I love spending time with my family and so does Cate.  I was born and raised in Staten Island, New York, but what some of you may not know is that I lived in Florida until my fifth birthday. Both my brothers were born in Florida.  About 10 years ago my youngest brother Jason and I got a two bedroom apartment together.  It was one of the best years of my life, partially because it’s the year I met my husband and it was wonderful living with my brother during our early adulthood.   We shopped together, cooked together, rarely cleaned and lived life.  We were so noisy and would dance the night away.  Our neighbors would come knocking and we’d try to pretend it wasn’t us.  I can’t imagine how we thought that might be believable. I even once answered the door with a towel around my head pretending as though I just got out of the shower when they complained about the dancing.  Such silly memories!

It’s tough when family lives miles apart, even if it’s temporary.  Jason and I went to South Beach on vacation celebrating my 25th birthday. We were best friends!  At the end of that Summer, my brother Jason moved to Miami.  Talk about devastated, thank goodness, I had my handsome brother Jimmy nearby.  As plans change, Jason moved back to New York end of the year.  I’ll be honest, I did a little happy dance. I missed him terribly.  My relationships with my brothers are so important to me.  Here’s a picture from Jason’s wedding last October taken by the one and only Bambi Cantrell.

What I love about what I do, is that I have the unique ability to get to know my clients and their families.  I get to peak inside their lives and capture a special moment that they will hopefully cherish for decades.

Sabina & family…

Sabina and her sister were born in Brazil.  When Sabina moved to the United States with her husband and children they created a wonderful life for themselves.  But there’s not a day that goes by where Sabina doesn’t miss her sister (and best friend) Flavia.  I can relate to them, even though it was a short time I missed my brother terribly.  This Summer Flavia spent almost two months in the States visiting family.  It was such a treat to meet her having known Sabina for nearly two years.

I asked Sabina about her family and her move to the United States during our session:

“I moved here 8 years ago, first to Minnesota, then 3 yrs ago, to Naperville, IL. I used to be a law professor and started preparing to switch to photography about 2 years ago.   For the last 5 years ago, Flavia has been taking two months out of the year to spend time here with us.   My sister lives in Brazil in our hometown Porto Alegre. She is an architect there.  She is my older sister of 7 siblings. We are best friends. We figured that most families are so busy that people don’t get to see each other very often even when they live in the same town. Our joke is that if we were to pack all the scattered times when family meet into a solid block of time, it must amount to the two months we spend together. My kids don’t get to spend time with their extended family because of the distance from Brazil, so it is very precious that their ant (who also happens to be Julia’s Godmother) comes here and spends time with them, and participates in their daily activities.