Ryan Estes – Philadelphia Newborn, Child, Family & Senior Portrait Photographer – PA, NJ, DE » The online home of Ryan Estes Photography, creating custom newborn, child, family, and senior photography in the greater Philadelphia area.

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Newtown Square Maternity Pictures | Annie + Ed

May 24, 2013 Maternity

Annie and Ed are expecting their first child later this summer.  Or should I say their first baby… like so many couples who book me for portraits, they love their dogs and consider them part of the family, too.  They even had Lemon (the orange one*) flown out to Las Vegas for their wedding!  So of course when they met me to take these Newtown Square maternity pictures, they wanted to include their dogs in the mix as well.

Newtown Square maternity picturespregnancy portraits with dogspregnancy photos at ridley creek state parkexpectant mother on stepspregnancy portraits through blooming flowersfine art maternityhusband and wife expecting baby

* Is “orange” an appropriate way to describe the color of a dog?  What would be better?  I don’t have dogs so am not familiar with the terminology…

By Ryan Estes

Hershey Family Pictures | The Beardsleys

May 23, 2013 Families

This shoot was a fun one.  I went to college with Nancy (it hasn’t been that long, right?), and earlier this spring she wrote to say she wanted me to head their way for some Hershey family pictures close to where they live.  We began shooting around the Milton Hershey School where a lot of the trees were in bloom, and finished up at a farm just down the road from their house.

Seth & Nancy just welcomed their youngest daughter a few months ago.  I love photographing kids at this age, since their eyes just seem to pop with light and color.

Hershey family picturesSeth and the kids

Their oldest was a lot of fun too… he got into the spirit of things!  Nancy is a photography enthusiast as well, and I’m sure she takes tons of pictures of her kids, so they’re used to it!

boy in tall grassnancy and daughter closeup

I love this one below on the right.  There’s something about shooting in barns, with light streaming through the slats, that really appeals to me.

black and white family pictures in barngolden sunlight, red barnbacklit by the sun inside the barn

By Ryan Estes
Michele Sanzo-Laski -

Great pictures!

Megan Jurina -

Beautiful!

Denise Gassner Kuhn -

Just delightful…great photos.

Maeve at One Year

May 22, 2013 Families, Kids

Shannon & Kurt have now become old friends… after shooting their wedding back in 2006 (right? 2006?), and some Philadelphia family pictures of them as a family of three back in 2010, we did a number of shoots together over the past year as they welcomed Maeve into the world.  Shannon & Kurt booked my baby plan, a series of portrait sessions over the course of a year to celebrate and document a baby’s first year.

You may remember their maternity portraits in Chestnut Hill, or Maeve’s newborn session last spring.  We followed those up with a 6-month shoot last November, which I still have not blogged so I’m including those pictures in this post below.  And to mark Maeve’s first birthday, we got together earlier in May to take these pictures of the whole family together.

It’s incredible to watch kids come into their own.  Maeve had a ton of personality as a newborn, and it’s only grown since then.

First, here are her one year pictures:

Philadelphia baby photosphilly baby picture of maeve in flowersmother and daughter at gibraltar gardensfather and daughter through flower petals

It’s always a good idea to capture the entire family during these shoots.  Older brother Liam is no stranger to the camera.

liamfamily at marian coffin gardens, wilmington, de

And if I may skip backward in time a bit, below are some of the images we took when Maeve was just 6 months old.  It was a cold November day, so we started off indoors but couldn’t help finding some sunlight outside as well.

maeve at 6 monthfamib/w family picturesfamily togetherkids in tall grasspink hoodie

As part of their Baby Plan, Shannon & Kurt will be receiving an 8×8 album with their favorite pictures from all four sessions, too!  Can’t wait to get this into your hands, S&K. :)

By Ryan Estes
Nancy Kuhn Beardsley -

that wisteria was amazing!

Delaware Newborn Photography | Adelyn

May 17, 2013 Newborn

So a few years ago I shot a great wedding for these two:

Laura & Tim

It was truly an uber-fun day, and they were a fantastic couple to work with.  Skip ahead to 2013, and this fantastic couple welcomed Adelyn (don’t you love that name?), a gorgeous, expressive little girl.  I love working with the same families again and again, and so was glad to hear it when they called me up to tell me the good news and ask about a Delaware newborn photography session.

As always, I do these shoots in my clients’ homes.  Tim & Laura’s place is nice and big, with lots of great light and texture.  After a few starts and stops (sometimes we need to take a break to feed la bambina) Adelyn settled in and gave us some great pictures.

Delaware newborn photographybaby in pink blanketnewborn portraits with mom and dadlittle baby feet

I’m not a very prop-driven newborn photographer.  In fact, I’d generally rather focus on the relationship between baby and mom and dad, and capture the sense of awe and wonder that comes along with being a new parent.  I believe those are the pictures that will be so important to have years from now, when Adelyn finally comes home from college and wants to take a look back at what life was like way back when.

But I also love bringing blankets, hats, and other outfits that may have meaning into the shoot.  Laura had all of the outfits, etc. that you see in these pictures — most were gifts, and some were even made for her by friends and family members.  What an incredible gesture… so we made sure to take pictures of Adelyn in her first fashion show, so to speak, to be able to show everyone who put so much time into these things.

baby portraits asleep on a chair

I’m looking forward to photographing Adelyn’s 6-month and 1-year portraits as well…  See you soon, kiddo!

By Ryan Estes

Delaware Senior Portraits | Rebekah

May 15, 2013 Seniors
Rebekah’s Delaware senior portraits, shot at the Marian Coffin Gardens at Gibraltar.  This spectacular old estate is a fantastic location for portraits of this sort, with gorgeous gates and wrought iron, beautiful greenery.  Although it’s right smack dab in the middle of Wilmington, the walls surrounding it make it seem like you’re away from all that.  Rebekah called me after seeing her friend Cadie’s senior portraits at Hibernia Park that I shot last fall.  I’m excited to share these with you.
pennsylvania senior portraitssenior photographysenior at marian coffin gardensgibraltar gardens senior portraitsportraits at marian coffin gardensb/w senior portrait with vinesphillies fan senior portrait
By Ryan Estes

Autumn Family Portraits in Philadelphia | The Spitzers

May 13, 2013 Families

I’ve said this before but that won’t step me from saying it again.  Being asked to shoot another photographer’s family (or wedding, or whatever) is a huge compliment, and a bit nerve-wracking sometimes.  Scott is an event and corporate photographer in the area, and when he called saying he wanted to give his wife some autumn family portraits in Philadelphia as an anniversary (or was it birthday?) gift, it was a real honor that he chose to give me a call.

They live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and chose a great little park within walking distance of their home.  It was peak season for leafpeepers (ha!  always wanted to use that word) and while I generally do love the golden glow of sunny days, on this particular overcast Saturday, the subdued light made the colors pop just a little bit more.

Scott & Amanda’s kids are awesome, and clearly used to hamming for the camera.  It took a little time before their daughter was ready to let me point a camera at her, but perseverance paid off and by the end of the session she was giggling with the best of them.

While of course I try to capture some pictures of everyone smiling at the camera, my favorite pictures tend to be those where the family is interacting with each other.  The last image posted below is my favorite… kids being kids, and parents clearly doing their jobs the way moms and dads are supposed to.

I have a great picture somewhere of me at this age riding on my dad’s shoulders.  It’s one of my favorites from my own childhood.

autumn family portraits in philadelphiamom and daughter in autumn pictures

Check out that red hair!

kids playingfamily of four in b/wphiladelphia family pictures in the fall

Scott & Amanda – thank you for trusting me with your memories of your family this year.  It was fun freezing time with you.

By Ryan Estes
Vivian Waters -

These family portraits are so lovely! Family photos are great souvenirs, thus, investing much for this is indeed an advantage! This enables us to treasure all those precious moments we had. Captured memories are priceless such as these family portraits shared. So beautiful and perfectly shot. Thanks for sharing all these!

-http://www.portlandphotostudio.com/

Family Pictures at Morris Arboretum

May 9, 2013 Families

Here are some fine folks who have been on this site before… you might remember them from their maternity pictures a while back, or perhaps from their family pictures at the John James Audubon Center last summer.  In any case, it’s been fun to watch little “N” grow to be the energetic little guy he is now.  Check out that infectious smile!

We got together to take these family pictures at Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill, and the trees were in full bloom.  Fantastic!

morris arboretum family picturesspringtime fountain at morris arboretumspring bloomsfather and sonfamily in blooming spring treespictures in springhouse

By Ryan Estes
Inna Perevozskaya -

April 2013 family pictures.

Beth White Overley Adamson -

These are fantastic. Sorry we missed seeing you that day at the arboretum. He’s adorable.

Inna Perevozskaya -

Thank you Beth,most of the credit goes to Ryan, our photographer-he was fantastic;-) we will try to go there again some day. Didn’t get a chance to check the playgroung, I will let you know if we do.