Hi, I’m Whitney.
I’ve spent thirteen years photographing families while raising my own, and if those years have taught me anything, it’s how much of childhood happens here—in the ordinary middle. Not at a milestone, but on a regular Tuesday. In the quirks and relationships and stages you don’t realize you’ll miss until they’ve changed.
Your family doesn’t need a special occasion to be worth photographing.
Right now is enough.
Let’s remember them like this.
photo by Abby Hoban
The ordinary moments are worth keeping.
Babies give us a million reasons to take photographs. First smiles. First steps. First birthdays. We know everything is changing, so we try desperately to hold onto it.
But childhood keeps moving.
The preschool years become elementary school. Missing teeth become braces. The kid who once wanted to be carried everywhere starts walking ten steps ahead of you. There are fewer obvious milestones telling you to stop and document what is happening, but these years are no less fleeting.
Right after I had my second daughter we had out first paid family session. Honestly, the budget was low, but I knew it was something that was really important to me to prioritize. The experience of that session was what shifted my focus as a photographer.
When asked to pose and move through these very scripted moments, everyone in our family started melting down. My toddler on the outside, and me on the inside. It was horrible. I don’t have a single photo from that session hanging in my house because the memory of that day was one I didn’t want to relive.
From then on I decided to focus on natural moments within a family’s time together. Focusing on connection that could not bed manufactured through prompts and poses.
And I fell in love.
With a focus on connection, rather than poses.
