by Kristin Vacca | Dec 20, 2018 | Christmas, Families
Family Christmas Photos | Newington, CT
2018 was a great year for family Christmas photos! As always, we provided a fully custom made, unique set for the holiday mini session season! We aim to not use printed backdrops for a more authentic style and look and clients come back year after year to see what we will come up with next! This year’s theme was “Christmas Eve at the North Pole” – essentially posing in Santa’s sleigh (which was completely restored from top to bottom just for this year!) before he head’s out to deliver toys on Christmas Eve! The front of Santa’s “workshop” was built using real weathered shingles (that ironically were originally supposed to be used on the Best Western up at Bradley International Airport and never were!), an antique barnwood door and windows. The overhang was designed to give the set a finished look (and add more lights!). One of the highlights was decorating our main white and silver tree. It came out GORGEOUS and many families commented on how pretty it was! Family sessions were fun and allowed for many different posing options, reading, tickles, a few shots on our side bench with the white tree behind, and the at the end some “magic” was created by the kids as they had snow sent all the way from the North Pole! It was wonderful to see so many returning clients this year and many new ones as well! We even opened up additional time slots just to handle all of the requests and look forward to many opportunities in 2019! You’ll notice that Santa & Mrs. Claus even made a surprise appearance on one of the family session days, which we hope to do next year as well. Don’t forget to join our newsletter and follow us on Facebook to book for next year and see what our next great theme will be! 🙂
by Kristin Vacca | Sep 26, 2018 | Christmas, The Santa Experience
Santa Mini Sessions | Newington, CT
The Santa Experience at The Flash Lady Photography is in its 4th year and we have a new set for you that’s better than ever! Our annual Santa mini sessions and Christmas family mini sessions are well known in Southern New England, especially in Connecticut, and we are even more known for creating unique and custom sets that you just won’t find anywhere else! This year’s theme is “Christmas Eve at the North Pole”, and you’ll meet Santa in his sleigh outside his workshop before he hurries back to work on those special items you asked him for Christmas! This year features an antique cutter sleigh we purchased last year and completely restored to a new beauty today for Santa to use. You’ll read with Santa, maybe enjoy a cookie or two, whisper what you’d like for Christmas, smile for the camera (Grandparents need those special photos!), and if you ask nicely, Santa might just be able to ask his Elves to send us some snow! Appointments are 10 minutes with Santa during our Santa Experience event on November 11th, and 15 minutes without Santa during our family Christmas photo sessions being held on December 1st. We also provide ordering and design for Christmas cards using your images and other gifts with FAST turnaround and shipping. Clients love that we can not only provide them with a memorable experience but take care of some of their holiday shopping and make a great card too! But don’t delay! We are nearly sold out of both dates already! Click here to schedule your memorable holiday session with us this year! *Are you a photographer, filmmaker, or other business who needs to rent a beautiful set for your project or sessions? We have a limited number of dates for set rental as well with half day and full day rates. Contact us for more information. Ho ho ho! *Note – the Santa & Mrs. Claus used in our modeling photos will NOT be the Santa appearing on 11/10/18.
by Kristin Vacca | Dec 25, 2017 | Christmas, The Santa Experience
Holiday Recap 2017 | Newington, CT
What a great season! I am so blessed to share our holiday recap for 2017 and the fun and magic we created and shared with so many families this year! Christmas time is a really big season for us here at The Flash Lady Photography. There is just something about the time of year that brings out such joy in children that I love making it as special as possible! This year, we built TWO custom sets in our attached garage for holiday sessions in Nov/Dec and to use for our Santa Experience earlier in November. This gave us much more room than in past years, and also allowed for my regular studio work to be minimally affected. Even I couldn’t have imagined the wow-factor that we would have after finishing the sets! We started building in June of this year. To create a completely custom set affordably, there is a LOT of behind the scenes work that goes into it. We visited antique shows for tools and toys, traveled to New York state for the perfect crate for Santa’s workshop and the barnwood mantle piece for the traditional living room side, refurnished and painted an old pot belly stove, and even worked with neighbors to cut down real evergreen branches for both sides of the set for authenticity! We had an amazing Santa Experience in November and seeing so many other families return for personal photos without Santa later in the month and early December was wonderful! All of the children were amazed and loved playing with the different toys (some kids are definitely Santa’s elf material!). We are already hard at work planning our next custom set up for 2018! Booking does sell out quickly so don’t delay next year for either session type! Enjoy some of the previews from our holiday recap below!
by Kristin Vacca | Oct 17, 2017 | Christmas, The Santa Experience
Santa Photos | Newington, CT
It’s almost Christmas time again and we are back with two completely redesigned sets for Santa Photos at The Flash Lady Photography for 2017! Preparations start in June, where we custom build each of our set ups to be authentic and magical for your children and your families! People come from all over Connecticut and Massachusetts to experience our amazing event with Santa Claus on Saturday, November 11th, 2017. This includes a personal, ten minute appointment with the man himself, professional photography during your session, a variety of packages to book in advance (and upgrade if desired afterwards), the chance to view a small selection of images and purchase designed Christmas cards, photo gifts, and other items on the spot, and leave with a treat before you go! Best of all – NO WAITING! This is MUCH different than your typical Mall experience. Children have a chance to read stories, have cookies, check out some of the toys in his workshop, tell Santa what they’d like for Christmas, and leave with something sweet by Betty’s Cake Creations! This is truly an event not to be missed and we sell out every year! So don’t delay, and book your appointment today! Only 2 spots remain for Santa Photos as of 10/18! For those that would like a photography session without Santa for holiday cards, we also are offering the sets on December 2nd for slightly longer appointments to enjoy with your family! And don’t worry, we always have photos back with plenty of time for those Christmas cards (OR just have us take care of them for you and cross one more thing off your list!!).
by Kristin Vacca | Jan 6, 2017 | Christmas, Families
Family Christmas Photos | Newington, CT
We didn’t want to get too far into 2017 without showcasing the beautiful images from our family Christmas photos 2016 event we had in December! When we build our custom sets for the holidays every year, we try to do something that we can use for both our Santa Experience event in November as well as for family Christmas photos in December. Most of our families attended on December 3rd and 4th for the bulk of the event while a few I was able to squeeze in during the week that weren’t able to make it otherwise. I cannot pick a favorite family because they were all so special and unique! Prior to meeting, we discussed outfits, colors, and other ideas with each family to make their time with us as smooth as possible. The kids loved playing with the toys, eating cookies, opening presents, reading stories, and tickling with Mom & Dad! Parents were also happy to have me help them with holiday card design and ordering, choosing gifts for family members, and knowing they would all be received before Christmas! I loved meeting each of the families and look forward to seeing them again in 2017 for their own custom session during the year or back at Christmas time! We begin booking our family Christmas photo sessions in the fall so stay tuned to our Facebook page and website for booking information later this year! Happy Holidays!
by Kristin Vacca | Jan 4, 2017 | Christmas, The Santa Experience
Santa Experience 2016 | Newington, CT
On November 12th we hosted our annual event – The Santa Experience 2016! This has quickly become a very popular family event! We try to schedule in November before the craziness of the holiday season, but close enough so everyone is still getting into the holiday spirit. Planning usually begins right after the previous event ends, as we build a custom set each year to make a unique backdrop for photos of Santa with your little ones. This year we decided on “The Night Before Christmas”, and built a beautiful living room scene complete with fireplace and toys for the kids. Children enjoyed their own personal 10 minute appointment with Santa, which is just enough time to take a few minutes to get used to him and take some great photos too! Santa read stories, handed out presents, and even shared a cookie or two with the children! He checked his Nice List for each child’s name and so many were overjoyed to see it on there! After pictures were done, families were led back upstairs where they could view a few images and order additional products such as designed holiday cards and other photo gifts. Many families love to be able to take care of everything in one place and know they are receiving a quality product from me directly! Betty’s Cake Creations helped us by making cookie and cake pop packages for each family to take home and they were a big hit as always! After receiving their treats, families were sent on their way! Much better than waiting for hours at the mall! One of our most common responses is how smooth and fun the process is. We really aim to make it an “experience” for families and not “just” a quick photo with Santa! See for yourselves how fun The Santa Experience 2016 was! We are already planning our set for 2017! We start booking typically in early October, so be sure to “Like” our Facebook page for the latest updates so you don’t miss out on a spot!
