Slow Summer
You're already nostalgic for this. You just don't know it yet.
Documentary half-day sessions in the places your family will still talk about twenty years from now.
Manifesto
Think of your happiest summer memory. Maybe you're at camp, or on the beach, or on your dad's boat with the wind doing whatever it wants to your hair. You can still feel the warm dock boards under your feet, still smell the sunscreen and the hot pavement after rain. But you hardly have any images of them; just vague memories.
Slow Summer is a half day, around four golden hours, spent doing what your family would actually do on a perfect summer day. Maybe that's the cabin you go back to every August, or the vacation your family takes each year. Or maybe we build the day together, a new swimming hole, kayaking, peaches eaten in the sun. No shot list, no posing, no "everyone look at me." I move around the edges of it, and what you get back isn't a set of portraits, it's the whole texture of a day in your family's life.
Nobody has to hold a phone, because I'm holding the camera. Fully present, totally unhurried, completely handmade. Knitting grandmas welcome.
You already know these are the good old days.
Slow Summer is how you hold onto them.
Why I made this
Sometimes, after a long day in the sun, I land in a feeling of complete contentment: earthy lake water and sunscreen, my body tired, my mind utterly at ease. It always brings me back to summers with my dad, drifting half asleep in the boat, or the family cabin in the mountains, no screens except our nightly VHS movies, The Three Amigos, The Nutty Professor, anything with Steve Martin.
I grew up in Austin, the youngest of four sisters, and I wish I had more photographs from those summers. Not posed ones, honest ones. The kind that hold the texture of a season. Because memories fade, but photographs carry us back to moments that once felt ordinary and later become everything. That's why I made Slow Summer.
THE SESSIONS
The Long Afternoon — local half-day
A half-day session within about ninety minutes of Portland. A lake morning, a backyard sprinkler day, a favorite swimming hole, an unhurried afternoon that starts in the kitchen and ends in the yard. Includes the full documentary gallery, a print release, and my location guide to the swimming holes, lakes, and quiet places I love most — or we build the day around a place that's already yours.
4 Hours of Photography
Full Gallery of Images
Print Release
Styling Support
Location Support (if requested)
$1800 · The first two families book at the founding rate of $975 — details below. Sessions beyond 90 minutes from Portland includes a comparable travel fee.
The Faraway Day — destination full-day
For the cabin weekend, the coast trip, the San Juans. You're already going; I come with you for a full day of it. Kayaks, dock jumps, tidepools, the summer sweater over the swimsuit, dinner outside while the light goes long. I stay where you stay, so the day starts when breakfast starts. This is the closest thing to time travel I know how to offer.
Full day of Photography
Full Gallery of Images
Print Release
Styling Support
Location Support (if requested)
Starting at $2,400 + travel · Family provides lodging. Limited availability — inquire.
Add-on for either session: a linen heirloom album, hand-sequenced by me, made to be pulled off the shelf every August for the next forty years.
THE FOUNDING RATE
Slow Summer is brand new, and I want its first two families to help me shape it. The first two sessions booked this summer are $975 instead of $1,800 — anywhere within 90 minutes of Portland, which gives us the coast, the Gorge, the mountain, or your own backyard. In exchange, I'll ask for your honest feedback on the experience and permission to share a few favorite images. After these two spots are gone, sessions are full price — so if this is speaking to you, it's worth saying so soon.
How it Works
You inquire, and we talk — about your family, your summer plans, and what kind of day would feel true to you. I bring the location guide if you want ideas, or we build around a place you already love. Then, on the day, you mostly forget I'm there. Within three weeks you receive a full gallery of edited images — the story of one summer day your family actually lived, kept.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Please don't. Swimsuits, sun hats, the good summer dress if it makes you feel like yourself. Sandy feet encouraged.
I can help you more with this, if you would like support. Think of me as an art director who wants everything to look cohesive, but also authentic.
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There's nothing to cooperate with. A meltdown over a dropped ice cream cone is a real part of a real day — and honestly, sometimes it becomes the photograph you love most.
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A moody beach day is still a beach day — some of my favorite frames are summer sweaters over swimsuits. If the sky truly falls apart, we reschedule, no drama.
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Summer is short and I'm keeping this offering intentionally small this year. If a slow day sounds like your family, sooner is truer than later.
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Yes and yes. Grandparents, aunts, cousins, the whole cabin — or just the two of you and a long afternoon. Slow Summer is for any kind of family, romantic or otherwise. and I'm keeping this offering intentionally small this year. If a slow day sounds like your family, sooner is truer than later.
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Love shows up in a myriad of ways. Through friendship, romantic love, a found family, your animals and pets. These sessions are for anyone who wants to capture these summer moments and hold onto them forever.
If you're interested in a Slow Summer session, tell me a little about yourself by completing the form or simply email me at hello@kellirad.com.
So looking forward to connecting!
Get In Touch
