Reed Photography: Dedication to family

When the pandemic forced national closures of schools and businesses, Trumansburg parent and photographer Tera Coates was faced with what would become an all-too-familiar dilemma about her and her family’s future.

“I went to school at [Tompkins Cortland Community College] for early childhood education,” Coates said. “I had started doing photography in 2017 on a part-time basis. I had started taking pictures of my son when he was born and realized how much I loved it. People had started reaching out to me around then looking for photography options for their families.”

In 2013, Coates, originally from Candor, became a permanent Trumansburg resident, settling into the village where her husband was born and raised and works as a Finger Lakes Wrecker Service agent.

“I had worked for Racker in Ithaca and started taking photos for parents there,” Coates said. “Since it’s not a public school, there was no photographer or photography offered. I went to Racker with the idea that we could offer photographs of the students. They liked the idea, so each class would end up having its own picture day. I would go on a designated day to a specific class and take photographs of the kids. It was a lot of fun. I realized then how much I really enjoyed family photography.”

The closure of schools in response to the pandemic forced Coates and her husband to begin homeschooling their 7-year-old son. This development offered Coates the opportunity to spend more time with her family. Taking field trips as part of the curriculum allowed Coates to explore the idea of mixing her love of photography and travel.

“It ended up being the catalyst that prompted me to establish Reed Photography as a full-time business in 2021,” Coates said. “Plus, my son had struggled with math in school. He had excelled in other areas, but no one was giving him praise or encouragement. Now, he is succeeding with math and can even do mental math. It’s so cool to see for myself just how much he’s excelling. We’ve decided to continue homeschooling him, which allows me to have extra family time with him and our 2-year-old.”

Coates hopes to mix her photography business with her love of travel in the near future. The combination of interests will allow her to offer photography, both full and mini sessions, to people at a distance.

“I’m working on building a wide geographical customer base,” Coates said. “I enjoy road trips and visiting new places, so if a shoot is not in my local area, no one should hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to come out and work with them.”

Coates believes that whether you have a photographer there for 20 minutes or an hour, you will end up with beautiful images that you can cherish and share with loved ones forever.

“I provide images that you can look at and instantly remember the weather, what you were feeling or what happened right before or after that photo was taken, no matter how long ago it was,” Coates said. “I do all the editing myself. Although digital photos are great, I offer a photo print credit to encourage people to get prints of the work so you’re just not stuck with digital photos on your computer or phone.”

Coates added that she uses a professional printing company that’s “absolutely amazing.”

“They offer high quality and very fast shipping,” she said. “One of my favorite things to do is take out a photo album I’ve created featuring our family and sit with my son and flip through the pages and look at all of the memories. It’s something that can be handed down from generation to generation. It’s very special.”

In addition to building her traveling studio, Coates will be returning to Taughannock Falls for mini sessions this summer. Coates will be offering the sessions in the evening at Taughannock Falls State Park after 6 p.m., when the park is largely free of crowds. Typically, the mini sessions are offered at the end of the summer, with subjects being encouraged to pick themes that suit their vision.

“I am really excited to have my mini sessions booked up, and I’m looking forward to offering clients an amazing experience,” Coates said. “I’m currently looking for classic, vintage trucks to use for holiday photographs as well.”

Coates possesses not only solid photography skills and talent but also a ceaseless love of photographing children and families. Coates prides herself on working with children and families with a wide range of personalities.

“I want people to understand and know that I can handle everything from moody teens to wild toddlers and that I can work with them all,” Coates said. “I especially don’t have to have kids immediately cooperate. I will happily take the time to talk to them and work with them to get the perfect photos. We are very family oriented. In fact, Reed Photography is named after my oldest child. It is his middle name, and I felt it was perfect since he was the reason I started this business.”

To learn more about Reed Photography, visit reedphotography59.mypixieset.com or email reedphotography59@gmail.com.

Trumansburg Connection appears each Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.