A Little Joy During the Pandemic

A Little Joy During the Pandemic
November 17, 2020

I've spent the last 8 months telling my children they can't do so many of the things they love. Everyday there is something else they have been looking forward to that isn't going to happen. It breaks my heart. And yet, they find the joy in the smallest things and they find a way to keep on going. When I am having a hard time getting out of bed, they lift me up. If you are feeling down today, watch this video and listen to Blithe, my 7-year-old daughter. She is wise beyond her years and I think she'll bring a smile to your face.

Sending love to each and every one of you. We can do this!

Location Guide for Family Photos

Location Guide for Your Family Photos
August 28, 2020 

My clients are always asking for location suggestions for their family sessions. I have described my favorite locations and what I like about each one over and over again. So this year, I’m inviting you to join me on a visual tour of my favorite places for family photos in Madison.  You’ll be able to see some of the photos I’ve made in each of these places, along with some key factors to consider (location, parking, walking required, space for your kids to run around, available bathrooms, etc).  I hope this will help you select the best place for your family photos!

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UW Arboretum
2880 Longenecker Drive, Madison, WI 53713

The UW Arboretum is a great location for your winter, spring, and fall photos!  The mosquitoes can get a little out of control here in the summer, so I don’t usually recommend that.  This is my absolute favorite location in May when the Magnolia and Crabapple trees are in bloom.  It is gorgeous! Easy parking at the visitor center, lots of space for your kids to run around, and bathrooms available when the visitor center is open (Monday-Friday from 9:30am-4pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 12:30am-4pm).  You will have to do some walking at this location. 

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Picnic Point
2003 University Bay Drive, Madison WI 53706

Picnic Point is a great place for photos any time of year! You have beautiful trails, a few small beach areas, the lake, lovely colors in the fall, and wildflowers in the spring and summer.  Plus they just added lots of additional parking, which is fantastic.  You will have to walk at this location and there are no convenient bathroom options. 

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Allen Centennial Garden
620 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706

Allen Centennial Garden is beautiful and compact!  This is a great option to get a variety of settings without having to do lots of walking.  There are tons of flowers, a bright red bridge, a nice grassy space, cute little benches, stone work, and a koi pond (this is a kid favorite). There are no public bathrooms available here, so keep that in mind.  And this location charges a $30 photography fee; so if you want to do photos at Allen Centennial Garden that fee will be added to your invoice.

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Aldo Leopold
330 Femrite Drive, Monona, WI 53716

Beautiful location for fall photos!  Tons of trees with bold fall colors and you don’t have to walk to get to them.  This is a great option if you are bringing grandparents that may not be very mobile because there is convenient parking right by ideal locations.  There is also a lovely prairie you can walk into for more variety if you want to walk around. 

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Olin Park
1156 Olin-Turville Court, Madison, WI 53715

Olin Park provides a variety of background options in one place.  You have the lake Monona with a nice little beach, open space for kids to run around, and a beautiful wooded area with wildflowers. There is also a playground here, which is a big hit with the kids for after their photos (or during, I love that too).

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Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA)
227 State Street, Madison, WI 53703

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is the perfect location for the winter when you don’t want to be outside in the cold.  There are huge glass windows that let in tons of natural light.  And if you want to pop outside for a quick second you are right on state street with a great shot of the capital in the background. MMoCA charges a $25 photography fee; so if you want to do photos here that fee will be added to your invoice.

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Pope Farm Conservancy
7440 Old Sauk Road, Verona, WI 53593

Pope Farm Conservancy has a lovely farm landscape with a variety of crops growing, tall grass, rolling hills, and some wooded areas as well. In August there is a field of sunflowers in bloom, which makes it a very popular location for photos. This is a great location if you have active kids that need space to run around. It’s not a great location if you are not interested in walking.

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Vilas Park
702 S Randall Avenue, Madison, WI 53715

Vilas Park is right by the Zoo! So if you have kids, you know what I’m talking about. There are cute ponds, open space for running around, a sweet little bridge, and lots of trees that look lovely in the fall. And since it is right by the zoo and a Playground you can stop there after photos, OR we can just start there and take photos of you family having fun.

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Yahara River
2025 Yahara Place, Madison, WI 53703

The Yahara River is the perfect way to add some water to your photos without all the wind you get right on the lakes. There are even nice little spots your kids can dip their feet in the water, which is always a source of delight. There is plenty of street parking available so you won’t have to walk far, but there are not public bathroom options.

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Westmorland Park
4114 Tokay Boulevard, Madison, WI 53711

Westmorland Park is beautiful year round. There are beautiful wildflowers in the spring and summer, gorgeous leaves in the fall, and it is a great place to sled and/or ice skate in the winter if you want some action photos (which are my favorite)! Plus, there is a playground and public bathrooms here.

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Enchanted Valley Acres
5047 Enchanted Valley Road, Cross Plains, WI 53528

Enchanted Valley Acres is a great way to get your family photos while you enjoy a family tradition- cutting down your Christmas tree. Not only is the tree farm is a lovely background for your family photos, but when you do your family photos here, your children will have the memory of finding the perfect Christmas tree. And believe me, that will mean more to them than any of the photos you take at a park.

Hann’s Christmas Farm
848 Tipperary Road, Oregon, WI 53575

Hann’s Christmas Farm is another great location for a tree farm session. Plus, Hann’s has an adorable little shop where you can get hot cocoa or cider, lots of yummy treats, and choose the newest ornaments to put on your Christmas tree. AND Santa is at Hann’s Christmas Farm, so you can see him and knock that off your list too!

 And last but certainly not least, YOUR HOME! 

Believe it or not, we can make great photos in your own backyard!  Kids are so much more relaxed in their own home, which makes it easy to capture their authentic personality.  And let’s be honest, it’s less stressful for parents too.  You don’t have the hassle of loading them into the car and making sure you brought all the pieces of their outfit that you want.  You be right by your closet when the baby spits up all over your shirt.  And you’ll have easy access to bathrooms, snacks, and toys if one of your kids needs to take a break for a moment.  I know what you are thinking, “My house isn’t nice.”  Don’t worry about that.  Your house is not the subject of the photos- your family is.  We can pile everyone onto your bed and make some great memories.   

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Front Porch Sessions

Front Porch Sessions
May 26, 2020

I've really missed photographing families these past two months, and I am excited to start working again. But the health of my families (that’s you!) and our community as a whole is extremely important to me, so I've decided to resume sessions very cautiously. I’m going to start by offering Front Porch Sessions. And honestly, during this strange moment in time, I cannot think of a better place to photograph your family than your own front porch. Years from now, you will be telling your grandchildren about this sudden lifestyle shift in which home and family were everything. I’ll make sure you can give them a photo to go with that story.

Front Porch Sessions- $150
20-Minute Session, including 5 digital files

Also, if your children missed school photos with me this spring, this is a great opportunity to get a photo of each child - from the safety of the porch, of course. You’ll have the option to purchase the same picture packages you usually do at school, delivered right to your front door.

If you are interested in a Front Porch Session, please fill out the form below with information about your location and session preferences. I'll try to group my sessions based on location, and I'll get back to you with date and time options within a few days. Please feel free to share this with your neighbors. I’d love to come see everyone in your neighborhood!

Front Porch Session with Julia Matthews Photography- Interest Form

The Stuffie Race

The Stuffie Race
April 9, 2020

It’s just another quarantine day in Wisconsin, with a little hail to make things extra dramatic. Since the weather forced us inside, today seems like an appropriate day to share another Matthews Family quarantine game- The Stuffie Race. Like the Stair Race, this game was designed with the sole purpose of making my children tired. And based on the fact that toward the end of the game the girls were hot enough to strip down to their underwear/diaper, I think it did the trick.

To play this game, the first thing you need to do is have the kids collect all the stuffies in the house. And for anyone that is confused, “stuffies” are what I referred to as “stuffed animals'“ before having children that insist on this new lingo. Once you’ve gathered all the stuffies (hopefully that process alone will keep your kids busy for a while) divide them into two laundry baskets or boxes. If you want to be super fair, you can make sure there are the same number in each basket. Then put the full baskets on one end of the room. And finally put two empty laundry baskets or boxes on the other end of the room. Now your set up is complete and you are ready to begin!

The game is simple. Two athletes will race against each other to see who can be the first to move all of the stuffies from the full basket to the basket on the other end of the room. You can only carry one stuffie at a time, and you absolutely must stay in your lane. That last rule is key! Depending on the number of athletes you have and their stamina, you can run as many heats as you like.

After some serious competition, awards were given. Unfortunately the pandemic prevented us from having medals and trophies made, so we repurposed some stuff from IronKids and i9 Sports. Look at the pride on those faces.

But they weren’t done yet! And the clothes came off so you know these last few heats will be intense.

Here it comes, the final moment of this epic competition…

And naptime! Another quarantine success story from the Matthews Household. Until next time, take care friends!

Matthews Family Stair Race

The Matthews Family Stair Race
April 2, 2020

Having a precocious two-year-old home all the time is exhausting! She is an unstoppable whirlwind of activity- emptying all the drawers in the house, constantly pushing the water button on the refrigerator, peeling the paper off of all of the crayons, and routinely dumping baskets full of freshly folded laundry.

Quarantine has forced us to get creative. We know we have to give this kid things to do so at the very least we know what she is busy doing. And above all else, we have to get her tired enough that she will take a nap. When it comes to quarantine, naptime is worth more than toilet paper! It is only only time in the entire day that we can work uninterrupted. So, the Matthews Family Stair Race was born.

The rules are simple: go up and down the stairs 10 times (4 times for participants age two and under). You choose your style- run, walk, butt scoot, whatever you want to get the job done. Everyone in the family takes a turn- children and adults alike. You are racing the clock. You are fighting for the right to claim the title of Matthews Family Stair Race Champion. The competition is fierce. And the winner gets whatever junk food is available in the pantry, but more importantly pride!

This competition is serious and we are sticklers with the rules. Daddy indicates the exact spot Cadence must touch when she reaches the bottom, while Blithe tracks her time.

The videographer records the first day of competition.

Blithe chooses a more traditional form of locomotion. Her concentration is intense.

Daddy gives it his all and almost injuries himself in the process. Meanwhile, Mama was so fast no photos were captured of her- she was just a blur.

We enter the second day of competition, and Blithe examines the course. She carefully plans her approach.

She realizes her pants might trip her up so she decides to go without them. Meanwhile Daddy decides to prepare for his race with a cocktail. This is a serious competition, but we are also quarantined with two young children during a pandemic, so…

Blithe’s decision to go without pants pays off. She finishes with her best time yet among a crowd of cheering onlookers!

Going without pants worked so well for Blithe that Cadence immediately removes hers. She is ready!

This time she decides to stay upright and her competitive side really comes out. Her screams echo around the entire house.

Daddy gives it his all, but his decision to carb up with a cocktail was in poor form. He cannot recover the time he lost to Mama, who again was too fast to be captured on camera!

The Matthews Family Stair Race is a weekly contest, so stay tuned for the most up-to-date results. Our progress is being tracked over the course of our quarantine. Here are the our current standings. It seems rather random, so please direct your questions toward Blithe.