Easter Mini Sessions!

***** DATE CHANGE!! OUR EASTER PHOTO SESSIONS ARE PLANNED FOR SUNDAY MARCH, 25TH! CHECK NEW INFO HERE *****

Easter Mini Sessions are in the works! Just drop me an email if you're interested I send you the details to keep you in the loop. I'm still finalizing the plans, but the dates will be Wednesday 3/21 and/or Thursday 3/22, and the cost will be $125 for a 15 minute session. Vero Beach/Fort Pierce location!

We will have some cute animals joining our sessions, too! I can't wait:)

Contact Me.

PS. This would make a great gift, too! If you'd like to gift a session, click on the icon below.

Sunset Beach Photo Session in Vero Beach, Florida

We are so lucky here in Vero Beach! We can have beach sessions any time! West coast Florida is more known for their sunsets, but here on the east coast in Vero Beach (and the surrounding beach towns) sunsets are gorgeous, too!

I am a family photographer in a beach town in Florida, which means I get to take a lot of pictures on the beach. You would think the images would be very similar, but the truth is - every session is so different! Each gorgeous, I have decided, but each definitely different.

Of course every family is unique. Some sessions I chase the little ones, and some I get to calmly photograph, and even have a real conversion at same time. In some there are multiple children, grandparents, and all different ages. And some are smaller families.

At this session the R family had a few days together when their daughter came home from college, and it was a perfect time to get some family pictures taken. I so enjoyed my time with the three of them, as they clearly are a very close-knit and loving family.

What also makes all the beach sessions different is the weather. My husband and I love to go on beach walks, and I always bring my camera, because no two evenings look alike. The seasons change the look of the beaches a little bit, too. Vero Beach has many beaches to choose from, making the background in the images varied.

My preference are quieter beaches for photos, and we usually meet 1.5 hrs before sunset. If the sun is out we get some golden hour images, and the soft light afterward. In this session we met at Historic Driftwood Resort, and from there drove to a more secluded beach.

If you're hoping to book a weekend* photo session this spring, I am about to release the remaining dates for April, May and June. There are not many left, so contact me asap to secure your session date! I will announce the dates on Facebook, so make sure to follow me there, or inquire directly.

* Some evenings are available mid-week too. Please inquire for availability.

Stuart Day in the Life

Can you imagine yourself ten, twenty, thirty years from now when your babies have grown and maybe even left your home to start their own lives? Will you remember what these busy, crazy, chaotic days were like? Will you miss it? Is there a way to hang on to the sweet, sticky, messy moments of this season?

I wish I had a movie to look back on of a day with my toddler quadruplets. Or a photo book to showcase what one day was like with my babies. Or when we came back from China with our baby girl, and our quadruplets were attending a small Christian school in New Hampshire.

Day in the Life documentaries can do that for you - and this is why I started Stories of Joy Photography. My passion is for everyone to have a documentary of a day in their life when the kids were young. What a gift to give your children and grandchildren! And to yourself. These photos will show the love and the hard work that goes into parenting - every single day.

“ “Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.” ”

— Mary Jean Irion

I am so happy I got to document a day for the M family in Stuart, Florida.

Early on a Friday morning in January I joined the M family for the day to document one day at this stage in their life. It really was a normal day - kids were at school and dad went to work. Mom was busy the entire long day (but fortunately was able to squeeze a tiny nap in before the two youngest came home from school).

I sometimes get asked about these all day sessions - what about the times when 'nothing' is happening.

The Day in the Life Sessions are exactly that - a photography session to document your day - whatever it looks like. For storytelling it is best to start when kids wake up, and wrap it up when they go to bed. With the M family we started at 6 am, but then had a little break in the morning when mom had an appointment (I hang out at the coffee shop for a little while), and also after lunch before kids came home from school. I brought my computer and starting culling early morning photos!

No matter what the day looks like, I squeeze in a lot of little breaks. It's a long day! For you, too - to have someone else in your home, and with you all day. It's okay to take a nap, take a break and it's okay if nothing is happening every moment of the day.

For the M family pace picked up quite a bit as soon as the school bus came back, and I stayed with the M's until the youngest went to bed, and the older two snuggled on couches with mom and dad to watch one of their favorite tv shows.

Oh, and most families I have done a Day in the Life Session (about 13? now) have told me they are kind of boring, but I really have not found that be true for any session. If you have kids - or even just one, life is never boring :-)

When you book your Day in the Life Session with me, there is a non-refundable deposit to hold the day for you. I do these full day sessions on Fridays or Saturdays, but can make an exception occasionally if you would prefer to do it on a different day. Just ask!

On our day together the payment for the day is due. It includes all the planning, my time at your house, all the editing of the images, and a downloadable high resolution movie of the Story Gallery (which is the best 100 storytelling images of the day).

All my Day in the Life families also see a Full Gallery of about ~300 images, and you will have the option of purchasing A) the Story Gallery high resolution digital images, or B) all high resolution images. If you purchase all high resolution images (Story Gallery and the Full Gallery) I also make a gorgeous, professionally printed hardcover book from the Story Gallery Images for you, which is included in the price of both galleries. (In the next blog post I will showcase the book from the M family, and a few of my favorite images as well.)

This is what mom wrote about our day:

“One of my friends did a Day in the Life session with Sennu and put her pictures up on Facebook. I loved the idea, thought the photos were excellent, and decided to do it myself. I was slightly worried about what spending the whole day together would be like, but it turned out to be very enjoyable and totally worth it. Sennu is an exceptionally easygoing, kind person to be around, and the pictures of my family are so special and are something that I can’t wait for myself (and my kids!) to look back on. Thank you, Sennu!!!”

— the M family

(Thank you, K!!! I loved my day with your Family!)

I have three open spots for a Day in the Life Session this spring (and possibly 1-2 more Saturdays, just waiting for scheduling confirmations):

FRIDAY April 27th OR SATURDAY April 28th.
FRIDAY May 11th
FRIDAY June 1st

Let me know if you're ready to book, or if you have any questions! I would love to help your family to make a photo documentary of this stage in your life.

NEW: Storytelling Mini Sessions!

I don't know what happened to January, do you? I know I was busy with two wonderful Day in the Life Sessions, and my sister came for a visit with her family, but still - blink, and we're in February. But February is the new January???

My intention is to start blogging about the various sessions I've had last fall and this year so far, but I decided to start with one from this week, since Valentine's Day is coming.

I had two Storytelling Mini Sessions this week, and I am so in love with all the pink and red deliciousness of our pictures!!! I am thrilled to be documenting moms doing mom things with their kids, and there's is something so sweet about a Valentine's Day Craft Session :-)

I think documentary family sessions are the best. I am so passionate to document real life. Sure, there's a purpose for traditional posed pictures, and I sometimes do them, too, but I think the value of ordinary real life is so overlooked. Love and real life happens between all the special milestones, and why not remember both?

So at this session mom and the two oldest girls made Valentine's Day boxes together for school. Grandma had found the cutest kits last year, and the girls had a wonderful time putting their mail boxes together! Baby sister's job was to give hugs throughout our session :-)

Mini and Short Story Sessions are a great way to explore documentary photography. If you've followed me for a while, you might be intrigued about a Day in the Life Session, but not sure you are ready to commit to an entire day. Maybe try a Storytelling Mini Session first?

Storytelling Mini Sessions are only 45 minutes long - perfect for one craft or baking, or some other short activity. There is no posing for you, nor any directing from me - I am strictly there document your time together with your children (or grandchildren!), plus I'll do a little visiting too :-) Even in 45 minutes I can capture many wonderful, sweet, crazy or chaotic moments that will be so meaningful years later, when you have forgotten a lot about these busy years....

These sessions will be offered periodically throughout the year, and there are only a few spots available. The cost of a Storytelling Mini Session is $250, and it includes one 8x10 print, and a minimum of ten social media (low resolution) digital images. After your session you will have the option of having me make a beautiful 8x8 softcover book of the images, or you can purchase the gallery of high resolution digital images.

These sessions would make a wonderful Valentine's Day gift, so feel free to forward this post to your spouse, parents or just go ahead and purchase a session for yourself! You know it's time to get in the pictures, too <3

Gift cards are also available! Click button below:

No coupons or other offers can be applied to these sessions.

Available Sessions are:

Monday February 12th at 1 pm (Vero Beach and surrounding areas)
Thursday February 15th at 9:30 am (Vero Beach only)
Thursday February 22nd at 9:30 am OR 1:45 pm (Vero Beach only)
Tuesday February 27th at 9:30 am OR 1:45 pm (Vero Beach only)
Thursday March 1st at 10 am OR 1:00 pm (Vero Beach and surrounding areas)

Send me a message to find out more details and to book your session!

Let's make pictures of your beautiful ordinary life!

2017 - A (Personal) Year in Review

When I used to write a personal blog (about our family's travels, adventures and homeschooling), I would write a recap post about our year on December 31st. I don't think photographers typically do that on their business websites, but I have come to find out I'm not your typical photographer, and I better stay true to myself - different as I feel I am. So why not use my blog here for my personal thoughts and pictures as well as for my client blog posts?

(If you are still thinking about hiring me to document your day, maybe getting to know me better through my personal posts will help you decide if I'm a good fit - or not. (Grin.))

The main reason why I don't have my personal blog anymore is the fact our adventures are so different know. We are no longer traveling the country in our vintage Airstream motorhome, visiting amazing places, and learning along the way. Our quadruplets are now nineteen, and doing very different things - often on their own.

Year 2017 was a different year. A difficult year in many ways. But also a year of new, exciting things - in January 2017 my little business was only six months old, and I was still trying to navigate the new waters of owning a business. Meeting new families, and serving them with photography has brought so much joy and fulfillment to my life. Besides being a wife, mom, sister, daughter, aunt, friend - this is what I am supposed to be doing.

JANUARY 2017

A month in Florida with two quick trips to St. Augustine. An anniversary trip to celebrate our 23 years of marriage, and a photography retreat with friends from Ordinary Miracles Photography club. I had a fun Disney Day in the Life Session and snapped this Mickey's Magic photo, which was included in December's Click Magazine. My photo album is full of beach walk photos.
Our 3-year old started speech therapy.

FEBRUARY 2017

Middle of February our mini family (not including our older four) flew up to Boston, and continued through New Hampshire to spend a few weeks in Maine. Lots of snow and ice, snowmobiling, sledding, ice skating, family and friends.

MARCH 2017

Our second youngest turned eleven! Our big kids joined us in Maine for their vacation week. And at the end of their vacation we all flew back to Florida together. A couple of days later I hopped on a train with the little girls and traveled to Virginia to visit my sister for a week. So much fun for all the little cousins!

APRIL 2017

Easter in Florida, and an unfortunate incident of getting a family photo taken on the beach with a tripod and timer - a burst of wind blew the whole set-up on the sand, and my camera and lens ended up being professionally cleaned by a Nikon certified camera shop ($$$). Of course this happened a few days before a Day in the Life Session, so I ended up purchasing a (much needed) second camera body.

MAY 2017

May was a beautiful month in Florida, and we made many trips to the beach, especially first thing in the morning when it was calm enough to swim with the little one, too. Mad school work, as well, so we wouldn't have to do school all summer.

JUNE 2017

Our little one turned four!
Early June seven of us flew back to New England, and one of our boys stayed back to finish school at IRSC. Two boys graduated from high school and with dual enrollment received their AA degrees from college. Our 11-year old and I finished our school year (whew!).
In Maine we had a lot of work getting our place ready for summer renters, a job we do every year. It's fun, too. We had family come over to help, and we always take time to enjoy games and swimming and lots of baking and cooking.
At the end of our work weeks my husband aka the Captain (name from my old blog) flew back to Florida, and I dropped off our older four at camp in Virginia, and continued to my sister's house. After camp the big kids took a train to Chesapeake as well.

JULY 2017

The Captain drove our motorhome to Sky Valley, Georgia, to meet us there, and we celebrated Fourth of July with friends there. So much fun! After Georgia we drove back to Maine for a week (or two?), and had lots of friends join us.
From Maine we split our crew. The Captain took three kids to New Hampshire, and I flew to Finland to see my parents with three of the kids. We celebrated our youngest's Gotcha and Adoption Days in Finland.

The last day of July my parents learned my dad's cancer was back, and had aggressively spread to his stomach and stomach lining, and he was told he doesn't have much time left.
 

AUGUST 2017

It was so hard to leave my parents, but I told my dad I would be back this year. After Finland we went back to Maine for a last week to start closing up the house. Three big kids flew back to Florida to start school - two at IRSC, and one at a college 45 minutes north of us. And the last big kid took a bus to Boston, and a flight to Virginia where sweet friends picked him up and brought him to his college. Our mini family stopped by to see him two weeks later as we drove our motorhome to my sister's house, and left it there - with a For Sale sign.
In Finland my dad celebrated his 74th birthday.

SEPTEMBER 2017

Spontaneous as we can be, at the Norfolk airport the Captain called Disney and reserved a room for us for a night. From Orlando airport we drove to Disney and spent a wonderful day there before driving back home and our littlest started Pre-School the next day. She started going to school for two full days and a 1/2 day on (most) Fridays. Our second youngest started homeschool 6th grade, using Sonlight curriculum, Math-U-See, Apologia and a local music class, plus an online language arts class.

Our school life was short lived, though, as hurricane Irma threw our whole state of Florida into chaos. Our neighborhood had mandatory evacuations, so we left and joined our friends in Sky Valley, Georgia. Our time there was crazy, wonderful and nerve wracking, as was our trip home dodging felled trees, closed roads, closed gas stations and full hotels. But we made it, and slowly life started getting back to normal. Fortunately our house did not have any damage (unlikely with hurrricane Matthew in 2016).

We found out our littlest has mild hearing loss in both her ears. My dad was not able to tolerate cancer treatments, and we started planning my return to Finland.

OCTOBER 2017

October was a busy month with school photos, photo sessions, school, field trips (Seaworld was a huge hit!) and celebrating Halloween with friends at Disney. Our littlest started speech therapy again, and ballet, which she had dreamed of for a long time.

NOVEMBER 2017

November was super crazy, a blur really, until Thanksgiving. Our son from Virginia came home, and we had a wonderful day together. The next day the Captain drove my littlest and me to the airport, and we flew back to Finland to say goodbye to my dad. My sister joined us a few days later from Virginia.

DECEMBER 2017

It was an amazing ten days. The first two days my dad was doing so well I started planning a trip to see him next summer! But then each day he got weaker and weaker, and the day before we left Seinajoki where my parents live, he was admitted to the hospital, and wasn't able to come back home. Saying goodbye to him was one of the hardest times I have lived through. It is amazing how God carried us all through that, too. We all prayed together, and marveled at the peace we felt - yes, this is likely our goodbyes on earth, but we will see again in heaven.
If you would like to see photos from this trip, click here.

Jesus came for my dad on the 14th, and he left this earth with a smile on his face, and my mom by his side. This gives us so much joy in our sadness and sorrow. We know where he is.

The Captain's parents came to be with us in Florida for Christmas, and helped us do a lot of finishing touches from our repairs and remodeling since hurricane Matthew. Our quadruplets turned 19, we celebrated our second youngest's 11th Gotcha Day and Adoption Day, and on my birthday I was given a paddle board (so much fun!). Christmas for me was bittersweet, stripped from a lot of extras, and a day later I was on a plane back to Finland for my dad's funeral.

As I type this, I'm sitting at my childhood home, next to my mom. We had the funeral on the 28th. The rest of the family have all gotten back to their homes (my little sister is almost back to her house). My mom is starting a whole new life, and I am so glad I can be with her for a few more days. Our days together have been clinging to Jesus in our sadness, and trying to navigate all the new. It is so hard. We miss my dad so much.

I appreciate so much all the prayers, notes, cards and messages. And most of all, I am so grateful for all the days I had with my dad. He loved well. He will be so missed. We will see again one day.

I hope as each of you welcome this new year, and think back on the year 2017, you would share my feelings of gratefulness for all the good in this past year, and hope for all the new that our Heavenly Father will bring. If (and when) there are hard days, He will carry us through them, when we let Him.

Happy New Year 2018!