By January, the landscape has gone quiet. The trees are bare, the light disappears early, and home begins to feel like its own small world.

For this family, home was a recently found cabin in the Hudson Valley, a place away from the city, surrounded by snow and trees. Inside, warm wood paneling and a large window looking out toward the backyard made winter feel less like something to escape and more like part of the setting.

Their daughter had just turned one, which is an especially good age to photograph without much of an agenda. She was busy becoming herself. She moved from books to music to dancing, clapping along to songs, climbing into her parents’ laps and wandering off again when something else caught her attention. There was no real need to manufacture a moment. The afternoon unfolded around the things she was already interested in.

At one point, she sat down at the piano. Small hands on the keys, brown overalls, a blouse underneath, completely absorbed in whatever she thought she was playing. It became one of those photographs that seems to contain an entire age inside of it.

Most of the session was photographed on 35mm film. There is a softness to film in a wood interior in winter, the grain, the lower light, the warmth of skin against darker rooms, that felt particularly suited to this house. Nothing needed to be made brighter or cleaner than it really was.

The clothing worked in much the same way. Soft browns, creams and small details felt connected to the rooms without matching them. Everyone looked considered, but still entirely at home

The resulting photographs are less about what the family looked like on a particular January afternoon than about how life felt there: music in the living room, books on the floor, snow beyond the windows, and a very small person taking up more and more space in the world.

A few questions about winter sessions at home

Does an in-home family session need a bright house?

Not necessarily. Window light, darker rooms and the natural atmosphere of a home can all become part of the photographs. Winter light can be especially beautiful when it is allowed to feel like winter.

What do you actually do during an in-home session with a one-year-old?

Very little needs to be planned. Reading, playing music, sitting together, dancing or following a child from room to room usually gives us more to work with than a list of photographs ever could.

Explore family sessions in New York and the Hudson Valley →