Alisa Kinfe-Mast

We approach every job with the clients desires as our main starting point.  Our style is very much what you could call candid, meaning that we like to capture moments that are authentic, happening in the moment and are not overly contrived or posed. While we do also shoot  traditional portraiture in every session as well, portraits where the subjects are looking right into the camera, our niche specialty is capturing the moments that express and represent the happiness and joy in all children and families. Whatever it is you have in mind, we  can customize every single shoot to meet your needs and desires whether that’s highly stylized using props and going for a specific look or theme or minimalistic, natural portraits.  We provide everything from styling, props, images for use online as well as an impressive menu of print services that include everything from creating books for our clients, individual  Prince ranging from wallet size all the way up to wall size, creating gallery walls and framing… Whatever your needs are we can accommodate them and your budget as well.  Don’t hesitate to ask for the impossible… We just might be able to provide it! 

 We are a team of two sisters who have both been shooting photography professionally for over 20 years combined. Alisa holds a Masters of fine arts degree in photography and delights in shooting  and working with kids and families and Michelle in addition to being a great shooter is an amazing stylist, editor and retoucher  Who makes all the images we shoot pop with her Photoshop skills.  Our sessions are quick, fun and we shoot anywhere from 500 to 1500 images in under an hour whether you have one child or five… Our  style of working takes the dread out of that obligatory family portrait and I shoot with us is more like a fun experience and half the time you won’t even know we are shooting. The final results:  images that have won awards,  retained customers year after year to come back to have us document the growth of their family.  Some families we have been photographing for 10 years plus, from the time their child was born until adolescence. We also do senior portraits, events, births.... We love working with individual families and kids and  try to keep our services tailored to families seeking to document the beauty, joy and fun of childhood and your families uniqueness which keeps us happy and loving what we do!

When we aren’t documenting families/kids we are shooting for commercial clients such as Pottery Barn Kids, Gap Kids, Nickelodeon and many other big commercial accounts which we enjoy as well, but our first love has always been working with individual families looking to capture the moments of joy that are present in every day family life. 

Our pricing is determined by several factors and is customized to meet each clients individual wants and needs.  We have packages that can accommodate pretty much any budget starting at $150 for a mini session and  your choice of 5 to 10 edited digital images. However we have packages that include printed images, framing, gallery walls, creating books....you name it and we can provide it!! So whether your budget is $200 or $2000, we will  always work with the client to customize a package that meets all of their desires and is within their budget.  We work with a network of other professionals when necessary as well to cover larger events, and we even provide motion/video services as well as styling, props and editing and retouching services. Whatever it is you were looking for, we are confident we can provide and astound you with the results! 

We started Monarch Lane photography shortly after the birth of one of our owners first child. Alisa has had a long career as a professional commercial photographer specializing in lifestyle and children’s fashion, but it wasn’t until we both started to create our own families that we got into working with other families to capture the unique beauty and joy that means so much to have documented in the form of a fine art photography.

We also provide a service that some clients find to be  extremely unique and of value. It isn’t anything new or that we invented, it’s in fact  well is considered the standard medium of all photographers until approximately 10 years ago. That service is that  we will shoot on film as opposed to digital if you prefer. Film is a beautiful and artistic medium that provides Images that have a specific look that digital photography often can’t capture.  And so while we have a whole production studio with  equipment for any type of photography shoot, we do offer the option of capturing your family on good old fashion film. For more information on this service please contact us directly. 

While much of the work that we do is for large, well known commercial clients and brands shooting to  market products and include duties such as creating catalogs, look books, images for websites and marketing purposes and often are in a studio with a 10 person crew, what we really love doing is working with everyday families of all kinds.

Families like our own, diverse and created out of love. This is what really drives us to do what we do. While earning the loyalty of brands such as Pottery Barn Kids, Baby Gap and other big names has been an achievement we are very proud of, that is not what is at the heart of the work we do.

And that’s what matters to us more than anything: that the images  we provide you with speak to the heart. At the heart of our work is an emphasis on the value of family, joy, fun and capturing moments that embody the essence and uniqueness of all families and children. 

Therefore, we seek to make our work  available and accessible for all those who want beautiful imagery of their family and kids regardless of budget.  We believe that beautiful photography should not have to cost a fortune  or be a stressful experience in anyway whatsoever, including financially. Therefore we customize every job we do to fit each clients unique individual needs.  

Our clients range from young couples who have just celebrated the birth or adoption of their first child to families that are multi generational, meaning grandma and grandpa, parents, kids that are grown and may have their own young kids and  want to document their family as it has grown and evolved over generations, often a shoot may even include the family pet!  What we take pride in greatly is that many families come back year after year to have us document their family as it grows, and so some of the families we have been working with since their first child was  an infant and now maybe preparing to start middle school. This is been an amazing experience, to get to be part of watching a family as it grows and evolves over the years and capturing that year after year. This is one of the greatest privileges of the work that we do. 

We recently did senior portraits of one of our very first clients who we were hired to photograph the birth of!!  It was such an amazing experience knowing that we were the first people to ever snap a photo of this beautiful young girl, it was an emotional and joyous experience for us and for her and her family. We felt so privileged to be able to have created  memories that hang on the wall  and show the growth of this tiny infant into a smart, strong and beautiful young woman. This is what keeps us doing what we do. 

 In this day and age when every person is a photographer simply by the fact that the camera in their pocket is also their phone, I cannot emphasize enough the value of hiring a professional photographer who has been trained in the nuances of capturing people and  all that goes into getting an authentically beautiful image that embodies the essence of a persons spirit.  Well photography is something that is accessible to anybody these days who feels like snapping a photo, there is value in a professional who has invested a great deal of time and money in order to perfect their vocation  and work professionally in this industry. It is highly competitive and there are so many photographers out there, but a professional photographer is somebody who seeks to provide the client with something unique. That is what we do. Also, as professionals  we work with the best labs, vendors, framers and prop stylists in the industry to provide  only the highest level of professional photography products for all of our clients, big and small.

 If you have a specific feeling you were trying to capture, don’t hesitate to show whoever you end up hiring images or inspiration. Be very clear about what you want, what you expect and ask the photographer if they are able to create the type of imagery that you are  investing in. Photography is a very wide discipline and so just because somebody might be an amazing product photographer for example, does not mean that they can capture the essence of a person.

This is  something that most people don’t think about. A portrait  that is amazing of an adult does not necessarily mean that the same photographer will be able to take an equally amazing portrait of a child. It’s a different ballgame. And then there are  even specializations within the specialty of children’s photography. The best example I can give of this is photographing newborns. As infants are a completely different type of photography skill sets  and most newborn photography requires a great deal of retouching and post production. Therefore just because a photographer can capture a beautiful portrait of an adult does not mean that the same will be true when photographing young children. Basically, a photographer  should be highly experienced and skilled in  working with people of the same age and energy level as the children in your family. Just because of photographer might make beautiful imagery of people, doesn’t mean that that will translate to all especially when working with children, it is it’s own area of expertise and while  many photographers can shoot  A great portrait for example of a person, that does not necessarily mean that they could shoot a great portrait of a child. It’s something we have been honing our expertise in for many, many years and we never stop learning that there is always more to learn!