Holiday Activity Guide

HOLIDAY ACTIVITY GUIDE
November 24, 2025

The holiday season is the perfect time for a Storytelling Session! There are so many great activities and family traditions that happen this time of year. Why not capture those precious moments and have your family photos taken at the same time? It’s all the fun and none of the stress. And here’s a list of a few holiday activities that make great family photos.

Picking out your Christmas Tree
There are so many Tree Farms in the Madison area, but two of my favorites are Enchanted Valley Acres or Hanns Christmas Farm. Both of these places have little holiday shops and refreshments. Enchanted Valley Acres often takes you on a tractor ride up to the “North Pole” to get your tree, which is really fun. And at Hanns Christmas Farm you can even meet Santa. If you don’t care as much about having lots of activities and just want to go and get a tree, Summers Christmas Tree Farm and Jensen Trees are also great options.

Holiday Baking
​Lots of yummy baking happens around the holidays and every family has their favorite recipes. This is a great activity to have someone else photograph because when you are baking with small children it is a MESS! It’s hard to take photos when you are covered in sticky icing, so let me do that for you. Little kids love looking back at baking photos too and seeing the edible masterpieces they made when they were younger.

Holiday Family Traditions
​Any special holiday tradition your family has will make wonderful family photos. These are the types of photos that bring generations together as they share the ways they celebrated the holidays at different points in time. Some traditions stay the same and some change at bit as families grow or time passes. Looking back on these photos inspires lots of wonderful conversations and I really love that!

​Zoo Lights at Henry Vilas Zoo
​Lots of families do Zoo Lights at Henry Vilas Zoo during the holidays. Animals, lights, hot chocolate, unlimited carousal rides, and meeting Santa, what's not to love? This one is really hard to photograph on your own because it is so dark. So let me bring an artistic eye and get creative to capture the magic.

Edgewater Hotel- Skating and/or Fire Pit 
​The Edgewater Hotel is always decorated for Christmas in the most beautiful way and you can go ice skating there.  Last year it wasn't cold enough for ice skating and they shifted to roller skating so you should be able to do some form of skating either way.  They play holiday music and have a warming house with hot chocolate, so it's lots of fun.  You can also ​reserve a fire pit if you want to.  Reserving your skates in advance is recommended.  

​Snow Globe and Santa at Hilldale
​Hilldale is another place that goes all out in decorating for the holidays, so it makes great photos.  A few fun things to do there would be to have lunch or dinner in one of those winter globes at Hollander.  You'll definitely need a reservation to do that, but you can make one here: Winter Globes at Hollander Cafe.  You can also meet Santa at Hilldale, just take a look at the schedule to see when he is there: See Santa at Hilldale

These are just a few things I've done with families before, but I'm open to ANYTHING.  There are also some great guides to holiday fun around Madison online.  Here is one that I really like: Destination Madison's Guide for Holiday Lights.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Please share anything I haven’e mentioned already and let me capture your family enjoying this magical season.

Preschool Photos with Julia

LET’S GET READY FOR PRESCHOOL PHOTOS
April 17, 2024

It’s almost Preschool Photo season!  Starting the end of this month I will visit six different preschools and photograph around 520 kids under the age of five.  I’m doing my squats to get ready because there’s a ton of getting up and down with preschoolers!  It’s a wild time, but I LOVE it!

I’ve been doing preschool photos long enough that some of my former preschoolers are coming to me for senior photos.  So trust me, I’ve seen a LOT of little ones with all kinds of different personalities.  My goal with school photos is always the same- to get great photos in a fun, stress free environment and I’m really serious about the stress free part!!!  Picture Day shouldn’t be stressful for kids, teachers, school administration, or parents.   

So if I’m coming to your child’s schools, here’s a picture day secret that might surprise you.  I always get better pictures of kids when their parents are not there.  I make sure picture day is not stressful.  Kids come out to play and in between having fun with their friends I spend a quick moment with each child.  Every kid gets a turn, and it’s so much fun kids are often begging to be next. So even if your child is shy or sometimes nervous, it’s not a problem.  Drop them off and take off.  Don’t worry; Picture day will be a blast!  

Sometimes Picture Day is scheduled on a day that your child doesn’t usually attend their preschool.  If that happens and you need to bring your child in for their picture, just send your kid over to play with their friends and relax on a bench nearby.  If for some reason I need help from you or a teacher, I’ll let you know.  But it’s almost always easier to get that beautiful, authentic smile you are hoping for when I have a one-on-one moment with your kiddo.  That’s great news for everyone- better pictures and you get a moment to relax! 

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about picture day.  I can’t wait to see your little one this spring!    

Visit my FAQ page for more information about Preschool Photos and/or send me an email if you are interested in getting your preschool on my 2025 calendar.

Don't Let This Happen To You

DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU
March 5, 2025

Does this sound familiar: It’s early November, and it suddenly occurs to you that you should send out a holiday card, only to remember you don’t have any updated family photos? You look at your completely packed calendar and realize your family will never be in the same place at the same time until… January! If you’re lucky, maybe you find an hour here or there that would work to squeeze in photos between kid activities, but then you’ll likely be confronted by another unfortunate reality: by then my schedule is also jam packed (just like every other photographer’s that time of year). Now you are having a panic attack! You spend hours looking through your phone hoping you can find just one photo with everyone in it. Then you spend even longer trying to think of something witty to say about the fact that your youngest child is picking his nose in this photo or that your oldest’s head is completely cut off. So much stress and you are still unhappy with the end result.

Skip the panic attack this year and
schedule your family photos NOW!

That way you’ll have plenty of dates to choose from and time to reschedule if something comes up or someone gets sick. Plus, everyone will enjoy your family photo session, because your nerves won’t be on edge. Then when you finally remember the holiday card thing—because let’s face it, we are ALWAYS going to procrastinate on that one—at least you’ll already have photos ready. And in case you can’t already feel your stress melting away, I have even more good news for you!

Take advantage of my FLASH SALE and Book your 2025 session before March 19th and you’ll get $100 off your session! Less stress, great family photos, and savings! Use the link below to book your 2025 session now. Seriously, don’t walk away from your computer. Do it right now!

Tips for Organizing Your Digital Photos

Tips for Organizing Your Digital Photos
January 16, 2025

In the age of digital photography we have all become photo hoarders. It’s so easy to take photos and so cheap to store them, so we have millions of photos! Unfortunately most of them live in a digital space that quickly becomes so cluttered that it is really hard to find the photos that you love.

This blog post is about giving you some helpful tips to tame the chaos so you can save what really matters and trash the rest.  These tips will makes it easier to get your photos off your photo and into albums or onto your walls. 

Stop trying to catch up and just start with today
When you are trying to organize your photos, it’s easy to want to start at the place you left off.  But if you made your last photo album five years ago, digging through 5 years of photos is going to feel overwhelming and you’ll probably quit almost immediately.  So just start with today.  From this point on, use some of these tips to keep your photos organized.  You can tackle that other stuff later, but start by establishing some good routines in the present.

Make a 2025 folder on your phone and put photos in there as you go
It’s a new year and the perfect time to build a new habit, so create a “2025” folder on your phone right now. After you take a photo you absolutely love, put it in that folder immediately. The goal here is to be able to pull up this folder at the end of the year and just put those photos into an album without sorting through anything else.

Be selective about what you put in your 2025 folder
If you want your 2025 Folder to save you time, you have to be pretty selective about your favorites.  Here’s a helpful guideline for you. When I make a Year in the Life album for clients I usually put 80-120 photos in there.  That gives a good sample of what the family did over the year without it being super overwhelming to look through. So if you plan on making an album at the end of the year, keep on an eye on the number of photos in your 2025 folder.  If you get to the end of February and you already have 60 photos in there, you are NOT being selective enough. Adding 8-10 photos to your folder each month is perfect!

Pick your favorite and delete the rest
We often take multiple photos of the same thing as we work to get a photo of everyone looking at the camera or the action shot at just the right moment.  This means we have tons of photos of the same thing.  Right after you finish taking them, pick your favorite and delete the rest.  This one is really hard for people because you’ll probably have multiple photos you like.  But they really aren’t that different.  Just pick one! Having all these variations on your phone will just be overwhelming later.  

Make Individual Folders for Trips or Events
There are definitely events in our life that justify more photos, like trips or events.  Don’t put those into your 2025 folder because that will fill up your folder super fast and make your organization system more confusing. Make a separate folder for these trips or special occasions. The goal is to be able to take all the photos in each folder and make a photo album without any additional culling or sorting. This is all about building routines so we can organize as we go. You can always combine folders later, but separating them out is a MUCH harder process.

Start a tradition that will force you to print your photos
We are most likely to print our photos when it is part of an established routine.  A prime example of this is the holiday card.  Tons of people who never print any other photos will make a holiday card because that is just part of their routine.  If you can start other traditions that will force you to print photos it will help you stay on top of organizing and printing your photos.  Here’s one tradition that I’ve found easy to maintain over the years- The Birthday Poster.    

Lots of people make some sort of photo display for their kid’s first birthday. I just kept going with this idea and make a birthday poster for my kids every year. Each of my girls has a 16x20 “birthday poster frame” that hangs in our house year round. Then at their birthday, I replace the old photos with a new one. I just have to gather 8-12 photos each year and pop them into my template. It’s easy and manageable and my kids LOVE it! They look forward to seeing their new birthday poster each year. But more importantly, I love that I can stay on top of this routine without any extra stress. Plus when my girls turn 18 I can put all the birthday posters into an album and see their development over the years.

Life is crazy, I totally get it. So find easy ways to integrate organizing and printing your photos into your routine. That will make sure it actually happens.

All the Fun and NONE of the Stress

All the FUN and NONE of the Stress
December 13, 2024

Enrollment for the 2025 Year in the Life Experience is now open. I designed this experience based on what I want as a parent, so I know it’s perfect for busy families! Watch this video to learn more about what went into the design process and why you’ll love having your family memories captured in this way.

Use the button below to complete an interest form and I’ll get back to you with lots of information. Space is limited so I’ll be offering Year in the Life contracts to families based on the order I receive your interest form. I cannot wait to start this incredible journey with you and your family!

If you have any questions or want to schedule a coffee date to learn more about how this works, please get in touch with me.