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This is for the newbies. If you’ve been with us for a while, you already know what’s up. Summer on the NH and Maine Seacoast moves fast. Particularly this year because it snowed until June (basically). Then it was on…hot (literally) and heavy: beach days, sports, vacations, and before you know it we’re shopping for school supplies. I cannot. This is why mini sessions exist, and why they have become one of the most popular ways for families in Portsmouth, Eliot, Kittery, and t

As a senior portrait photographer on the NH & Maine Seacoast for the last 15 years, I have pretty strong opinions about locations. Not only is this one of the most asked questions, it's one that is often misguided. Let me offer some education. First, an unpopular opinion: I think people are too hung up on session locations. Lay people look at locations as a whole: a wide angle view, if you will. They're taking in the entirety of the space, they're feeling the breeze and smell

If you have a family photo session coming up anywhere along the NH and Maine Seacoast, you have probably already asked yourself this question: what are we supposed to wear? After 15 years and thousands of family sessions, I have some thoughts. Wear what you want. Wear what you love. Wear what fits and feels like you. That's my honest take. The biggest outfit mistake I see families make is wearing something that doesn't fit. A dad who discovered five minutes before the shoot t

Let's talk outfits. Because after over a thousand senior sessions, we have seen it all. The good, the great, and the "we are not going to mention this again but please learn from it." This is what we wish every senior read before their session. Not because fashion is the point (it's not), but because the right outfit is the difference between portraits you love and portraits you like. And you deserve portraits you love. Start With Your Outfits First, Then Choose Your Location

By Lia Bensley Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the experience behind a photograph, especially as AI-generated images are starting to show up everywhere... headshots, senior photos, family portraits, sports images. It’s getting harder to tell what’s real anymore. This summer will be 20 years (!!) since my own senior photo session, and I still remember it clearly. I brought my dog with me and we took pictures at some of my favorite spots in my hometown in Pennsylvania.

Last night I dreamt I was taking pictures of three women. Sisters. I didn’t get DOBs but they were in their fifties…but like old school fifties. Not like me and my gen-x gigi girlfriends. There was one main client, the one who hired me, and her two older sisters. They wore pastel-colored, empire waist dresses, each in her own hue, like three Easter eggs fresh from a Spring dye bath. They arrived in high spirits, too high. They were giggling so flamboyantly that they became

“I’ve gained thirty pounds in the last year due to an autoimmune disease”, she started, wiping away tears. It was a thing, no doubt, but not the thing we were gathered into a small group to talk about. I began to picture her thirty pounds lighter, physically and emotionally. Even with the bonus weight she was still the thinnest person at our table. Interesting confession to this group, I mentally shrugged, as she began digging into the real reason we were sequestered. The wo

It’s day three and I’m already exhausted. The socials feel like they’re working double-time with courses we all must buy and protocols we all must follow. If you’re informed by content creators (and we all are), you know that no one is doing it right in 2026. Being okay is complacency and complacency is gross. We’re all just one $39 solution away from whatever lures us (fame, beauty, health, business, fortune, travel, investments, politics, a new hustle, etc). The algorithm k

My junior year of high school I told my guidance counselor that I wanted to be a “photojournalist”. I didn’t know what a photojournalist was, but I loved writing, and I loved taking pictures, so it sounded perfect. Once I realized what a photojournalist did, I quickly re-routed and became a nutrition major (which also didn’t stick once the science became math ..the kind with letters). But anyway, I recently told my husband about my photojournalism aspirations, and he literal