Melissa Hassey » Family Portraits

Baby Adrian!!

melissa — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:28:03 +0000

In November of 2010, I was lucky enough to photograph Regina & Dritan’s beautiful wedding at The Valley Green Inn. This time around I was so delighted when they contacted me to photograph their new son, Adrian!! Adrian is…. absolutely adorable! He was amazingly good throughout the entire portrait session too. We accomplished so much and he kept up with all of it… including outfit changes and room changes, etc… Even when he quietly fell asleep out on the bed, he was perfect. A wonderful model already! He is clearly loved and adored by his family and it is easy to see why.

Here is a link to view Dritan & Regina’s wedding day blog: http://melissahassey.com/2011/01/valley-green-inn-wissahickon-park-fairmount-park-wedding/

And here is little man Adrian and his adoring family:

Kisses from his Aunt, Grandmom & Uncle…. So sweet!!

Center City/ Rittenhouse Portraits!

melissa — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:28:01 +0000

Yay! Another Center City portrait session. I love these! Sam and her mom were so much fun. Sam has always made my job easy throughout the years. She is full of personality and style (she even picked out her own wardrobe!). She is enamored with dogs and pigeons, 2 of my favorite animals as well. It was cute to watch her chase after the pigeons. We wandered the streets, stores and parks around Center City. It was a great day overall.

Below is one of my favorites from the day…..

Center City Portrait Session in Philadelphia!

melissa — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:48:18 +0000

I just love this family! They are fun, open minded and beautiful! This is the 4th year (wow!) that I have had the absolute pleasure of photographing Cheyenne. He gets more and more handsome each year…. however that is possible! Here are a few pics from previous years as well as a couple of past blog post links:

2008, 2009, 2010

http://melissahassey.com/2010/10/batman-at-the-philadelphia-art-museum/

http://melissahassey.com/2009/09/spiderman-in-rittenhouse-park/

This year we traveled around Center City. We stopped at City Hall, Broad Street, Prince Music Theatre and the Comcast Building. It was SO much fun! I can always rely on this family to collaborate ideas with and, as you will see, to dress impeccably. You all are the best!!

The Pop Shop in Collingswood!

melissa — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:35:08 +0000

It had been 3 years since I last saw this family…. but it was well worth the wait! Three years ago I photographed Joseph on the Main Street in Haddonfield, NJ. Below is a portrait from that session. how handsome is he!? And wait until you see how much he’s grown!

Since that time, Joseph acquired a little brother, Ethan! Another cutie! These boys were so much fun. We met at one of their favorite family stops: The Pop Shop in Collingswood, NJ. I had never been there but it is adorable and I can see why kids and adults alike completely packed this diner on a Saturday afternoon.

Admittedly, Joseph had some moments where he really didn’t feel like being photographed much. Though, once he got a hamburger and a drink in his belly, he was goofy and full of smiles! I can completely relate, Joseph!

And heeeeeere’s Ethan!

Fall Portraits at Valley Forge National Park

melissa — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:54:01 +0000

This portrait session took quite some time to actually happen! It seemed like nature was trying to keep us apart. There were multiple days of bad weather, unfortunate illness and then, to top it off, we couldn’t find each other at the park! It actually became quite humorous!

Thankfully it DID eventually happen and I finally got to meet the absolutely adorable Hannah! She is a new walker/ waddler, which I always love! She has a wonderful personality and apparently loves to eat!

I met with Hannah and her mom at Valley Forge National Park. I brought a bunch of apples for some Fall fun and boy did Hannah love those! We actually had to hide them for a bit just to get a few portraits without the apples. Ha!

Anyway, this blog took me a while to put together as Hannah is so cute that she made it tough to choose! I hope you enjoy…..

Eastern State Penitentiary Family Portraits

melissa — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:06:01 +0000

I recently got to photograph a really awesome family at the Eastern State Penitentiary. It was great!! I have known the mom, Cari, for…. well, basically my whole life. Her and her 2 brothers were mine & my siblings first friends. We grew up only 7 houses away from each other on a row home block…. which, to all you suburbanites, basically means right next door.

We did everything together it seems and I have some really great memories from those times. Cari is 3 years older than I am and so, officially, she was really my sister’s friend. Even still, I tagged along everywhere just like any annoying little sister. One memory that stands out is when I begged to go to Cari’s birthday party. Everything was going great until her parents went upstairs. Suddenly the lights went off and scary movies were playing. I even remember getting locked into a hallway with a boy for “7 minutes in heaven”. It was more like 7 minutes of AWKWARD!! After that I decided that I wasn’t quite ready to grow up just yet. I was still happy climbing trees and playing with bugs (I think I still am).

Here are a couple of photos of us and some of our siblings….

As for the portrait session, it was great! Chad (the dad) had the great idea of photographing at the Eastern State Penitentiary, a location that I have always been fond of for it’s history and peeling paint/ textured walls. Jordyn & Luke (the adorable kiddos) were great and I think that they had a lot of fun exploring this creepy space. Towards the end of our time there we were told that we actually weren’t allowed to photograph there. Go figure! Well, at least we got some portraits in before we were reprimanded.

It was great catching up with Cari and photographing her family. It’s always amazing to see someone from your childhood. It’s a great reminder of where you came from and how time has passed. It’s funny, we used to pretend we were married with kids….

There is certainly an irony to them being so happy in a penitentiary…. but I just couldn’t get them to stop smiling.

Briya has become a Bat Mitzvah!

melissa — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:34:45 +0000

I recently was honored with the opportunity to photograph Briya on the day that she became a Bat Mitzvah! I first met Briya and her fun family a couple of years ago when they won a Silent Auction raffle at a local school. Here are the fun pics from that session: http://melissahassey.com/2009/09/raffle-winners/

It was really wonderful to see them all again. I learned, as expected, that their friends and extended family are just as kind and fun as they are. Bonus!!

It was a wonderful day filled with love, joy, singing and air guitars….

Mazel Tov, Briya! Thank you for having me there for such a special moment in your life! You are beautiful, kind, mature and very very well loved!

Storybook Land Portrait Session!

melissa — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:33:33 +0000

On the way down to the Jersey Shore, you may have passed Storybook Land. If you have young children, I definitely suggest that you make the stop and check this park out! Storybook Land is an adorable, fun and well shaded (yay!) park for young children and child-like adults alike. The theme is (obviously?) children’s stories and nursery rhymes and is really adorable.

I have been photographing this awesome family for years and was excited to visit someplace new with them. We always make the portrait session more like a play date/ fun outing for John Paul. Each year I look forward to seeing how much he has grown! This year was no exception. He is turning into quite an awesome little man. I loved that after each ride he told the operator, “I really liked that!”.

It was so much fun to hang out with them, play with John Paul and even go on a few rides (I love my job!!).

I hope you enjoy these!

Maternity Portraits

melissa — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:19:18 +0000

It has been many years since I had last seen Dana. We were “brownie girls scouts” together and also went to the same summer day camp for many years. I can also clearly remember making french fries from scratch for the first time at Dana’s house. What an experiment that was! I probably still have the oil burn scars somewhere on my arms… haha!

Anyway, I am quite thankful to facebook for putting us back in touch and also for supplying us with this oldie but goodie photograph. Sorry for the poor quality. Yeah, Holland Day Camp!

On to the real topic….. Dana & John are expecting their first baby in less than 2 months! Together they are fun, affectionate, goofy and in completely in love! It was so much fun catching up, meeting John, and also watching the two of them together. Also, is Dana not the most beautiful and adorable pregnant woman you have seen?!?

John & Dana, thanks so much for letting me capture this precious time in your lives! I am so very much excited for you both!

They are already great parents to their adorable & friendly parakeet, Shatzi! (I hope I spelled that correctly!)

Fox Chase Farm!

West Chester Family Portraits!

melissa — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:26:17 +0000

I met up with this close, fun and laid back family at the Dillworthtown Inn in West Chester, PA. As a family, they were celebrating their Parent’s/ Grandparent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary!

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Dotts!! You are both very inspiring.

All of the family members have a great sense of humor. We were able to get a few fun photographs in before they sat down to eat dinner. The restaurant looked amazing, by the way. I hope to get there one day soon for dinner!

Prior to the portraits, I got to learn lots of fun and interesting details about this family that made me smile. A few:

- Mr. Dotts is knonw as “Fearless Fred”

- Their home, at one time, had 80 chickens

- They have a giant collection of “pig stuff”, including magnets and knick knacks

- One family member worked as a character at the Renaissance Faire! Very cool…..

- Mr. & Mrs. Dotts’ son wore a kilt on his wedding day. His wife then rigged a mirror onto her shoe to “peek under his kilt”

- One family member is a really great family event organizer!

It is fun details like these that make my job so much fun! Thank you, Dotts’ Family!! You were so much fun!

What 50 years of love looks like:

I LOVE this family photo:

The serious look…. No mirrors this time.