Portsmouth, New Hampshire · Since 2011
You deserve to be
on the wall,
not behind the camera.
Your family is growing. The phases are passing. And somewhere in your phone are 14,000 photos that will never see a single wall. There is another way — and it starts with one portrait.
Reserve My SessionComplimentary portrait consultation included.
A note from Mallory
There is a painting in my mother's home.
It has been there my entire life.
It is a portrait of my great-grandmother, Mary Mallory, painted in the 1930s. It hung in my great-grandparents' home, then in my grandmother's home, and I admired it every time I visited her as a girl — the Mallory family crest beside it, this woman looking back at me from almost a century away. After my grandmother passed, my mother brought it home in the early 2000s, and it has been there ever since.
I am a photographer by passion and by trade. But it was not until I stood in front of that painting as an adult that I understood what I was actually supposed to build. Not a photography studio. A legacy studio. A place where families come to be remembered the way my great-grandmother was remembered, with beauty and intention and something that outlasts a phone and a hard drive and a digital album no one opens.
That is the mission I have been building toward since 2011. To put a heirloom portrait in every home in New England. And it starts with yours.
— Mallory
What you already know
You have been meaning
to do this for years.
The phone is not a portrait gallery.
You have thousands of pictures and not one of them is on your wall. They live in an app, buried under four years of screenshots and school photos and the video of the dog doing something funny that one time. Your grandmother's generation had something better.
You are not in the photographs.
You are the one who planned every session, coordinated every outfit, and held the phone. And somehow you are almost never in a single image you love. Your children deserve to see their mother, not just the back of the camera.
The window is shorter than it feels.
She is almost 4. He is almost in middle school. The dog is getting older and slower. Every milestone you wait through is a phase that closes. "Next year" is the most expensive decision most families make, and it costs something no amount of money can buy back.
The difference
There is a category of portrait studio that hands you a USB drive and calls it a session. You have probably been there. You probably have a folder on your desktop from it that you opened twice.
Mallory Portraits is something different. What we make is finished archival artwork, designed to live in your home, built to last more than a hundred years, and created with the same intention as the painting of Mary Mallory that was made in the 1930s and is still, today, on my mother's wall.
You come to our Portsmouth studio. Our photographers guide you through a Camera Study, approximately 30 minutes, and our whole team handles the children, the pets, and the coordination. Then, in our theater room, you see your portraits for the first time and work with an Art Director to choose the piece that belongs on your wall.
Most clients describe the Reveal as one of the most emotional moments they did not see coming. It is the first time many of them have ever seen their family the way their family actually looks.
What changes when you come in
Before
14,000 phone photos
No one knows where to print
Mom is behind the camera
"We'll do it next year"
A USB drive in a drawer
After
One portrait on the wall
Art Direction included
Mom is in the frame
The phase is preserved
Archival artwork, 80–100+ years
The portrait experience
Three parts. One afternoon.
A lifetime on the wall.
The Camera Study
Your portrait session in our Portsmouth studio, approximately 30 minutes. Our photographers are experienced with young children, skeptical teenagers, and dogs who will not sit still. You do not need to manage anything. That is our job.
The Reveal
In our private theater room, you see your portraits for the first time. This is the moment clients do not expect, and the one they always remember. Your Art Director is beside you to guide the selection and help you find the piece for your home.
The Artwork
Your finished portrait arrives as archival artwork, framed and ready to hang. Realism portraits carry an 80-year rating. Masterpiece portraits, painted in an oil-painting style on archival canvas, carry 100 years and more. This is not a print. This is a portrait.
What families say
They came in nervous.
They left in tears, in the best way.
As a mother you're usually the one behind the camera and not in photos with your children, so this was a beautiful experience and Mallory Portraits made the process super easy and fun.
Taylor Smith
Once I got my Masterpiece, I was in shock and awe. I almost cried. The artwork speaks for itself.
Anmarie St. Amand
She made us all feel comfortable, even my shy 4-year-old took to her. The whole experience was amazing and the portraits are breathtaking. We will cherish them always.
Cat Reb & Brittany Snell
The entire process was pressure and guilt-trip free. I also never felt pressured at any point to purchase more. I appreciated that so much.
Alice Proia & Jillian Gabert
The photos were phenomenal and the art director who walked us through selection and framing was friendly, knowledgeable, and thoughtful. My husband cried.
Kaylor & Megan Hollowood
If you want lifetime memories that are gorgeous and breathtaking to share in your home, please book a session here. She is growing so fast and I know we are going to treasure them forever.
Stacy Sanders & Tyler Kniphfer
Why Mallory Portraits
This is not a photo session.
This is a different thing entirely.
We make finished artwork, not files.
Every portrait we create is archival, Art Directed, and built to live on a wall for generations. The finished artwork is the heart of what we do. Digital options are available, and your Art Director will walk you through those at your Reveal — but what clients remember, and what ends up on their walls, is never a file.
The Reveal is unlike anything you have experienced.
Seeing your portraits for the first time in a private theater room, with an Art Director beside you, is not a transaction. Client after client describes it as one of the most emotional and unexpected moments of the whole experience.
Our photographers handle what you are worried about.
Young children. Toddlers who won't sit. Teenagers who don't want to be there. Dogs with their own opinions. This is our daily work. You do not need to manage your family during the session. That is what our team is for.
No pressure. Ever.
Mallory Portraits has been built on a simple belief: the right artwork sells itself, and a guided experience should feel like being cared for, not sold to. Our clients say this over and over. We take it seriously.
We are part of the New England community we serve.
Since 2011, Mallory Portraits and our partners have contributed to more than $17.5 million raised for nonprofits across New England. The families we photograph are the same families we show up for in our communities.
One session. One portrait. One wall.
Before they grow out of this phase.
Before another year passes.
Before you wish you had.
Sessions are held in our Portsmouth studio and fill quickly, particularly in fall and around the holidays. When you're ready, the next step is simple: fill out a short inquiry form and one of our team will be in touch to find the right time for your family.
Begin My InquiryNo commitment required. Just the first step.