We had high expectations for our shoot, based on Kate's work displayed at friend's homes and reviews we've found online. Just browsing through her online galleries you get a sense for the 'timeless' feel her images invoke and we were hoping for the same results when we booked our mini session. Simply put, from start to finish Kate exceeded every expectation we had. Before the shoot, Kate was available for any questions we had and had great advice and information on coordinating color and patterns that were appropriate for the season and shoot type. It might not seem like much, but addressing those details early eliminate a lot of the 'stress' that comes with trying to get that perfect family picture, etc. During the shoot, it was clear that Kate and her assistant had worked with young children before. Both were responsive to what my toddler was giving them to work with and great at keeping her focused and engaged during the session. Think 'baby-whisperers'. As a result, Kate got some great smiles and laughs out of my daughter. That skill really can't go overlooked when taking photos of little ones. My daughter has been at modeling shoots and most of the professionals that those studios hire couldn't get her to smile as well as Kate and her assistant did. As for us adults, Kate really seemed to care that our shoot went as efficiently as possible. Even though we were part of a group of mini sessions that were scheduled back-to-back as part of a fundraiser for the Mama Bear Effect (more on their important work later), Kate genuinely seemed concerned about tailoring the shoot to our wants. For example, I had forgotten that I noted I was often the one behind the camera when taking pictures of my family so during our shoot Kate brought that up and made sure to get some shots of just me with my daughter. Again, might be a little thing but paying attention to those types of details really does go a long way in getting the photos you'll want to keep. The reviews about Kate's demeanor and personality are spot on. She really is a kind and patient individual who truly cares that you have a top-notch experience working with her in creating lasting memories for your family. A professional in every sense of the word and just a nice person. Along those lines, Kate donated all proceeds from our group of mini sessions to raise money for The Mama Bear Effect, a non profit organization. They work to unite, teach and take action to protect children against sexual abuse. You can find more information on them at http://www.themamabeareffect.org. As for the photos we got... we loved EVERY picture we saw. If there was any drawback to working Kate, it would be that you'll have a hard time narrowing down your choices - you'll likely want to buy them all! read more

Kate is just amazing! So far we've done a maternity shoot with her, front porch photos and a 3 month milestone shoot and we've already booked her for our son's 1 year photoshoot. . Plans for our newborn shoot got derailed with the pandemic, but Kate continued to work with us to give us the best experience possible. After our amazing maternity shoot, we were so excited to have Kate do our newborn photos. Unfortunately, our son was born mid March and everything began to shut down. We decided to postpone the newborn shoot to ensure everyone's safety. . When we had to cancel our newborn session, Kate offered front porch photos for free. She felt so bad that we were missing our newborn photos that she came all the way to West Medford to capture our new family from afar. The pictures were beautiful and now we had family photos with our newborn. . At 3 months, small businesses were finally allowed to reopen, including Kate's beautiful studio. We decided we would try 3 month photos instead, but I didn't have high hopes for the shoot with our son being so scared of new people and places. Being locked in quarantine has had a huge impact on the little guy and he has stranger danger to the max. The shoot started with tears, but the photography gods shined down and Kate and her assistant Nicole captured the most beautiful photos of our family and our baby boy. He was not only smiling and laughing, but Kate somehow got our son into this crazy sleeping position I thought was only possible with newborns. . We ended up getting everything out of this photoshoot that we wanted and more. We got the sleepy curled up newborn photos plus all of the amazing smiles you get out of a 3 month old. We will cherish these beautiful photos for years to come! Not to mention we felt so safe throughout the entire shoot. Kate took great care to ensure she and her assistant were wearing masks and gloves the entire time. The studio was spotless and thoroughly cleaned. We were also asked screening questions prior to the shoot to confirm our family had not been exposed to the virus. . I'm always amazed by Kate's work, so if you're looking for someone to capture beautiful photos of your family she's definitely the one to do it! We're so excited to see her again for our 1 year family photoshoot! Thanks Crabapple Photography! read more

My family has been going to Crabapple Photography for nearly four years now. We just cannot get enough of Kate, her team and photography magic. When looking for portraits, we chose Kate/Crabapple Photography because we love her creative style, her vision and her ability to capture precious family memories that stand frozen in time on our walls and shelves. I am in awe of her talent and the stunning photos I will truly cherish forever. I really advise you to run not walk to book your appointment with Kate at Crabapple Photography-you will not be disappointed. Her newborn photos have captured the little hands, feet and smiles of my children as well as numerous props that melt your heart and capture the innocence of childhood. I was over the moon with a special rainbow portrait and stuffed animal portrait. All the small details are so precious. I also adore the family portraits and various photo locations to capture my evolving family. Beaches, tree farms, and stunning studio backdrops have all made beautiful backgrounds for my family photos and Kate has the ability to get my energetic toddler to smile. My absolute favorite thing about Kate, other than the beautiful and timeless photos, has to be her love of Christmas magic. Year after year she offers Christmas portraits in her studio and some with the most magical Santa. These are truly the highlight of my year as a fellow Christmas lover. I absolutely adore seeing my kids grow and their excitement to sit with Santa. Kate captures the smiles, innocence and magic in these portraits and it's something I will treasure forever. My children will grow up but I will have these portraits to remind me of all the wonderful memories. Kate- I thank you for that! Simply the best! The Hinz Family read more

Stop what you're doing right now and book a session with Kate McKenna. She is a rare talent and her portraits will give you memories that you will treasure forever. Magic. This is the word that comes to mind when I look at Kate McKenna's photography. With the birth of my son in May, I knew I wanted to capture this moment and have memories that would last forever. When looking for a photographer, I knew I wanted whimsical pictures with PROPS. Kate does just that. She has so many special keepsakes from colorful blankets to beautiful backdrops and is more than accommodating to your special vision. I had newborn photos done in June and I knew I wanted an elephant theme, Kate purchased the cutest elephant hat for my son. She helped my vision come to life and now I smile every time I walk into his nursey. Kate and her team are organized, FUN, and answer all of your questions in person and via email before you even knew you had them. The sessions are simply magical to watch and she has such a talent, you'd be silly not to experience this yourself. Let me talk about Christmas. I just had my mini sessions with Santa with Kate. My love for Christmas has exploded since I can now experience the innocence of the holiday with my son. Kate captured this innocence in my session with Santa. I'll have the magic of Christmas and the innocence of my six-month old son in pictures I will truly cherish forever. She is an artist and a master of her craft. I can't write a more rave review because she is truly wonderful. I look forward to my future sessions with Kate. These pictures are something out of a storybook and for that, I say thank you. J Experience crabapple photography for yourself! You will not be disappointed. It is a truly magical experience! read more

I am so picky when it comes to photographers, probably has to do with my design background. When I stumbled upon Crabapple photography I had an instant draw to the work. I wanted her to do our newborn shoot for sure!! I contacted Kate and she got back to be so quickly. Unfortunately I was slow to book the appointment and then ended up in the hospital for a month before my due date. When I realized our baby would be born sooner then we thought I reached out to Kate hoping she would be able to accommodate my last minute request. Although she was going through some pretty tough personal issues she was more then accommodating and worked with us to get something booked. I was so grateful for how communicative she was and understanding that I was distracted and slow to respond. We showed up for our shoot and she was prepared and had listened to our requests in the survey and had some really great options ready for us. She had prepared us so well for what to expect and we got right to work. Thankfully our little guy was so cooporative and we breezed through the shoot. She was so gentle and careful with positioning him. I felt that my baby was safe and we just sat back and watch out little model. Kate was so quick to turn our photos around and we are in love with them!! We can't wait to get back for a 6 month shoot. Thanks so much to Crabapple, we would recommend her to anyone! read more

This review has been a long time coming but with a newborn time is in short supply! We were looking for a newborn photographer that would be able to not only take pictures of my brand new baby but family pictures with my husband, me, and our 2.5 year old son as well. After a long search I found Kate and I am so glad that I did! She was so accommodating when our baby girl came earlier than expected and made sure that we felt comfortable coming to the studio. She captured beautiful pictures of both my children and in between shots was playing with my son, assisting me with feeding, and chatting like we were old friends. All of us felt so welcome and supported and it shows in the photos. Her studio is absolutely beautiful and was extremely clean-I definitely felt safe going in even with Covid. She has pretty much every prop and/or outfit you can think of. She also had a few different setups based on the planning we had done together before the shoot and I loved every single one of them! You can definitely tell that she has experience with how to work with newborns (and newly postpartum moms who aren't necessarily excited to be taking pictures yet). We bought a package and I am so excited to do the one year pictures with her. I definitely recommend Crabapple Photography to anyone and everyone who wants beautiful baby/family photos that will stand the test of time! read more

We were told that we had less than a 5% chance of getting pregnant with IVF... in medical terminology, that's like saying we had zero chance. So, when we found out that we had gotten pregnant on our own, our baby girl was our little miracle. When it came to choosing a photographer to capture sweet memories of our little one, we wanted the best. They grow and change so quickly, there's only a brief window of opportunity to freeze these early moments. There's no chance of "do overs". After looking at countless photographers' websites and galleries, I continued to be drawn back to Kate's work. And after reaching out to her, I knew we could trust her with the important job of preserving early memories of our little miracle. Kate's bubbly, high energy personality puts you right at ease, and she was so sweet and patient with our baby girl. She works with you ahead of time to understand your style and what you want in terms of props, colors, etc. so that everything is thought through and planned, making picture day as smooth as it possibly can be with a newborn! But, she's also willing and able to adjust on the fly, accommodating all of our last minute requests. And, she has some pretty awesome first year packages available. If you too are looking for the best to capture your little miracle, look no further than Kate!!! - Jessica & Adam read more

This year is our 5th year Anniversary having Kate @Crabapple Photography captured gorgeous portraits of our family!!!! We just had our second child and unfortunately due to COVID-19 we could't have his newborn photo session (6 years ago we couldn't book our first child photo session either due to our busy schedules, and until couple of weeks ago I was still sad about it). Long story short....Kate made our wish come through!!! We don't only have beautiful portraits of our newborn but also we have portraits of our first child 6 years later! Kate used pics taken at home of both of them and she just made MAGIC!!!! Every single composite is a dream! Working with her even virtually is amazing, she will guide you in every step. I am a truly believer that special moments should be captured to have them forever, decorating your home. She is an amazing person, so fun to work with, extremely talented...she is an artist and captures those special moments in your life!! If right now you are a new mom, couldn't have pics taken of your children in the past, special circumstances happening in your lives but would love to have a beautiful portrait, she can make it happen by creating beautiful composites, especially in this COVID-19 time. I totally recommend Kate @Crabapple Photography, she will put the biggest smile in your face with her amazing work! read more

We had a wonderful experience getting newborn photos taken with Kate from Crabapple Photography! We would highly recommend them, and will likely get more photos taken with them ourselves. One of the reasons we chose them was because they included digital copies of the photos in the price of the session. Most other places have a low fee for the photo session itself, but charge you an arm and a leg for getting digital copies. Instead they expect you to order prints, and want you to keep coming back to them every time you want more copies. What I love about having digital photos included in the package is that we're now free to share them with grandparents, aunts, uncles and can get them printed ourselves whenever we want. The photos were beautiful! Well, in part that's because our daughter is gorgeous :) But also Kate used a lot of creative props and poses. One of the highlights was a wreath of flowers that we put our daughter in the middle of. I had asked Kate about this, and she made it happen. The photos were very high quality, and we adore them! Lastly, Kate made everyone feel very comfortable including my mom who doesn't speak much English. We had a great experience! read more

I booked our picture session a few monthes before our baby was born, knowing we wanted pictures of him to cherish. They are only this small for so long!! Our Lil man was born just a few days early when they decided to induce me. Fluid levels were getting low and he was considered full term so there was nothing to worry about. But after delivery he wasn't breathing and wouldn't cry and was quickly taken away in respiratory distress. After a few days in NICU my lil fighter was ready to go home! He passed every test! These pictures became more to me then just documenting him at this stage. They are now images of our actual miracle and something I can look at everyday and be reminded of how thankful I am for how absolutely perfect he is! Kate was so so wonderful to work with! She handled my lil guy with such grace and softness! The studio is so relaxing and inviting. It was so nice to sit for a minute and just enjoy watching him get his pictures and have a few laughs! I would recommend her photography to all my friends in the area that are looking!! Simply the best!! And her props.... AMAZING!!! So in love with every picture!! read more

We have completed three photo shoots with Kate at Crabapple Photography thus far (more to come in the future!) and have been thrilled with the results. We did a newborn session for each of my two sons, as well as Christmas portraits. Kate's friendly demeanor immediately put us at ease, and she could not have been more helpful in ensuring that the experience was fun and relaxing. From helping change my kiddos' diapers (!), to giving me all the time I needed to nurse my son on her comfy couch, to capturing amazing shots, she is the best. I had hoped that my younger son would sleep through the session, but no such luck. Kate was not at all bothered by his fussiness and worked her magic to help him settle down. She is immensely talented and I've received so many compliments on our photos. Even though we moved out of Medford before the birth of our second son, we opted to make the drive from NH as I knew I wouldn't be as happy using anyone else. We've purchased individual prints, large wrapped gallery canvas prints and albums, and the quality is a 10/10. If you book with Kate at Crabapple, I promise you will not be disappointed! read more

As a self-described "photography geek", I at first had a hard time hiring somebody else to take pictures of our newborn. Why would I pay for pictures when I have so much experience and high end camera equipment of my own? I'm humbled but happy to say that I'm thrilled I let my wife talk me into this one. I soon realized that good equipment and the know-how to use it are really only a small portion of of what goes into a shoot like this. Right from the get-go, Kate was communicating with my wife via email to get a sense of what kinds of shots we were looking for. She has a dedicated studio, set to a comfy 80 degrees, full of every type of basket, backdrop, carpet, pillow, swaddle, headband and outfit you could possibly imagine. Additionally, we were encouraged to bring any of our own outfits or props that we wanted to include in the shoot. While Kate's equipment makes mine look like toys, and her expertise makes me look like a beginner, she and her assistant are, simply put, baby whisperers. I can't believe the positions and poses they got our newborn into and we are SO happy with the results! read more

When we found out we were pregnant with our second child I knew I needed to contact Kate for our newborn session as soon as possible to work with her again. Having a newborn and a toddler can be nerve wracking when you are hoping they will take good photos but the second we got to her studio the nerves disappeared. She creates such a calm and relaxing environment in her studio for the whole family. Her professionalism and experience truly shine with how she connects with all ages and how she wraps your newborn to feel safe and secure. My toddler was in the phase where he didn't want to take photos but she was able to get him to smile and enjoy it and that shines through in the photos we got. I also had some specific requests for shots that I had wanted. She had studied up on our previous session and had gotten the same exact angles that I had wanted so I had matching photos of both of my kids at this stage. I love every photo that she delivered and am so appreciative that she was able to capture these memories for us. I highly recommend Kate for any professional photos you are looking to have. read more