I have been photographing this mama daughter duo for 10+ years and every single session I am amazed at how grown up her baby girl is getting! She’s gone from toddler to being almost as tall as her mama! I cannot believe how the time flies. I get the pleasure of capturing these gorgeous gal’s twice a year and always include their sweet pup Rosie. The best part of this session was my daughter tagged along as my assistant and also helped capture some great photos!! Can you guess who took what? ;) It is always joy to see them and cannot wait for our winter session! Here are some of my favorites!!
C FAMILY | FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER | WIDE WATER, VIRGINIA
I absolutely LOVE this family!! We met about 4 years ago and have had the joy of photographing them every year since!! We always start our spring session with celebrating all 3 gorgeous girl’s birthdays with their special outfits!! Mama outdoes herself every year!! They are such a fun group of kiddos and always look forward to seeing their new gymnastic skills and of course meeting the guinea pigs <3. I think we have officially photographed them all now!!
This session was also special as we got to photograph the entire family!! It is so hard to get all relatives together and it is always a great time when clients can make it happen. We captured ALL the groupings we could think of and I know these are memories that meant so much to everyone.
At the end of the session we finished up the best way we could by getting in the water! :) Anytime a client wants to get their toes wet is my favorite. I even found some sea glass <3. Loved spending another year with these guys!!! Check out some of my favorites.
T FAMILY | FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER | STAFFORD, VIRGINIA
This family is seriously THE CUTEST!!! When mama contacted me she really wanted a very classic feel of neutral colored outfits and more black and white images than color. I was super excited because this was something I don’t do as often but have really enjoyed it more and more over the years. It allows me to really focus on the families connection and showcase their love and playfulness. The boys were so stinking cute and got a great mix of emotions and fun faces! The best part is we didn’t have to worry about weather! And at the end because weather wasn’t tooooooooo hot we got outside for a few fun photos! Here are some of my favorites!!
If you want your own session full of timeless images that coordinate perfectly with any home decor shoot me a message!! Lets chat!!
C EXTENDED FAMILY | FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER | WIDE WATER VIRGINIA
Capturing Generation sessions has been a new favorite for me over the last 2 years. It is SO hard to coordinate multiple families with work schedules, kiddo schedules, travel, etc and it is really easy to say “OH maybe next year!” But when families are able to pull it off it is truly the most rewarding experience. Seeing the grandkids together and the interactions of family members that don’t get to see each other all the time is really special.
This family is also SUPER special to me as I have known them the last 10+ years and have been fortunate to celebrate and capture big milestones like engagements, weddings, birth announcements, grandkid arrivals etc! It’s been really amazing. When mama contacted me about her kiddos and grand babies coming into town we made sure to make it happen. We had a perfectly overcast day which is HUGE when you need to capture a morning session. We got to spend the morning on the water and get every grouping imaginable. It was a great time of catching up and celebrating multiple generations of a beautiful family. Check out some of my favorites!!!
V FAMILY | FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER | STAFFORD VIRGINIA
I make it no secret that Virginia weather IS BONKERS!! Summer weather is no exception and with all the wild rain we get, we also get MUD. THICK, SLIPPERY, GROSS MUD!!! So naturally we had a creek session planned following this crazy storm. When I arrived at my favorite creek spot I won’t lie I panicked!! I knew my client and I were super pumped about getting in the creek but the access points were a mess and the thought of getting down a slippery hill with 4 kids under 8 years old gave me some pause. I adventured ALL over the place and FINALLY found a spot to enter that wasn’t great but provided some foliage to eliminate a bit of the slippery situation.
When my client arrived I was really excited because they were totally up for a muddy adventure!! We shot most of the session on the mainland and made sure to capture everything we could want. Then we ventured to the creek!!
We successfully got down the muddy hill and were passing kids between the adults to safely and cleanly get everyone into the creek!!! It was AWESOME and the kids LOVED it. It was refreshing after a hot session and there is no better way to end a photoshoot with splashing in the water. And the creek looked incredible with all the texture and greenery. This session was such a blast and I am so thankful when a new client is up for my ideas and ready to get muddy for some incredible photos! We all made it back up the hill and managed to stay pretty clean!! It was fantastic! Here are some of my favorites!
If you want your own creek adventure shoot me an email: laurah@lauralouphotography.com
M FAMILY | ANNIVERSARY SESSION | FAUQUIER COUNTY VIRGINIA
I have LOVED capturing this gorgeous family for the last 6+ years!! When I met them, they were expecting their first baby and the connection we made was instant. They were seriously the cutest couple and just a joy to work with. I have captured both of their babies and yearly in between. This year however was a big one as they celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary!! It’s amazing how time flies and when they wanted to shoot the session where they got married I was in HEAVEN. It was so special to bring their babies to where their love story began and recreate some of the gorgeous locations from their wedding photos with 2 kids in toe.
At the end of the session we even put their sweet baby girl in her mama’s wedding dress. Little did I know that Morais Vineyards had the most gorgeous glass building that looked straight out of a movie. This little lady was dazzling in her mama’s dress and high heels!! Such a little princess. <3. I loved capturing this full circle moment and am obsessed with the photos we captured!!! And to top off the best session ever we ended it with a wild champagne toast!!! Here are some of my favorites!!
2020 RECAP!!
Every year I am SO embarrassed to log onto my website after a crazy fall and see how far my blogging fell behind. Every year I vow to do better with it and every year I start strong and theeeeeeeen boom life and busy season hit and blogging goes out the window. I had SO many incredible sessions last year but 2020 was a year unlike any other. Words cannot even begin to describe the insanity of this past year and the emotions that shook every single person’s life. But as this year came to an end there was also much to celebrate. With extra time at home we were safe and healthy and really able to focus on our time together as a family. I am so grateful for that extra time as it benefited Finley and I think really benefited us as parents too. Sure being cooped up had its difficulty but overall 2020 gave us so much to be thankful for.
The year started off strong and I was incredibly motivated after completing my best year yet. January-March started better than most winter months and I was fully booked for April and into May. When all of the lockdowns hit I was devastated and terrified. Like most families there was no warning for one if not both family members income coming to complete standstill with so much uncertainty in sight. Panic certainly set in and I had to figure out a way to make the most of my time not working. In that time I began becoming interested in plants and by the end of the summer had a full fledged garden in the backyard and on my deck. Fin was my assistant gardener and we had a blast learning about plants and exploring garden centers. It was incredible! We were able to grow herbs, a few veggies, and sunflowers. We also made the decision to completely redo my studio space. It had been something I had needed and wanted to do for years and we finally made it happen. Now it is so much more cozy and certainly reflects my business style and brand. I am obsessed!
As Covid restrictions started to lift I was fortunate to be able to reopen for outdoor sessions and then shortly after indoor sessions. I am so thankful for the flexibility, patience, and overall understanding of my clients that allowed me to do so. This year alone I photographed 152 sessions and met 53 new families. The highlight of the year was capturing the newest additions of past clients whose other kiddos I also photographed. I even had the amazing opportunity to photograph my first home birth, and caught lightning on camera 3 times! This year gave me the time to really push myself creatively and feel like I truly honed in on my style and was able to express my artistic vision with each session. Every single on of these families holds a special place in my heart as they stood by me and supported my business through the most challenging year for small businesses. The trust you have had in me to safely photograph your families and newborns is truly a blessing and what kept me going all year. It is because of you that I crushed my goals for the year and saw my business only increase since 2019. THANK YOU. There are so many times in business you feel defeated or uncertain and having new and returning faces contact me with exciting news of pregnancies or wanting updated photos is the best part of my job. Every year I try to do a recap of some of my favorite images and this year was SOOOO tough. Once again I narrowed it down to well over 250 images and made Jeremy narrow it down for me :) Thank you everyone again for supporting me and my business!! I am so excited to tackle whatever 2021 throws my way and cannot wait to meet you!
GENERATION SESSION | FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER | MANASSAS, VIRGINIA
I have really enjoyed photographing and getting to know this gorgeous family the last few years. So when Maria wanted a generation photo shoot I was ALL about it. I have started shooting more of these sessions and the more I do them the more special and important they become to me. There really is nothing more priceless than photos of our families and capturing these moments together. I loved being able to celebrate the relationship and incredible bond between these 4 gorgeous women. We had the most AMAZING sunset and everything about the location was perfection. It was really tough to narrow down the photos for the blog so here is a photo overload :)! My favorites:
THANKSGIVING WEEK AND HAPPY 27 MONTHS FINLEY <3
This week is a really special week for the Gooch house. Jeremy and I absolutely LOVE thanksgiving and actually started dating around that time (the 28th to be exact). This year we celebrate 11 years together on one of our favorite holidays. We also moved into our house 5 years ago on thanksgiving day. This house has seen a lot in those 5 years and we have shared a lot of ups and downs and some big and emotional life changes. For me personally, Thanksgiving always makes me feel hopeful and somehow rejuvenates me a little bit. We always decorate for Christmas early and both of us really try to savor the memories of our first holiday together and a lot of exciting family moments.
Thanksgiving 3 years ago we drove up to Rockville MD for my egg retrieval and were in full force of IVF. It was a really emotional time as we had just lost Jeremy’s dad a month prior and I think we were both so desperate for some sort of good news. If you know us we've had some bizarre medical mishaps that we finally had put behind us and losing his dad was an unexpected tragedy. In the span of 2 months we had experienced one of the most gut wrenching losses, followed by the most incredible miracles. Because five days later we transferred the perfect embryo and our gorgeous Finley was on her way home to us. Her embryo transfer was November 29th and a day that will forever bring the biggest smile to my face. But this year It feels a little different. Because instead of celebrating our family growing we are learning how to celebrate a new reality of us being a family of 3 (plus our little Layla pup).
Over the course of the last year we have tried so hard to build our family. And unfortunately we suffered through 3 rounds of failed cycles and losing all 4 of our remaining embryos. It has been a year of so much more pain and disappointment than I have could have ever imagined. IVF is hard to accept in general, but with each failure I felt like a little part of my soul was gone or lost. And that hope for another baby felt like it was slipping away. I was so ready for our final try and was so emotional going into it. This was it and there was really nothing else I could do, i did it all. We had just lost Oliver and I had to have hope that this last embryo was a fighter. But again, another failed pregnancy test and i felt my dreams of a bigger family come shattering down around me and I was and am devastated. There are so many complicated thoughts and feelings that constantly flood my heart and my head and this fall has been so incredibly difficult. Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not one to shy away from talking about our baby journey but this year has been a lot harder to share. After our second fail I really started to come apart and felt like I just couldn't be as available as I usually am. I became only mom, business owner, wife (sorry Jeremy) and I honestly have felt like I've been on autopilot trying to navigate these 3 roles without completely falling apart. I apologize to my friends and family who may have felt like I've gone quiet! I am still here I promise!
This year has also been by far my biggest most successful year for my business and it’s no secret I am a workaholic and this year I have worked the hardest I ever have in my life. I am sure sometimes I have over taxed myself physically but sometimes when I am grieving I try to use that hurt as a motivator to push myself into doing something meaningful. And being able to give people images of moments in their life with their family is really all that matters. The reward of this has been enormous this year and I am still in disbelief that I have hit so many goals I have had for my business.
So when I think about all these amazing anniversaries this week I don't think it was any accident that they fell on or around thanksgiving. Because I needed a reminder that everything is going to be ok. It has been a little over a month since we found out our last cycle failed I have not had one minute to breathe or grieve because I jumped head first into the busiest fall I have ever had. Some days I am ok and other days I don't want to get out of bed because I miss my dog and I miss the possibility of another baby. But this week also reminds me of how strong I am and how resilient I am. It also reminds me that I have the most incredible husband who has held me when I cannot breathe because I am crying so hard, who has found a way to make me laugh when it seems like all i do is work then cry. A man who is an unbelievable dad but also a damn good mommy when I cannot be home or I need a breather from mommying all day. This man who 11 years ago changed my life. And even now he continues to walk with me side by side through this hurricane we have gone through and makes me believe everything will be ok. While our hearts still break for the loss of our pup and the loss of our dream for another child he is here loving me when I feel like I am at my weakest.
I also am able to celebrate the most incredible little girl. Today she turns 27 months and in those 27 months she has brought Jeremy and I back to life in a way that only she could. She is a feisty, smart, and wild spirit who smiles more than anyone I have ever met. And good grief is she going to keep our lives so unbelievably full of excitement and spontaneity. As hard as this year has been for me emotionally she forces me show up and even when I want to feel sorry for myself she does something silly to snap me out of it. I think most people who struggle with infertility have a journey and an ending they didnt expect. And for me, our journey feels exhausting and frustrating to end in such a heart breaking way. But one thing I have learned through the last 7 1/2 years with this struggle in our life and it was to savor the good. I never believed my pregnancy would be the only one I had but I truly know I have captured and enjoyed every minute of that experience. So this week I am excited to hold my husband and baby girl a little closer and give our other sweet little puppy a little extra loving because they are my world and I am so lucky to have them. Happy Thanksgiving week to everyone who has followed me and supported me and my business. I am SO thankful to have met and been able to enjoy time with every single one of you and your families. Thank you thank you!! And now i am going to spam you with photos of Finley because I cannot get over how big she looks!!
AMBER 9 MONTH MILK BATH | MILESTONE SESSION | STAFFORD, VIRGINIA
I absolutely adore these gorgeous gals!! I met Madeliza almost 2 years ago when I photographed a mutual friend's birth. Little did I know we would shortly both become pregnant just a few months apart and that I would be following along her pregnancy and mommy hood journey. Her beautiful baby girl Amber is such a fun little girl and absolutely GORGEOUS. She is full of personality and sass and so much fun to photograph. We had sa great time capturing her 9 month milestone with a milk bath. Here are a few of my favorites!
