Uptown legacy portraits
Every family has one: the formal portrait from 1962, everyone groomed and solemn on the church steps. We make the next one - your generation, your parents, your grandkids, on the stoop or the steps or in our studio, made with the same intention and considerably better equipment.
Frederick Douglass Blvd — Sunday slots go first
Why formal still matters
Your family's old portrait took planning: the outfits coordinated, the barber visited, the church steps chosen because the church mattered. That photograph has held the family's idea of itself for sixty years. It was not a snapshot, and it was not meant to be.
We make portraits with that same intention, for the generation that will hold the family's idea of itself for the next sixty. Stoops and church steps Uptown, studio formals when the weather disagrees. The grandkids will grumble. The grandkids always grumble, and then the portrait hangs for decades.
From the archive
The studio
01
Cedric Holloway Owner & photographer
Grew up on 141st, assisted in a midtown studio for a decade, came home to open this one in 2011. Has now photographed four generations of some families, which he mentions more often than his awards.
02
Alicia Grant Photographer
Specializes in studio formals with the old-school intention - the lighting your grandmother's photographer would recognize, on equipment he would not.
03
Theo Baptiste Producer
Scouts the stoop or church steps, handles the permits where the city wants them, and runs the schedule around church and Sunday dinner, in that order of importance.
04
Renee Simms Albums & framing
Builds the leather albums and frames the wall pieces. Keeps a list of which families have which portraits hanging where Uptown, for the sequel sessions.
Rates
| Session | Includes | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start hereThe SittingThe studio formal: up to six people, two groupings, fifteen edited images. The 1962 template, updated. | Studio formals, 15 edited images | 60 min | $35060 minutes | |
| Most bookedThe Stoop SessionYour brownstone or the church steps, three groupings, thirty edited images, and one 8x12 print for the hallway. | Stoop or church steps, 30 images, one print | 90 min | $65090 minutes | |
| Four generationsThe Generations FormalStudio and stoop, every grouping including the elders alone, the siblings, and the grandkids solo. Album included, framed 16x20 for the family home. | Studio + stoop, album, framed 16x20 | half day | $1,250half day | |
| The big oneThe Centennial PackageFor hundredth birthdays and church anniversaries: a full day, the venue, the family, the congregation if it applies. Two albums, three framed pieces, all files, and Theo running everything. | Full day, two albums, three framed pieces | full day | $2,200full day |
All prices USD. Sunday sessions are scheduled after service - Theo handles this with the church, which is a sentence that saves families phone calls. NYC permit fees, where required, are billed at cost.
How it works
01
01
Cedric or Alicia comes to you, or you to the studio - either way, we plan the portrait: who, where, wearing what, and where it will hang.
02
02
Theo checks the stoop or steps for light and permits. Church steps need coordination; Theo coordinates, in the church's own good time.
03
03
Formal pace, warm atmosphere. We start with the elders seated, build around them, and finish before anyone's patience does.
04
04
Gallery in 14 days. The album and frames follow, built to survive being fought over by the next generation.
Client stories
"We had not all been in one frame since 1988. Cedric put four generations on my mother's stoop, and she directed the whole thing from her chair like she had been waiting thirty years for the appointment."
Denise W.
family matriarch's daughter, 58 (Harlem)
"My father does not smile on request. He smiled in the stoop picture anyway, at something Alicia said that I still have not gotten out of him. The 16x20 hangs where his mother's 1962 portrait used to hang alone."
Marcus J.
son and now family historian, 47
"Booked the Centennial for my grandmother's hundredth at Abyssinian. Theo handled the church, the family, and the day. There is now a portrait of five generations. Five."
Alicia P.
great-granddaughter, 39
// Before you book //
Book
Tell us the occasion, the family size, and where the portrait will hang. That last detail decides everything else.
TEL (212) 555-0147
Hours Wed-Sun 11am-7pm ET