baby is going to have the most amazing blue eyes. Connacht and John were so laid back that I didn't even feel like I was on the job. I think I laughed through the entire shoot. From trying to get the dogs to stay on the bed (I think we managed a decent shot!), to John's "manakin face," my face hurt from smiling at the end of the day. I hope they had as much fun as I did. I absolutely can't wait for the baby to arrive so I can come and visit with my camera again. Here is a sneak preview... enjoy!

Massachusetts Maternity Portrait Photographer, Maternity Session Jolene

Note to self: do not drink coffee on the morning of a shoot. I had far too much adrenaline pumping through my system to add caffeine to the mix. I guess I can say Photography is a drug. Today I had the maternity session for my good friend Jolene. I was so excited for it that come rain, or 6 inches of snow, I was braving it, and dragging poor Giuliana along with me. I’m a New Englander after all. At least now I feel that at least my Jeep payments are worth it this month. Jolene made my job easy. As you will see below, she is a fabulous model. And Jared was such a good sport. You can tell he loves his two girls! I hope they had as much fun as I did. Here is a sneak preview.... it was really hard for me to only pick a few!

Valentine's Day

Well, I wasn't planning on doing a Valentine's Day shoot... until Nana came over last night with the most adorable red outfit for Giuliana. What better way to try out some of my new backgrounds than with my favorite subject? I had to break out these angel wings and take a few shots before she grows anymore. They were purchased as a newborn prop, but I guess I'm in denial that Giuliana is too big for them. I'm just sitting down to edit and here's one of my favorite shots (although I can't decide which version I like better. Maybe you can help me decide!)
Couldn't you just eat her up???

And here is one of my favorites in the red:



The whole batch will be on flickr soon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heidihope

Introducing Heidi Hope

How did this all start?

Photography is something I have always loved, but had never thought that I would “do.” I had never once considered that photography would someday become my career.

As far back as I can remember I have been behind the lens. Sure, I have always loved taking photographs, but I was an artist first, and I wanted to teach. My passion was, and still is, for people, children especially, and I wanted to share my talents with them in a career as an art educator. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2003 I began doing just that. Up until then, photography was just for fun. I guess you could call it a hobby... or borderline obsession.

Then fate stepped in.

During my first year of teaching high school students, I had to teach a black and white photography class. It’s funny how teaching something makes you learn it in a way that you never would have otherwise. You learn it backwards, forwards, and in all the ways you need to answer all of the questions that you never would have thought to ask. You fall in love with it. Well at least I did. Since then photography has been my greatest passion.

During the past few years, I began working as a portrait photographer as a "job on the side", but I found myself thinking about it all the time, and never thinking of it as "work".

Enter my angel.

In 2008 I was blessed with the birth of my daughter, Giuliana. I was fortunate enough to take a maternity leave from teaching to stay home with her. As Giuliana grew older, my maternity leave time gave me the opportunity to invest more energy in photography than I ever could while teaching, and I became convinced of my new path. With that, I decided to launch Heidi Hope Photography full time. Until then I never dreamed that my love of working with people could be combined with my passion for photography in a full-time career.

And now...

I love getting to know each of my clients and helping them to create photographs that they will relish for years to come. I feel so fortunate that they invite me into their lives to observe and quietly capture their most precious moments. My greatest ambition is to capture those moments... the personality... the spirit... and preserve them forever, so that they may always be looked back upon with a smile. Those moments are a gift to me as much as to my clients because nothing brings me more joy.

I hope that viewing my work will bring each of you as many smiles as it has brought to me!