Some Days You Just Don’t Want to Take a Nap.

7. Presented without comment. Once in a while, this is the mood. Me, at 3. Photo credit: John Vaeth (aka: Dad, Daddy John Boy) and the Polaroid company.              

Heritage

6. When I started this business, I thought I needed a bio to explain what made me qualified to live such a creative, audacious life, and to charge money for it. I looked at other photographers websites, and followed suit. Insecure on the inside but trying to be secure on the outside, I wrote my bio. It began: “Stacey Vaeth has been making photographs…

Waiting

5. Transitioning between posed photos of their larger family, I turned and really saw Meredith’s sister and niece. Waiting. Just waiting for the next photo. In the waiting, the mind settles, the expressions relax, and the interactions are authentic in their necessity. It never fails that the least posed photos are the ones that speak to me the most. Like life, we can go…

Doing as Mom asked. And putting bunny to bed.

4. In this session at the Tidal Basin years ago, Lucy stood alone for her photo. Although her mom was five feet away, she was as exposed as we all can feel, when we remember being that small. When we are aware that we may still feel that way, but have learned how to compartmentalize it. She was shy and she was so, so…

Too Soon, and Right on Time

3. This is an image of my nephew, Simon. One of so many that I love, because I love him so much that it’s sort of impossible to pick just one expression, just one moment. Simon was born on November 23rd, 2013. He was due to be born on February 6th of the next year. On the very day that Simon came into the…

Heels

2. I have photographed Kaarin since the early days of this business, when I was her yoga instructor and she was my student. Among other amazing endeavors, she started the epic podcast Pop Fashion with Lisa, and I was asked to create their images for social media and branding. They’re awesome, hilarious, and true to themselves. This day, I made the ill-advised decision to…

The beginning

When I started out, I was terrified. Of missing a moment, of not knowing enough technically. But I’ve always felt at home with people. With emotion. To this day I walk into a shoot and watch people. Sometimes to the detriment of conversation, I watch the light, the way the client nuzzles their child, the way their fingers hang together as the partner parts…

The Next Thing

  I’ve been trying to write these retrospective blog posts – years gone by, 10 years of running this business, building this group of friends and clients. To honor my awesome clients and my growth. And I’ve been getting stopped. I’ve been blocked a lot because the beginning was 10 years ago – when technology was different and storage too. My files from the…

Breathing in the light of it all

10 years ago today I hosted a party at Studio Serenity in Adams Morgan. The year prior had been a whirl of: building a website, a portfolio, a skill set; creating contracts, policies, pricing; sampling products, taking bookkeeping classes, taking out a small business loan, purchasing and learning software, SEO, advertising and marketing; cooking dinner, being a friend, a daughter and a wife; training…

Little ones at the Park

It was so great to work with Kathie and Matt again! It seems like just yesterday that I did Adeline’s newborn session, and now there are two! Congratulations you guys.