Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: families & kids

  • Party of Five (+ Rita)

    Despite the toasty day we had today, I had a great time with this adorable family for some fun portraits! They were absolute troopers in the warm weather, and if I’m not mistaken I think all three kids actually really enjoyed having their pictures taken. After seeing their natural flare for “striking a pose” I’m pretty sure all three are destined for the spotlight in some way. It was hard to choose my favorite images (there are many!) but here are a few:

    I adore how well they all got along. So sweet!

    Big squeeze!

    Hello gorgeous family!

    I’m telling you – they were complete naturals in front of the camera. I didn’t prompt any of these!



    And don’t forget Rita! She was just chillin’ in the shade.

    I had a great time with all of you today! I hope you remember me when you all become superstars!

  • “I’m Fantastic!”

    My coworker brought her daughter in to work for a couple of hours this morning – you might remember Anika from an impromptu portrait session a few months back.

    Anika, out of school for the summer break, was showing me her addition skills on a practice workbook page. She’s four, but she was adding up to two-digit numbers like she was several years older. I was genuinely impressed and I told her how good and amazing she was at math. She looked up at me and saw that I was seriously in awe of her. She cracked the biggest grin and said, “yeah! I’m FANTASTIC!” practically at the top of her lungs. It made me laugh, and at the same time I realized how much we adults can and should learn from kids. She knows she’s good at math, and isn’t afraid to feel positive and confident about it! I totally love that.

  • Afternoon Tea with Princesses

    Last Sunday I was cordially invited to have tea in the afternoon with Princess Emma for her fifth birthday.

    It was a warm beautiful summery day, and perfect for a tea party in the backyard. All of the guests wore their favorite princess attire, and the decorations were all fit for a princess including real china teacups and even a teeny tiny tea set in the garden for fairies. Here are a few of my favorite details from the day – this is a page from the photo album I designed (click on any of these images to view the entire album):

    There were Tinkerbells and Belles:

    One of the highlights of the party was when Cinderella showed up as a surprise! She danced with the girls, sang songs, conducted a princess initiation ceremony with real princess certificates, and painted faces. The girls were in awe of the real-life princess at the party, and it was fun to see their reactions.

    And check out this totally amazing birthday cake that Emma’s mom, Jamie, made herself.

    It was an absolute honor and a pleasure meeting Princess Emma and her princess friends, and I hope all of her birthday wishes came true!

    P.S. One last photo specifically for my photographer friends. Even royal princesses chimp every now and then! With the perfect chimping face, no less. A budding future photographer, perhaps? I think so! (Okay, I’m pretty sure there’s no LCD on the back of that camera, but it was super cute anyway. Maybe she’s wondering what we’re always looking at on the back of our cameras.)

  • The Big Door

    For everyone who wants to know the location of the huge door picture in the mother-daughters portraits post below, I thought I’d spill the beans here: it’s the exit side of the National Archives building in DC! Alia had suggested that we do the portrait session in the Sculpture Garden, which was so much fun; we found a lot of great little nooks and crannies to shoot. But on that very sunny day we eventually ended up running out of spots in the shade. We were right across from the Archives and I wanted to do some pictures around the columns, so we headed over there and voilà – instant shade and a huge, fun door!


  • Mother-Daughters Portraits

    Yesterday I headed into DC to photograph a beautiful mom and her two gorgeous daughters, one of whom is my very good friend, Alia (wearing red – see below) – hi Alia! We walked around a couple of the museums and managed to find a few spots that weren’t too crowded even though the city was just packed with visitors for Memorial Day weekend. Other than the crowd, I couldn’t have asked for a better session – the weather was amazing and my models were fabulous! Here are just a handful of my favorite pictures: