The Sibling Series 2026: A Look Back at Sibling Season
The Sibling Series is officially wrapped, and I already can't wait to do it all again next September.
This September, I opened my Nashville studio for just three days, the 12th, 19th, and 20th, for one thing: Modern Black and White portraits of brothers and sisters together. We called it September is Sibling Season, and it turned out to be one of my favorite things I have created all year.
Why siblings, and why just them
A sibling portrait is not a family portrait with the parents cropped out. When your children are the entire focus, something shifts. They lean into each other differently.
That is where the real relationship shows up. The inside jokes. The way the youngest reaches for a big brother's hand without thinking about it. The two-second glance only siblings give each other, right before they both start laughing.
My job behind the camera was never to get a perfect pose. It was to find the real moment between them. Siblings are complicated, and the bond is not always soft or cooperative in the moment. But give them the space to just be together, and you see the whole thing.
What the experience looked like
The Sibling Series was a limited edition experience, which means a shorter window on the calendar, never a scaled-down experience. Every family received the same care I bring to every portrait I create.
A discovery call. Before anyone stepped into the studio, I spent time on the phone getting to know each child: who is the ringleader, who needs a minute to warm up, and what makes them laugh.
The portrait experience. A clean white background, soft studio light, and gentle direction, all in timeless Modern Black and White. These are portraits that will look just as beautiful in twenty years as they do today.
Selecting favorites and designing artwork. Right after their time in the studio, each family sat down with me to select their favorites, design their artwork, and place their portrait order. No waiting weeks to see the portraits, and no gallery sitting unopened on a laptop.
Because everything was ordered in September, these families will have finished artwork in hand well before the holidays. That means framed portraits for their own walls, and gifts ready for the grandparents and the aunts and uncles who ask every year what the children want.
Why September is Sibling Season
Choosing September for the Sibling Series was very intentional.
Once school starts, families settle into a rhythm. Schedules are predictable, bedtimes are back, and coordinating two or three children on the same afternoon gets a whole lot easier. September also lands at exactly the right moment on the calendar: early enough to beat the holiday rush, and just as your children have grown into a brand new version of themselves for the school year.
See you next September
To every family who trusted me with your children this month: thank you. Watching your children be exactly who they are with each other was a gift, and I cannot wait for you to hang these portraits on your walls.
The Sibling Series will return next September, with the same small number of limited spots.
If you would rather not wait a whole year, my Signature Portrait Experience is the closest thing to the Sibling Series. It is the same timeless black and white studio portraiture, created around the relationships in your family: brothers and sisters, a mother and daughter, or everyone together. It is the full portrait experience, designed from the very beginning around the artwork you want on your walls.
Explore the Signature Portrait Experience
Your children will never be exactly this age together again. You only regret the portraits you didn't have taken.
Cate Connery Bury Photography is an award-winning high school senior and family portrait studio in Nashville, TN specializing in creating portrait experiences and artwork where college-bound seniors who struggle with perfectionism and comparison feel celebrated both during the experience and in the artwork we create together and come away believing that their worth isn't measured by what they've accomplished, but instead simply for who they are. The artwork we create together reminds them that their worth is there just because they are, and their parents feel joy and pride every time they walk past it on the wall. We also photograph families, creating experiences that feel polished but not stiff and artwork that makes them proud of the family they've poured their life into, see all they've accomplished, and step into whatever comes next knowing they'll be just as successful there.
