Pictures in the Park by Julie Brimberg

I first met Julie Brimberg in 2006, when she took 2 1/2 year old R's photos for a mini-Mother's Day photo session. I was so pleased with the results that I hired her again a year later, this time to take some pictures of me with R. (then 3 1/2) and "Baby S." (age 8 months) on an unusually warm April day, to give as a Father's Day gift. The photos (scanned in above) are bittersweet for me to revisit for a bunch of reasons.

Even though on the day of this photo shoot, the kids and I were in less-than-top-form (I'd been up half the night with a teething Baby S., and R. was a particularly cranky preschooler at that time) Julie managed to capture great photos with lots of smiles and giggles. She also snapped one of my all-time favorite pictures of the 3 of us (not shown here) which is something not many photographers have managed since then (not for lack of trying... it's just not an easy shot). So I am cautiously optimistic that when we meet her again later this month for in Central Park, that she might get a good photo of our trio, 3 1/2 years later. And it just might be the perfect "bookend" to these other photos. This time, the photos are a gift to myself, for my birthday.

Some details about Julie, for those of you who might also be in the NYC area and looking for photographer recommendations for your holiday cards. Julie Brimberg is a very experienced and talented NYC photographer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Time Out New York. When not photographing mere mortals like myself, she has photographed celebrities including Morgan Freeman, Joan Allen, Stellan Skarsgard, Kathryn Erbe, and Moby. She is a mom of two herself and loves photographing children and families. Since I did a poor job scanning in my old photos, please check out her website to view her stunning work for yourself. Pricing is standard for New York City (sorry to say). Her fall weekends are filling up fast, though, so if you want those prized foliage family photo sessions, contact her soon.

I'll let you know how ours goes!

Many thanks to Julie Brimberg for providing me a professional discount for our upcoming photo session.