Tiffany Farley » Tiffany Farley is a Connecticut based Family Portrait Photographer specializing in capturing the connection between just two.

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  • welcome to my blog

    It's an honor to tell the authentic story...to capture the smallest of moments...like the way his fingers wrap around yours...the butterfly kisses of little girls and the gentle spirits of little boys...like the anticipation of mothers becoming mothers for the first time...and secret glances when no one is looking.

    I photograph these moments because I want you to someday show your grandchildren that what you had was real. That you danced. That you laughed. That you loved.

    And, above all, to show that what you had was more than enough.

    I'm Tiffany. I'm a fine art portrait photographer in New Haven, Connecticut. I love mugs of hot coffee, chocolate truffles, and my hunter boots. But it's not really about me, now is it?

Faithful | A Maternity Connection Portrait Story

“A woman’s life is measured not by a ticking clock or turned pages on a calendar

But in the gravity of the quiet moments that define her. 

The intimate and the heavy and the fleeting

The whispering of secrets and the clasping of hands

The bonds that are irreplaceable and unforgettable. 

I invite you to take a deeper look.”

More than just the words of my brand…

These words are the very heartbeat of my vision.

Lauren and Chrisy are dear friends of mine. This is most certainly not their first appearance on my blog. I am working with Lauren on a Motherhood Collective, and you can see her own maternity connection portrait session HERE.  Over the past year I have gotten to know these two incredible women, and am so overwhelmingly grateful for their friendship. Within the last couple years, both Lauren and Chrisy lost a baby through miscarriage. The devastation was heart wrenching. I watched them both as they somehow found the strength to trust that God would still bless them with a baby. Their friendship grew closer as they shared this struggle, and prayed for one another.

Then. A few months ago.  A miracle happened.

Actually two miracles happened. The most beautiful of stories.

Baby Landon and Ezra will soon be welcomed into this world. Immense rejoicing is an understatement to my reaction.

Lauren and Chrisy will be sharing more of their testimony in an upcoming project I am working on. But for now, know that this was more than a maternity session. This was more than even a best friends maternity session. It was more than even my desire to capture the irreplaceable connection between both friends and unborn child. This was an opportunity to tell a  story of God’s faithfulness. I knew in the depths of of my heart that if I was ever meant to tell a story with my camera that this one was it.

And the one after this one.

And after that one.

And every story after that.

Sweet friends, here are my favorite portraits from this project. A huge thank you to Erin Infantino of Simply Gorgeous By Erin for yet another phenomenal makeup job.

Behind the Scenes

It’s funny how things work out, and how they don’t at the same time. I originally had such a different idea of how this session was going to look. I had thoughts of flower wreathes, a blazing sunset, and this bohemian vibe that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. As the day of the session approached, we began scrambling for last minute additions to the shoot. What could we add? We knew the dresses were white and the plan was outdoors in a field so as a last minute thought, Lauren grabbed the beautiful cable knit blanket from the nursery for them to sit on. This blanket was made for Lauren as a baby by her grandmother. It is as special as it looks. And ironically a cream cable knit blanket was a HUGE part of my visual inspiration for my branding design. I feel like this addition made the images feel that much more true to my brand and my style.

I ran around that morning in search of the vintage style flowers I could see in my head, but to no avail. I grabbed what I could and met the girls at the house for makeup. I sat down at Chrisy’s kitchen table and instantly knew, that what I had seen in my head was just a compilation of ideas I had seen others do. Bohemian flower head wreathes can be beautiful, but for this particular session, it wasn’t right. It wasn’t authentic. It wasn’t part of their story.

As we drove to the location, we sat in parking lot traffic for about 45 min. Thanking God the entire duration that we had given ourselves more than enough time. Then. It started to rain! Not a heavy rain, but enough to completely freak me out. Forget the blazing sunset. Just make it stop raining!

When we arrived, the grass was wet but the rain had thankfully stopped. And it was beyond what my imagination had even put together. It had gotten chilly, so in between needing them for specific shots, they took turns using the blanket as a shawl. And that’s when I saw it.

The direction of the session.

Last minute, but hey, sometimes that happens. Sometimes I see it differently when I get there. No longer was I wishing for a blazing sunset with bright orange rays streaming down over the hills. In my mind it was sunrise. It was those morning hours where the quiet is so peaceful and still. No cars driving by. No kids running around. You wrap yourself in your favorite blanket with your mug of coffee as you stand on the porch. It’s you and God. It’s that time where you rise and begin to share your heart. Just you. And Him.

And really. That is so much of this story. His faithfulness. His goodness. New like the morning sunrise.

Like I said, it’s funny how sometimes things work out, and at the same time, they don’t.

Happy Monday!

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Anna Blessing - May 20, 2013 - 8:46 pm

Tiffany,
These are absolutely beautiful photos and what a great story. Sending good thoughts and prayers to the mommas-to-be for a safe delivery and healthy babies.

Kristin - May 20, 2013 - 4:09 pm

These are beautiful, Tiffany! And I think you’re right… the cable knit blanket was the perfect addition! Love it! :)

Lea Ciceraro - May 20, 2013 - 9:37 am

And P.S. A huge thank you for sharing the ‘behind the scenes!’ It’s actually incredibly refreshing to know that sometimes you can’t quite pinpoint your vision or find the pieces you’re desiring.. and then sometimes it really does come together last minute, even on site of the session! I thought you just HAD to have your vision set in stone before you ever even thought of showing up with your camera. ;) XOXO

Lea Ciceraro - May 20, 2013 - 9:32 am

Love, love, love!!! I lost a baby to miscarriage 2 years ago (May 16), and right now I am 26-weeks pregnant (also have a 3.5 year old son). It was an incredibly difficult and emotional journey, so I relate so much to their story and these photos are just phenomenal. And let me just say, I am crazy in love with Chrisy’s gorgeous curly locks and her tattoos!! They’re both such wonderful and beautiful friends to have. :) XO

A day to be grateful | The kind of day

It was one of those days.

The kind of day where the weather couldn’t feel more perfect. When the sunshine is so wonderfully warm on your face, and your lungs seem to expand deeper then what seems like hundreds days past.

The kind of day where you drive with the window down and play the music a little louder.

The kind of day that as you sit on the back porch and start to feel like you should slide a little closer to the shade, the most perfect cool breeze blows in and wraps around you.

I looked up to the sky. The beautiful bright blue sky. I watched the green leaves ruffle in the wind.

And I thought to myself, how incredible is the God who created it all.

How often we go throughout our days, busy..stressed..wanting..complaining..bored..tired..in routine..all the while missing the most special of blessings. The breeze. The sun on your face. The shade of the backyard tree. A car that has windows to roll down. A band that wrote a song to sing along to as you drive down the road.

Do we not have SO much to be grateful for?

 

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Kristin - May 20, 2013 - 4:15 pm

Mmmhmm… I love those days. It’s the simple things. I was just sitting outside today and it was the most perfect time of sunshine and breezes and shade. Made for a great break in the day! :)

Email Efficiency | Getting Stuff Done Series

A little over a month ago, I began a blog series on how I started using Evernote to rock my business organization and workflow. I broke down my new discoveries in Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four. I decided to keep this type of series going by sharing other similar tools that are totally rocking my world right now.

My life become sweeter the day that Hannah Brencher told me about Boomerang for Gmail.

I have an email that is set up through my domain name. But I hated using that email service and found it difficult to organize.  So I started having that email address forwarded to a Gmail account, where the options to label and use folders were much greater. The only thing I was really wishing I could do was to decide when I wanted to send my email. Enter Boomerang. Boomerang is an app that you download and it hooks up with Gmail account. You can decide when you want the email you are composing to send. I love this. If I have to pull a really late night in the office to catch up, I can respond to emails and set them to send first thing in the morning. There are other options available like having emails with no response be brought back to your inbox. (Hence the name “boomerang” I assume!) I haven’t used this feature much, but my first idea is to set up some sort of system that helps me keep track of client conversations.

Then last week I was talking to a few photographer friends about I needed to sit down and create some email templates for responses that I type out often. Really trying to save some time these days! I was thinking of just typing them out in Word and using copy and paste. Thanks to the suggestion of Angelsea Urban, I am now using Canned Responses for Gmail.

This is screenshot I took as I was getting started. When you open compose, you will see a menu option on the right left. I now can choose from any template that I have created. So much faster than copy paste from another document! For example, I made a canned response for when I get a wedding inquiry. I no longer book weddings, but I am more than happy to refer talented friends in the area who do. And I was typing out their names, googling their websites, copy and pasting, EVERY TIME. How silly when I could just be sending them this pre-composed response. You can also set your email filters up so that certain emails automatically are sent a canned response. I found a great blog post explaining step by step how to set your canned responses up HERE.

Hope this helps! If you have come across some tool, trick, or app that is rocking your world I would love to hear about it. After all, that’s how we learn how to be more efficient so we have more time to do what we really love!

Happy Thursday!!

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Megan - May 16, 2013 - 3:10 pm

Hi Tiffany! Thank you for this post :) You have your email forwarded to your gmail account, so when you reply to your clients is the address from your gmail account? I’d like to do this too because I really don’t like my business email but I want it to be my business address when I reply. Thoughts? Thanks again!

Showiteers Live | Rewatch Link

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support yesterday as I hosted my first Showit live with Ashley Therese Photography! I got to share a bit about how I started in my business, building a unique brand, and how I am using PASS as a portrait photographer. I was so humbled by the encouraging words that so many of you sent my way. If you didn’t get a chance to tune in yesterday, here’s the recording!

If you have any questions for me, feel free to send them my way.

 

Happy Wednesday!

May 14 – Portrait Specialization and Branding Tips from Showit on Vimeo.

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Hosting Showit Live

Today, at 1pm EST, I have the honor of hosting Showit Live!

If you are a loyal blog reader, than you probably have heard the word Showit on here quite often. It is the website platform I use, but more importantly, the creative community it has allowed me to be a part of. Not only was deciding to build a Showit website one of the best business decisions I ever made, I have also met some of the most amazing people who have as well. Showit websites have lots os amazing features- my favorites being the drag and drop design, the completely customizable options, and the limitless sub-domain sites that you can use for clients and more.

Throughout the month, a member of this large community hosts their daily webcast called Showit Live. I have learned so much from watching various episodes from some of my favorite photographers and designers. You can watch all the archives for free by clicking HERE.

Well today, I will be hosting and sharing about how I got started, the best decisions I made that formed my entirely unique brand, tips on how I balance a full time job with my photography business, and a few other topics. You can not only watch live for free, but you can participate in the live chat and ask me anything you want.:)

The video will be archived along with the episodes past, so if you’re not free to watch live, you can tune in on your own free time.

Really excited! See you then!

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