SARAH AND CHRIS: A MARRIED TEAM OF VISUAL STORYTELLERS

We are Sarah Hoppes and and Chris Rizzo, a married couple specializing in portrait photography. We live in Tarrytown, NY with 3 cats and our amazing daughter. We used to photograph weddings together all over the country, but after our daughter was born, we limited our work to family and portrait photography. When you book Smitten Chickens for a family session now, you get Sarah as your experienced and excited photographer.

Why We do What We Do

 Here's our manifesto on why photography is so important.   We love making beautiful images, but pretty is only a tiny part of why our job matters so much. If we’ve done our job right, our work will mean more and more to our clients the more time passes, because that’s the power of good photography. We chose to focus on emotion, authentic moments, and classic shooting and editing techniques because that’s what stands the test of time.

WE ARE GIANT NERDS.

We love comic books, horror films, sci-fi, fantasy, and heavy metal, so if you're incorporating any of these elements into your family portraits, we want to be involved.  

WE adore animals.

We currently have 3 cats: Pip, Oliver, Izzy, and Harry.  All of them were rescues, and they love to snuggle anyone who comes to visit.

 If we had the ability, we would live on a farm full of rescue animals of all types.

If we sound like your kind of people, get in touch. We'd love to chat!

About Sarah

Hi there! I'm Sarah, and I want to turn your memories into beautiful art.

I graduated from Ohio University with a degree in Commercial Photography and worked for 7 years in advertising and entertainment, but my photographic passion is capturing authentic moments for people in love.

As a plus-sized woman who spent years dealing with my own negative body image, I now use my skills as a photographer to make people of all shapes and sizes see their own beauty. If you've ever felt undeserving of professional photography, I really hope you'll let me change your mind. I promise to make you look good, and to make the process fun.

I'm the daughter of a special education teacher, which played a big role in shaping the person I am today. I've worked as a counselor at an  camp for people with disabilities, and I teach English as  New Language to high school students in the Bronx, and I recently graduated with a masters in School Counseling.

In addition to getting to do what I love for a living, some things I’ve done that make me proud: Meditating with monks in Thailand; Learning to use a power drill; Winning awards for competitive public speaking; Reading 50 books in a year; Dancing with Hare Krishna converts in West Virginia; Traversing Europe on a shoestring; Running (ie Surviving) 4 half marathons; and earning two Masters Degrees while parenting and working full-time.

Hi. I'm Chris, and I'd love to say my origins are shrouded in mystery, but that's not really true. I'm originally from New Hampshire and went to film school at the New York Film Academy. Since graduating the Film Academy, I've worked in advertising, reality TV, and documentaries as a film and video editor.

Some random things I love: my wife and daughter; our cats; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer;" comics; cake; horror films; science fiction; chocolate mousse; and Batman.