I believe that real life, in all its messiness, is a beautiful adventure. I believe in you. 

Every person is unique and deserves to be seen.

I'm here to help you tell your story.

We all love a good story, and we all have one!

I create storytelling art that captures your personality, your real life, your relationships, and the spirit of the moment, in a way that is relaxed, natural, and fun.

I'm also a writer, dancer, anthropologist, musician, teacher, advocate, adventurer, and mother of two wonderful boys. I've worked with children of all ages for more than twenty years, and I am delighted by babies, kids, dogs, cats and general family fun/chaos. 

Who do you love and what do you love to do? I'd love to photograph your story!

Why Family Documentary?

When my children were little, I quickly realized that the photographs I truly loved were of the everyday moments I always wanted to remember:

pushing them on the swing in the back yard

playing trains on the rug

snuggling on the couch to read a book

my oldest putting on a helmet to knock cardboard blocks down with his ride-on “car car”

my youngest painting himself more than the paper

how they curled up together to nap

playing games and having fun and being ourselves--our everyday lives--with the whole family

I had been photographing my friends and family in this natural way since I was a teen, but I wish I'd hired a photographer to come to my house and take those photographs--with me in them! I would have loved more photographs of moments like these, with all of us together.

Now my children are teens, and I’ve seen how the authentic, unposed photographs I have of their youngest years, as well as the ones we have now, mean more to my family as every day passes.

I’ve seen the way my my youngest used to make up songs about our family gallery wall and play the piano while spotlighting each photo. The way my children go back again and again to look at the albums we’ve created, even years later. Just like I did with my family photographs, as a child, and still do from time to time today.

This is why I love to create documentary art for families, and to help you keep and share your stories. There is something magical about the way photographs nurture our children, and always take us back home.

a little more about me...

❋ my name was changed by my great-grandfather from the Swedish Sjöblom, and is pronounced like "flowers sure bloom in the spring"

❋ I grew up in New Hampshire.

❋ I would rather be outside, preferably by a lake, an ocean, or in the mountains.

❋ I have a BA in Anthropology and African Studies from Indiana University, and I love to travel.

❋ I recently mentored with Kirsten Lewis, one of the world's best family documentary photographers.

❋ Dancing is one of my favorite things to do. I believe that music and the arts are for everyone, and are part of what make us uniquely human.

❋ I teach Music Together, a unique, playful, research-based early childhood music program that introduces music-making to children with the grown-ups who love them.

❋ I'm a former Interpretive (History) National Park Ranger at the National Mall in Washington, DC.

❋ I love to read. One of my all time favorites is Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury, for the way he captures the feel of childhood.

❋ I could probably carry on a conversation in Swahili, Spanish or French, so long as it was about such subjects as where my pencil is, how to get to the library, or what I'd like for lunch.

❋ On my bucket list: doing standup comedy: performance art that makes you laugh, and then makes you think.

❋ If I could swing it, I would be nomadic.

❋ My family is incredibly important to me.

I'm delighted to offer authentic documentary and modern storytelling sessions, as well as unique personal branding photography.

I'm based in Northern Virginia, and you'll occasionally find me in New Hampshire and Rehoboth, Delaware--places I'd love to photograph you or your family as well.

Here's to your extraordinary!  ~Diana