New Website and Blog

This is the final post on this blog. Our new blog is located at our new website: http://www.saraphotography.com.

Please visit us there and redirect any bookmarks to the new site.

Welcome to the world, new website and logo!

Born: May 18th, 2011 at 1:15am in Decatur, Georgia and the world over
Weighing: 12 pages and 7 galleries
Width: 978 pixels

I knew you were ok when, instead of waiting for your cry, all your links worked! I breathed a big sigh of relief and knew all the months of waiting were worth this one moment.

I hope you love the new website. My hope was to create a site that was easier to navigate (and one you could see on your smartphone), prettier to look at, more dynamic with a Facebook connection, and contained a lot more information that you would find, well, informative. As with every website we've had, the toughest decisions were choosing images to include. Thanks to everyone who allowed us into your homes and your lives to capture such beautiful moments. Your smiling faces, warm hugs and silly laughter make this new home one we are ecstatic to live in!

Subscribe to our new blog here.

Picture of the Day - My Family

Last weekend Nick and I flew out to Seattle for some much needed family time. Our adorable niece is growing up so quickly - it's hard to believe she'll be three this summer! It was great to spend some stress-free time with my brother and sister-in-law in their home and around town.

The long weekend was filled with lots of everything... delicious home-cooked Shabbat dinner, sushi from a conveyor belt, pink cupcakes,

hide and seek,


bike-riding,




drawing with chalk, bristle blocks, walking to get bagels,




playing in the van (Elizabeth wanted to show me what it's like to
drive and ride in the van to the campsite.)






hide and seek (again!), a visit to the children's museum,
gourmet doughnuts, reading books, playing dollhouse and play-kitchen,


making silly faces,


and cozy naps.

But the best part is listening to her. She has a lot to say and has a great vocabulary, and it's so fun to listen to her at this age. Everything is "why?" and when she says our names, it's actually "Un Nih and Ann Saya." Seriously, just hearing our names makes me melt. She also repeats a lot that she hears. Jeff calls her a parakeet, ha! Kathleen got her saying "Whatever, dude" which got us all laughing hysterically.

Can't wait to see them all again soon on Skype. (Isn't Skype just awesome?!) Have a great rest of the weekend with your family!

Help-Portrait: Gift Certificate Sale

Founded by Celebrity Photographer Jeremy Cowart, Help-Portrait is a community of photographers, coming together across the world to use their photography skills to give back to their local community.

On 04 December, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered.

Who needs pictures? Anyone who wouldn’t normally have access to or be able to afford professional photography.

• the homeless
• orphans
• single moms (and their kids)
• single dads (and their kids)
• sick children
• sick parents
• the elderly
• army vets
• underprivileged families
• your neighbor

I am participating at the Midtown Atlanta location and we need donations to make this work. Everyone is volunteering and all the camera and computer equipment is donated, but we need donations to pay for printing and framing the pictures. Can you spare $1, $10, $50? 100% of all donations go to support the event.





To make donating even sweeter, we're having a Cyber-Monday Sale on Gift Certificates. All Day Monday, November 29th (with a "preview days" Saturday and Sunday, just like Macy's!) all $100 Gift Certificates will receive a $25 bonus, AND $10 of each sale will support Help-Portrait.

Sound confusing? Let's break it down....

You purchase $200 in Gift Certificates, you receive $50 bonus in Gift Certificates and $20 will be donated to Help-Portrait. Gift Certificates are good for one year and can be used for any product or service we offer.

Happy Anniversary to my best friend

Two years ago today, I married my best friend. It was, what I thought, the best day of my life, but honestly, life after the wedding is so much better than I ever imagined. Happy Anniversary, Nick!

See ya! We're off to celebrate!

Family Resemblances

My little niece is so yummy, I could eat her up. Since she was born, I have enjoyed every moment. I could just stare at her all day, ok, actually, I could photograph her all day. Because she lives in Seattle, I don't get to see her as often as I'd like, which means that the time we do have together is really special.

While I post pictures on here all the time of my clients, I don't often put up pictures of my own family. And that's gotta change. With my recent post about my Northeast Tour, I was able to share a lot of family with you. So that's a good start. Northeast Tour, Part 2 is coming soon.

Elizabeth and I share some similarities that well, just make me proud. See if you can figure them out. The top picture is me with my brother around age 3. The bottom is Elizabeth at my cousin's wedding in June. She'll be 2 in August.

Can you tell that I love being an aunt? I can't wait to introduce her to hair product and show her the ways of naturally curly hair. Those beautiful curls can sometimes be a pain, but through my infinite wisdom, I plan to show her how to love them.

Northeast Tour, 2010 - Part One

A couple weeks ago, my husband Nick and I went on a tour of the northeast. The initial reason for our trip was to go to my cousin Beth's wedding in Connecticut. We figured this would be a great opportunity to see a lot of family, have a bit of vacation and even do some portraits along the way. I say "tour" because Nick is a musician and as we hopped from city to city visiting family and friends, he played gigs of his original music. His music is best described as a combination of blues-rock and funk. But really, it is so many more genres as well. He just loves music and when he writes, it's more of an expression of a story than a specific genre. It's because of Nick's pursuit of a music career that we met 6 years ago. Thank you, I'll be here all night! More on that another time.

FYI, he just had an album release party for his third album, Year of the Ox.
Check it out at the Nick Edelstein band website.

We left Atlanta on a Friday and hit Knoxville, TN. Nick played at a place called Manhattans which is kind of funny because we would go to the real Manhattan a few days later.

From Knoxville, we headed to my hometown of Baltimore. We stayed with my parents a few nights. I had the great pleasure of photographing Noah and Eli, sons of a great family friend who I grew up with. Take a look at my favorite picture from their session here. My time in Baltimore was a real vacation. We got to see some other childhood friends, the youngest of whom was getting married that weekend.

Congratulations, Suzanna! (iPhone picture - forgive the graininess)

After three nights there, we got back into the car and went to Lancaster, PA. We visited with Nick's cousins, Anne Marie, Seve, and Sammy, and went to Longwood Gardens - beautiful place.

Despite being in Pennsylvania, we had not yet escaped the heat and humidity of Atlanta. So the rest of our time there was spent indoors with family.

This is Nick with little Sammy after a pillow-fight. I think that Nick actually may
have had more fun than Sammy playing with all his toys.
Funny how men so quickly revert back to little boys
whenever there's a transformer around.

Our next stop was New York City. We visited with some of Nick's aunts and uncles who live on Long Island. We had a homemade lunch with Aunt Annie and Uncle Leo, and Nick played a couple of his original songs for them.

At Uncle Tommy and Aunt Helen's, we had pizza and admired Uncle Tommy's garden of Bonsai.

That evening, Nick played at National Underground on Houston Street on the lower east side, where we'll be returning this Friday. Come join us if you're in the area! Some of Nick's other cousins came to that show and we had a great time listening to Nick play. No pictures for this evening either, but I did get a parking ticket. HA! Expensive souvenir.

That evening, we stayed with Nick's cousins, Donna and Henrik, and we finally got to meet their son Hunter. We've been trying to get up to New York since he was born, but it was just not possible. Skype is a good consolation for visiting in person. But meeting Hunter, playing with him and photographing him has no substitute. Look at this cutie!

Me, Donna, Nick and Hunter

The next day we headed to Philadelphia. Oh, in case you're keeping track - still no relief from the heat and humidity. The northeast was having a heatwave - perfect!

Nick played a quick show in Philly. We got to see Nick's cousin, Lena, and my cousins DH and Betsy (thanks for dinner!) We immediately left after the show and hit the road.

Next destination: Simsbury, Connecticut for the wedding. But not before some unwanted excitement on the road... stay tuned for Part Two of our escapades.

Are you exhausted just reading about the trip? Don't worry, the beach is coming soon. :)

Vacation Photos - California

My sister-in-law graduated from the Academy of Art University with a Bachelor's in Fine Arts for Motion Pictures and Television Acting in San Francisco. Nick and I, and my in-laws flew out to go to graduation and then to vacation around California for a week. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time visiting Alcatraz Prison, Yosemite National Park, Monterrey and everywhere inbetween. The California coastline is so majestic and hiking Yosemite was stunning. And getting away from the hot humidity of Atlanta was great too.

View the rest of the pictures in my album on Facebook. And leave comments! I love comments!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our adventure. Congratulations, Sam!

Sam's in the middle with her friends, Leah and Sloan.
Remember these faces - they'll be famous one day.


Walking out during the recessional - I love the excitement of this moment.


Standing outside after graduating. Doesn't she look like she could be
in the movie, The Graduate, with Dustin Hoffman?
Her dress and shoes are so retro-cool.


A view of downtown San Francisco from Alcatraz.


San Francisco, circa 1968.
Just kidding...


San Francisco - Golden Gate Bridge


Alcatraz kitchen. Don't the sketches of the knives look scary to be in a prison?


Alcatraz kitchen - NO SOUP FOR YOU!


Alcatraz kitchen - the beauty of texture on the floor.


Yosemite National Park
my ode to Ansel Adams (if only I were so good)


Mom and Dad Edelstein


Yosemite National Park - near Yosemite Falls
quintessential park picture


Yosemite National Park - Bridalveil Falls


Yosemite National Park - Bridalveil Falls
WHERE THE RAINBOW ENDS!
Didn't you always wonder what it looked like?


Yosemite National Park - Bridalveil Falls


Yosemite National Park - Nick and I


Yosemite National Park - Half Dome


Yosemite National Park - sunset on Half Dome from Glacier Point


Yosemite National Park - fly like an eagle


Yosemite National Park - interesting texture from a fallen tree trunk


Sunset from the road
(I shot this from our moving car. How cool that the windmill
is in just the right spot. That's why I get paid the big bucks. HA!)


Monterrey, CA - sunbathing seal


Californa countryside - another shot from our moving car.


This was the centerpiece on our table at lunch in Big Sur.
Reminds me of the plant from The Little Shop of Horrors.

View more pictures in my album on Facebook.