CEDAR FALLS, IA
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

Hi, I am Hilary! I am your new BFF. After your session you're probably going to say "where has she been my whole life?" I am your biggest hype woman and my #1 goal is to make you FEEL your photos. I want you to love your photos 100 years from now. Check out my "About Me" session, where I word-vomit every detail about my life. I can't wait to work with you!

Contact Me!

blake + becca harms 🤍
04.11.26

Every love story is beautiful, but Scheels ones are my favorite (isn’t that how that saying goes? 🙃)

Shout-out to my pal Marrissa @arrowheadphotography319 for being my second shooter!

Happy wedding day, Blake + Becca! 🤎 Can’t wait to get these two married later today!
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Friends, I will be pretty unavailable these next few days! I am out shooting a wedding today, session tomorrow, Des Moines for my full-time job Monday-Tuesday, and a session Wednesday.

I’m not ignoring you, I promise! It’s not you, it’s me. 😅 If you send me a message, I’ll get back to you by Tuesday evening!

Hi.
Please bring me your baby for milestone pictures.
I’m begging you.

The random facial expressions.
The sweet smiles looking up at mom + dad.
The droooooooooool. 😍
The rolls.
The teefers popping through. 🥹
The lashes.

Gimme all the babies!

These sweet Stewart boys have my heart! 🤎🤎🤎

I have a few sunset sessions available this month!

30 minutes
$375
Access to client closet/styling assistance

April 22 715-745

Hi guys!

I am in need of a newborn model to come in to my studio! I would love for it to be something that I can focus on the baby and work on wrapping, posing, etc. If you have a newborn or are due REALLY soon, let me know! Tag a new mama or an expecting mama with a babe due soon—I would love to do this sometime in April, before my busy season ramps up! Looking for four weeks and under at this time.

•Baby only; no siblings or parents at this time
•Mama, this is your time to relax—I just need you to bring me the baby! Take a snap, scroll your phone, do whatever while I work with your babe :) leave the fam at home!
•You’ll get a few photos for your time!

I have been CRAVING some creative sessions lately! Nothing beats a family session but I am hoping to knock some bucket-list sessions off of my list this year! While these sessions aren’t free, they are heavily discounted. Scroll through my list and slide into my DM’s to create some magic for the both of us 😎

Never thought I’d say the words:

“I’ll meet you at my studio!”

Never.
Never ever.
Not once.

Sitting here crying on a random Thursday evening as I finally put *most* of my stuff away. A space to snuggle babies, a place to fake sneeze 75 times to get one smile out of a toddler, a home for my heart to capture beautiful memories for you, a vision for us to create together.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could do this.

But…hey. I’ll meet you there. 🥹☺️🤎

One thing you may not know about me is I always like to be comfortable. I tend to avoid things outside of my comfort zone.

Well, I came in to 2026 and said “yeah, no. We’re not doing that this year. Lean. In. And. Grow.” 👏🏻

Invest in yourself.
Show up for yourself.
Believe in yourself.
Keep educating yourself.

I had the incredible opportunity to receive a 2:1 mentorship opportunity from none other than Amy + Lindsey with The Newborn Nerds. I am so thankful for the education, their guidance, and their friendship...pushing me to be better.

I am sitting here with tears in my eyes as I look through these photos and edit them. I am so proud that I have gained the confidence to add this to my skill-set. Newborn photography requires so much intention, and I cannot wait to continue to grow in this department. I am always looking for ways to learn + evolve, and falling more in love with who I am and the work I produce every step of the way.

Hilary from 2018 is high-fiving Hilary from 2026.
Now bring me your babies so I can continue to do this. :)

*baby styled + posed by @newbornnerds

A year ago I signed up for a newborn workshop with the wizards from @newbornnerds. I truly did not think this style of newborn photography was something I wanted to do...and here I am, almost a year later + I will be doing a 2:1 training with them this weekend! 😂 I am SO excited to dive in and develop/sharpen those skills. I love babies, I love when my clients have babies, and dangit I wanna take cute pictures of babies! I cannot wait for this weekend and I am so thankful to learn from Amy and Lindsey. 🤍

I also cannot stop buying newborn props, fabrics, etc. so I will need a bunch of cutie babies to come to me so I can practice!

And....I may have a new location to take said pictures...........stay tuned! 🥹😉

*baby styled + posed by @newbornnerds at their workshop last year!*

“Hey Hilary, are you still alive?”

Yes....yes I am. 🤣 I have been enjoying slow season so much + working on things I don’t normally have time to work on! It has been so good for my heart and my mental health.

....but you better get ready to be sick of me because I have a lot of fun + exciting things to share! 😉

FIRST UP: Model call!

I am hosting some beautiful Mama + me minis for Mother’s Day in May! And I need some help bringing a creative vision to life to prepare for these minis. Please read what I am looking for below, and if you think you’d be a good fit feel free to drop a comment or shoot me a message!

•Breastfeeding mama (ideally looking for a babe under six months but not opposed to an older baby if I cannot find a younger one)
•Okay with a few of these photos being shared on social media
•Both mom + babe styled by me from my client closet

Thank yooooou! Please feel free to share or spread the word, hoping to do these in beginning of March!

All the faces from miss Kouvr Pearl! I love this little honey + cannot believe she will be one SOON!

Bennett understood the assignment for his milestone session. Look at all of his cute faces, they are cracking me up 😂

Heads up!

I will be out of office starting this Saturday + will be back the following week! I booked a last minute cruise with my BFF, heading to the Bahamas 🥳

If you need anything, let me know before Friday! I will not be responding to messages after Friday, going on full DND mode. 😎

If you’ve been on a cruise, give me all your tips/tricks! This will be my first time on a cruise…..gonna stop watching Titanic 😵‍💫

These sweet little babies don’t keep. 🥹

I want you to remember everything about your kiddos, whatever age they are at. The drool, their bellies, their scrunchy-nose smile, their sweet giggles, the way they focus on playing.

If you’re looking for some simple, updated photos of your kiddos but don’t want the stress of an entire family session...here ya go!

I am looking at hosting some Sweet + Simple Minis next month! These will be at my little studio at my house. Here’s what you need to know:

•15 minute session
•I have plenty of backdrop colors to choose from! Choose one, and we can coordinate some outfits (I may even have some in my client closet)
•Simple, sweet shots of your kiddo(s) to focus on their personalities! Silly, sweet, serious...it doesn’t matter! I am here to capture alllllll the details
•If you’re looking at booking for multiple kids, I will do a bundle!
•$175 for 10 photos

Drop a comment if you’re interested! Looking at maybe mid/end February, will work around nap time 🥰

Well, hello beautiful friends!!

It has been awhile since I have hopped on here...but gosh, a break felt so nice. Most of you know I work a full-time job in hospice and it can get pretty busy around the holidays. Oofta.

I am absolutely not ashamed to admit that I needed a little bit of a mental health break. Although going completely dark on social media does something to your algorithm (I am an elder millennial so I don’t even know what that means TBH), it was something my heart so desperately needed.

Taking time away reminded me how important it was to slow down. I was able to watch movies with my sister. I baked with my mama. I sat + sipped coffee for hours with my sister-in-laws. I watched a lot of football. I snuggled my sweet little newborn niece. I hung out with friends. I sat in silence + read among the lights of my Christmas tree.

All in all, my break showed me that it’s okay to slow down. 🤎

I am slowly working on availability for spring/summer! I skipped out on Black Friday deals around the holiday, promising some “birthday” specials! My birthday falls in early February, so I am looking at releasing some birthday specials in my VIP group in the beginning of February. So be on the lookout for those in my VIP group! Anything that is left over/not claimed will be released here.

I have a lot up my sleeve for 2026...what do you wanna see?! Here are a few things I am toying with:

•Studio minis (perfect for indoors—looking at Cedar Falls AND Cedar Rapids for my back home/IC/CR peeps!
•Personality minis at my home studio—the sweetest, simple photos of your kiddos! Color and black/white
•Motherhood minis (Dads, this is the perfect gift for your wife for Mother’s Day!)
•Summer Minis

Thanks for being along for the ride, friends.
I love you all and thank you for being here.

2025 was beautiful.
It was chaotic.
It was rewarding, exhausting, and somehow deeply healing all at once.

This year asked a lot of me and gave so much back in return.

To my clients: thank you for trusting me with your moments, your stories, your people. Thank you for inviting me into spaces that matter and letting me witness your life through my lens. It is the greatest honor to be the one that you continue to choose and I will never take that for granted!

To my fellow creatives…thank you for the inspiration, the encouragement, the collaboration, and the quiet reminders to keep going when it felt hard. Thank you for letting me lean on you and learn from you. Thank you for showing me that there is a seat for everyone at our table! Community is everything.

As we step into the beginning of 2026, I’m feeling grateful, steady, and rooted. I am ready to keep showing up, ready to keep creating and building something meaningful with you.

I am honored to be the person who keeps documenting your story, page after page.

Thank you for being here!
I love you all. 🤎

Hello friends!

I am officially going on Do Not Disturb for the rest of 2025. I am still editing galleries, but I am turning on my automatic replies and will not be responding to any messages until after the new year.

As always….if you know me in real life, no you do not. 🤣 Please refrain from messaging me on my personal page or shooting me a text. It may seem harmless to you, but setting and holding boundaries are simply •not• in my vocabulary. Hello, if you’re new here I have high functioning anxiety. 🤣

I can’t wait to snuggle my nieces and nephew, finishing Christmas shopping, spend time with my family, bake with my mama, watch movies with my sister, laugh with my sister-in-laws, and enjoy five straight days off from my full-time job. Throw in an espresso martini and your girl is SET.

Take care of yourself this holiday season. Sending love to those who may not feel as merry as others might and to those who are missing loved ones this holiday season.

Love you all so much, see ya next year.
🫶🏻

Ladies, let’s get some boudoir sessions on my calendar. 🖤😉

Looking at booking a few weekends in January and February! Comment or shoot me a message if you want in on these!

Meet the newest little love of my life, my sweet niece Violet Louise. 🥰

AKA: Lettie Lou
AKA by Auntie Hil: Louie (I combined Lettie and Lou on accident, and I’ll make it stick.)

She was a DREAM and we got all the cute little Christmas set-ups today ❤️🎄💚✨

I took a service dog��’s head shot.

...that is all. Carry on.

My niece is already here Earth-side, but I hope these photos bring you as much joy as they do to me. 🥰 I love these three beautiful humans, and baby Lettie Lou makes FOUR beautiful humans that make my heart whole!

Gift certificates are 10% off now through the end of the month! The perfect gift for mom + dad, or your wife 🙂 (husbands, I’m talking to you!)

Limited certificates available, send me a message to snag yours!

*10% off applied to full session amount

Not a fan of the colder weather? No problem!

I lovvvvveee cozy indoor sessions! Have me come over and let’s capture all of the moments. Snuggling your babies, baking in your kitchen, dancing with your spouse, jumping on the bed, just being you in your home!

I also have the option to rent a studio downtown Cedar Falls, and that’s the perfect option if you don’t want to do your home!

Milestone, maternity, family, couples, newborn….the options are endless!

Shoot me a message to get something on my books for January-March for indoor sessions 😍

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Follow me on Instagram!

@hilarynicholephotography

CEDAR FALLS, IA FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

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Follow me on Instagram!

CEDAR FALLS, IA
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER