If you would love to have professional photographs but you don’t feel you need a private photography session, hosting a Portrait Photography Party with Holly Sisson Photography is the answer!

Find at least three other interested groups (families, couples, friends (groups no larger then six), owners with their pets), and every group has a turn being photographed.

Photography parties are a perfect way to get fantastic family pictures, without the cost of a private session. Please see my Photography Packages page for cost details.

On the day of the session, I will arrive at the appointed time. Each group will receive a 30 minute mini-photo-session as well as four digital prints. The host of the party will receive extra time, as well as five digital prints. As the session is based at your home, your photographs with have that additional personal quality, and with the extra time, there will be more opportunity for alternative setups and locations.

This type of session would work well for families, friends, couples and owners with their dogs. It would not work well for newborns, maternity or cat photography (unless the cat resides with the host family, and is of a relaxed enough nature to tolerate such activity).

Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions regarding this session!

Last week I attended an amazing workshop with Nichole Van, and I am missing the beautiful weather in Utah, a nice DRY heat rather then what we are currently experiencing in Toronto.

Here are some images I captured during the workshop. The first series is with models she organized for us at her home outdoor studio (her backyard):

The next day we moved to an off-site location. This image was shot with off-camera light that Nichole set up:

The rest of the images, from that shoot, were natural light:

On the way back to the hotel, one night, we stopped to photograph some beautiful horses, and the landscape:

It was a beautiful summer day in May, and I had a super fun family session last week with Lauren, Murray and their Mom & Dad.

(See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used. Primarily used the Canon 1DMkIV and the Canon 85mm f1.2L lens in the following images.)

Isn’t Lauren simply adorable? Those blue eyes, and blond ringlets, LOVE this shot:

Big brother Murray is blond and blue-eyed too!:

We started the session walking to the local park:

Love this shot of Lauren hanging on to her dad’s finger, so cute!

The whole family:

Murray and his Dad having fun together:

Murray enjoying the park (LOVE the bokeh in this shot!):

We finished up back at the house, how could I resist getting some shots of Murray in his cool bedroom? I couldn’t!

Maybe some parents wouldn’t be keen on this image, but I think it’s adorable, and would be guaranteed to take you back to that time in your children’s life:

Thank you to the H-Family for a fun family shoot!

Love and romance in Kensington Market this Valentine’s Day with my couple photography shoot of Coby & Ashley.

(Equipment Used: Images where shot with the Canon EOS-1D MarkIV, Canon 5D, Canon 85 f1.2L lens, Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens and the Lensbaby Composer.)

What a fun neighbourhood for a couple shoot (or a family shoot!), lots of colour, and interesting backdrops.

Love this natural moment I caught of Coby and Ashley on the bench, and the wonderful graffiti & fabric (hanging outside) that made for such colourful backgrounds:

Had to share this whole series, cool locale, and wonderful interaction:

Every time I turned around it seemed I found another interesting backdrop! At the end of the shoot, we jumped on a streetcar, did some shots while riding, and then used the streetcar as a backdrop, so Toronto!

Decided that the images just called out for some texture, love how in this example it adds more depth and interest to the background:

Lensbaby shot, colour graphic wall, texture added in PhotoShop:

Went all out on this one, love the worn, vintage feel:

Thank you for the fun afternoon in Kensington Market, Coby & Ashley!

Had a fabulously fun session with Deborah and her son, Christopher, for my last family session of 2009.

(See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used.)

We started out inside with a family photo including Butterscotch the cat (shot with the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens):

Christopher is learning guitar, and mom wanted a shot of him playing (shot with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

Love these two, shot in the back alley behind the house, such great ‘boy’ shots! (Shot with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

Loving these moments between mom and son (both shot with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

Love these shots of Butterscotch being taken for her daily walk in the back alley, so cute! (Shot with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

I adore this shot of the whole family, going for a walk (shot with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

Christopher was trying to be tricky, and hide from me for this shot, and it ended up being a fabulous relaxed portrait of him (shot with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

Thank you, Deborah and Christopher, for being such fun for my last family shoot of the year!

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Robin, Pete and their children, Jack and William.

We ended up fighting the weather a bit, but it ended up working out, the sun even made an appearance. We started the shoot in their backyard, where I captured William at play:

Caught this shot of Jack when we all took cover from the light rain that had started:

Thankfully it cleared up and we moved to the kids’ school yard, for more fun and photos. Love this shot of mom and her boys:

Dad joined in:

Loving this brotherly shot, so cute:

Made use of the sun that appeared for a backlit family photo:

Here’s one of just mom and dad that I captured:

Thank you Robin, Pete, Jack and William for the fun afternoon!

Oh, it was SO hard to limit my sneak peek for this adorable family! They were the winning bidders for a gift certificate that I donated to the POGO Gala this year.

We met up at a park close to where they live, which I hadn’t been back to since my last shoot there almost two years ago. It’s a great location!

(Equipment Used: Shot entirely with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens and the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens.)

Emma was such a sweetie! As soon as she saw me she reached out and I ended up carrying her over to the playground. Look how adorable she is!

Her brother Nathan was such a cutie! He looked like a model, and he kept himself busy running around most of the time,

Love this shot, almost everyone is looking at me!

“AWWWW!” Which is what my daughter said when she saw this shot, and I concur! So sweet!

Nathan and his Dad share a moment in the playground:

Absolutely ADORE this series of backlit shots! Emma and her mom, so adorable!! (Shot wide open at f1.2 with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens.)

You would recognize these steps if you looked at the link above to the other family shoot, great spot for a family photo!

Love these shots of Dad playing with his daughter, so fun!

Loved Emma’s outfit, strong bold colours, matching hair ribbon, perfect for the shoot:

LOVE this one! Caught it almost at the end of the shoot:

Oh, this sweet moment between mother and son takes me back to when my children were that age, so precious!

Thank you Sally and Yong! It was my pleasure to meet and photograph you and your children!

Dr. Vanessa Arnold, of Body in Balance, needed some up-to-date shots of herself and her studio space for a new website design. Her mom also helped out as the “patient/client”.

My fabulous friend, Janine, from imabeautygeek.com, did the make-up for the shoot and, as per usual, she did a fab job! Wish I had her available to do make-up for me every morning!

Once again, loving my Canon 85 f1.2L lens for the headshots taken outside, everyone of the following (except for the 3rd shot), was taken with this awesome lens from Canon. The other lens I used at the shoot was the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens, which was used for the interiors, except for the last two (in office) shots which were taken with the 85. (See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used.)

Kept it simple for the headshots, with a couple of wardrobe changes, we were very happy that the rain held off for the whole shoot!

Jeanine was the winner of the Project Love photo shoot (see this blog post), and we had a wonderful time in a local park last Friday with her adorable daughter, Brigitte.

(See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used.)

We started off with a swing, can you tell she loves swinging?

Loving the dreamy bokeh that the Canon 85 f1.2L lens produces, really is my favourite lens:

Loving the look of concentration on Brigitte’s face, and her beautiful eyes! (Shot with the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens, which is much better at close-up work then the 85!)

Every mother experiences this, babies love their mommy’s necklaces!

Absolutely ADORE this shot! Brigitte looks too cute, and mom smiling in the background, can you say perfect?

We actually did the shoot at my local park, so guess who came by to say ‘hello’ during his recess break? My son Noah’s school is attached to the park where we did the shoot:

Mom and daughter having a swing:

Love this moment too!

It was a beautiful day for the shoot, sunny and warm with no rain, perfect:

At the very end I caught some wonderful backlit shots:

Thank you for spending Friday morning with me Jeanine and Brigitte!

I recently had the pleasure of photographing the F-R family, on a hot Tuesday morning, but we were just very happy and relieved that the rain held off for our shoot!

We started the session in their local park, just letting the girls play and have fun.

LOVED Sarah’s outfit, aren’t those shoes just too cute?

Claire and her Dad had fun playing together:

I brought out the bubbles, mom gives Sarah a hand:

Love this shot of Claire, tilted head and beautiful out-of-focus background (shot wide open at f1.2 with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens):

The park we went to has these very cool colourful pillars around a park building, Claire and Sarah were adorable sharing a moment of sisterly love:

Loved working the pillars into a family shot:

Then we headed back to their house for some much needed water and some close-ups of the girls, love, love, love this shot of Claire!

And also adore this shot of Sarah, relaxed and smiling:

Thank you to Chris, Katie, Claire and Sarah for the fun morning at the park!