North NJ Photographer
Denise Dougherty
MEET DEE, the owner of Millie Dee Photography.
Award-Winning Maternity & Newborn photographer located in the Landing part of Roxbury Township, near Lake Hopatcong in Morris County, New Jersey.
This is me, yes, with professional makeup, what a rare occurrence for me! Look at my scrunchie around my wrist, that is a big nono for my clients, no hair ties on the wrists, lol... yet here I am. This is a selfie with my camera, so its a wee bit out of focus, since I wasn't behind the camera, but I'll take it...for now at least...
So yes, owner, photographer are just some of the titles I go by, some others I go by are wife, mother, volunteer, (former) scout leader, former baseball coach, baseball mom, dance mom and the list goes on.
My official name is Denise Dougherty, Millie is my nickname because my maiden name is Miller. I've had many creative outlets since the high school years and also have been in many jobs serving people. One of my deep beliefs is that we are all here to learn from each other and serve one another.
I have a background in science and biology and changed career paths after I got pregnant. Photography has always been a passion of mine since the first time I held a camera and I started photographing children and absolutely fell in love with newborn photography. I quickly realized it's not as easy as it looks. I've invested a lot of myself into learning my trade and am proud to say I'm currently the #1 newborn photographer in Morris County, NJ.
I used to shoot many other types of photography, even weddings. However, my children were very young and we'd realized my son was having some health issues and I couldn't devote enough time to both photography and my family, so I left photography behind for a while to concentrate on raising my kids and keeping them healthy. My son used to have major food allergies. When he was first tested, the results showed 7 pages of food allergies. Yes, that's right, not 7 allergies, 7 pages of allergies.
This was 10 years ago and there were not a lot of main stream products for food allergy kids, so I basically shopped in two aisles of ShopRite and whole foods for many years and I made all of his food. We were never able to eat in a restaurant with his allergies; in fact, we'd been denied service several times from restaurants saying they couldn't serve us; we'd really only tried to go to restaurants for family parties, outings that were beyond our control. Sometimes, even with a large group, the restaurants wouldn't even allow us to bring in our own food for him to eat. We were denied service in theme parks, water parks, etc. oh, I can go on with stories. The frustration I felt inside was defeating and angering.
When you're a mom of a child that needs a little extra attention, it creates an exponential shift in the home. I knew every little rash on his body, when it would start, how long would it be there, would it be linked to his breathing problems? I knew every breath he took, I know when his breathing started to get a little hoarse, it was going to probably lead to croupe, we would be at the doctor, they would want him on a steroid...again...and if that didn't work, we may end up in the hospital...again...which meant I'd have to find someone to watch my daughter so daddy could work, and who would be around to drive my daughter to school or her activities? We don't have a lot of family to count on, my in laws were in Florida half the year and my mother is two hours away, and Keith worked, so I was strapped. My son was so young to be going through all of this, with a biology background, I just felt so strongly there had to be a better way and a reason for all of this happening.
In the meantime, we had created a nice little healthcare team for my son. After going through several pediatricians, we'd found Dr.Chi. Whom recently retired during the covid crisis...I still cry about his retirement, there has never in my lifetime been a better pediatrician. I'd also found Core Therapies Solutions in Florham Park through a friend that had been sickly all of her life; Dr. Jason Sonners realized my friends problem was some food allergies and sensitivities and he changed her life forever We started going to Dr. Jason and his team and I was amazed from the first visit with my young 2 year old and 4 year old kids at the therapies he provided and the insight he had. We also found Nurse Deb Nicolosi who was the final team member of the team I'd put together for my son on his food allergy journey. Her therapies basically killed my son's allergies. I'd heard about her from a dad at a bbq; he said the women in his office were raving about this woman who'd cured their kids of peanut allergies. I didn't believe it, however, we'd been through many doctors who weren't able to help, so why not try out one more health professional. She, like Dr. Jason had some unique and interesting methods and I appreciated their non-invasive examinations and treatments as my son was so young. It took years of treatments, however, he's now 11, going on 12 this year and his one allergy we have left is dairy. We can't seem to shake it; however, he can eat pizza and have cooked dairy products, but cold things like milk, yogurt and ice cream will cause a reaction.
Little by little as his body was strong enough to conquer these food allergies, he was able to eat more foods. The first year that he was able to eat chocolate from an Easter basket was like winning a big fat lottery. We still carry an epi pen just incase, however, from where he was, allergic to everything except fish/shellfish on the top 8 allergy list, to corn and canteloupe to watermelon, even tomato sauce at one point, when we thought he'd never eat a slice of pizza, here he is, eating pizza. His favorite sandwich is a pulled pork sandwich from Yankee Stadium. With the exception of last year, we make a trip there every year to watch a game and get the pulled pork sandwich. It's always a big celebration, kind of like a birthday to celebrate the milestone when he was able to start eating out with his family and friends and he didn't have to sneak anything home made in anymore.
Anyhoo, I digress. So, my son and my daughter are the reasons I stopped working for a bit; my daughter does dance competition; she used to do alot more, however, we're hoping to get her back up to speed this year and its doubly difficult with covid. I asked her to take a year off so I could focus on my business. As any of you dance competitors know, it's a very expensive and time consuming sport. I do regret asking her to do this, as I didn't realize the consequences would be that she couldn't make the team the following year. I'm heart broken and guilt-ridden over it of course. However, there came a time that I needed to focus on long term goals for me and my family and that had to be started with a job, so I opened my studio.
With so much on the line, with my daughter giving up a year of dance and sacrificing her team so I can see our family's future dreams hopefully come to fruition, so I could finally have a little time to work on some of my goals after years of dedicating my time to finding the right doctors and treatments and getting my son healthy, I certainly have to make this business a success. I owe it to them. It's a struggle many days trying to juggle everything as a mom and a business owner. There are many days I want to give up, many days I feel beaten and battered, but my philosophy is to just keep showing up. "just keep swimming" as Dori the fish would say. Covid has thrown a huge-ass wrench into plans, both my plans, each kids' lives; I moved my studio closer to home because they're in school only part time and have emotional struggles some days with all of this, the family plans and my husband's business plans, too have all changed. Everyone's lives are changed right now. We like many others are struggling, but I'll keep showing gratitude for the lives that we do have, I will keep showing up, moving forward and be ready for better days for my family and for all of us.
I love my family & my career. I adore my clients and cherish my beautiful studio in Landing, NJ.
As I mentioned, I took this photo of myself, with a little remote in my hand, this photo is edited; the one I had posted previously was not edited; I go either way; honestly, just depends on the level of creation I'm feeling that day. I just like to tell moms that; I know that we all have our hang ups about ourselves, I'm no different, however, I hide many a flaw with shadows and good lighting. I use photoshop, I did in this image, it's a wonderful tool to have, however, not a mandatory tool for us! Please don't be concerned or feel self conscious about being in front of my camera; I'm here to remind you, that
you're perfect just the way you are.
Award-Winning Maternity & Newborn photographer located in the Landing part of Roxbury Township, near Lake Hopatcong in Morris County, New Jersey.
This is me, yes, with professional makeup, what a rare occurrence for me! Look at my scrunchie around my wrist, that is a big nono for my clients, no hair ties on the wrists, lol... yet here I am. This is a selfie with my camera, so its a wee bit out of focus, since I wasn't behind the camera, but I'll take it...for now at least...
So yes, owner, photographer are just some of the titles I go by, some others I go by are wife, mother, volunteer, (former) scout leader, former baseball coach, baseball mom, dance mom and the list goes on.
My official name is Denise Dougherty, Millie is my nickname because my maiden name is Miller. I've had many creative outlets since the high school years and also have been in many jobs serving people. One of my deep beliefs is that we are all here to learn from each other and serve one another.
I have a background in science and biology and changed career paths after I got pregnant. Photography has always been a passion of mine since the first time I held a camera and I started photographing children and absolutely fell in love with newborn photography. I quickly realized it's not as easy as it looks. I've invested a lot of myself into learning my trade and am proud to say I'm currently the #1 newborn photographer in Morris County, NJ.
I used to shoot many other types of photography, even weddings. However, my children were very young and we'd realized my son was having some health issues and I couldn't devote enough time to both photography and my family, so I left photography behind for a while to concentrate on raising my kids and keeping them healthy. My son used to have major food allergies. When he was first tested, the results showed 7 pages of food allergies. Yes, that's right, not 7 allergies, 7 pages of allergies.
This was 10 years ago and there were not a lot of main stream products for food allergy kids, so I basically shopped in two aisles of ShopRite and whole foods for many years and I made all of his food. We were never able to eat in a restaurant with his allergies; in fact, we'd been denied service several times from restaurants saying they couldn't serve us; we'd really only tried to go to restaurants for family parties, outings that were beyond our control. Sometimes, even with a large group, the restaurants wouldn't even allow us to bring in our own food for him to eat. We were denied service in theme parks, water parks, etc. oh, I can go on with stories. The frustration I felt inside was defeating and angering.
When you're a mom of a child that needs a little extra attention, it creates an exponential shift in the home. I knew every little rash on his body, when it would start, how long would it be there, would it be linked to his breathing problems? I knew every breath he took, I know when his breathing started to get a little hoarse, it was going to probably lead to croupe, we would be at the doctor, they would want him on a steroid...again...and if that didn't work, we may end up in the hospital...again...which meant I'd have to find someone to watch my daughter so daddy could work, and who would be around to drive my daughter to school or her activities? We don't have a lot of family to count on, my in laws were in Florida half the year and my mother is two hours away, and Keith worked, so I was strapped. My son was so young to be going through all of this, with a biology background, I just felt so strongly there had to be a better way and a reason for all of this happening.
In the meantime, we had created a nice little healthcare team for my son. After going through several pediatricians, we'd found Dr.Chi. Whom recently retired during the covid crisis...I still cry about his retirement, there has never in my lifetime been a better pediatrician. I'd also found Core Therapies Solutions in Florham Park through a friend that had been sickly all of her life; Dr. Jason Sonners realized my friends problem was some food allergies and sensitivities and he changed her life forever We started going to Dr. Jason and his team and I was amazed from the first visit with my young 2 year old and 4 year old kids at the therapies he provided and the insight he had. We also found Nurse Deb Nicolosi who was the final team member of the team I'd put together for my son on his food allergy journey. Her therapies basically killed my son's allergies. I'd heard about her from a dad at a bbq; he said the women in his office were raving about this woman who'd cured their kids of peanut allergies. I didn't believe it, however, we'd been through many doctors who weren't able to help, so why not try out one more health professional. She, like Dr. Jason had some unique and interesting methods and I appreciated their non-invasive examinations and treatments as my son was so young. It took years of treatments, however, he's now 11, going on 12 this year and his one allergy we have left is dairy. We can't seem to shake it; however, he can eat pizza and have cooked dairy products, but cold things like milk, yogurt and ice cream will cause a reaction.
Little by little as his body was strong enough to conquer these food allergies, he was able to eat more foods. The first year that he was able to eat chocolate from an Easter basket was like winning a big fat lottery. We still carry an epi pen just incase, however, from where he was, allergic to everything except fish/shellfish on the top 8 allergy list, to corn and canteloupe to watermelon, even tomato sauce at one point, when we thought he'd never eat a slice of pizza, here he is, eating pizza. His favorite sandwich is a pulled pork sandwich from Yankee Stadium. With the exception of last year, we make a trip there every year to watch a game and get the pulled pork sandwich. It's always a big celebration, kind of like a birthday to celebrate the milestone when he was able to start eating out with his family and friends and he didn't have to sneak anything home made in anymore.
Anyhoo, I digress. So, my son and my daughter are the reasons I stopped working for a bit; my daughter does dance competition; she used to do alot more, however, we're hoping to get her back up to speed this year and its doubly difficult with covid. I asked her to take a year off so I could focus on my business. As any of you dance competitors know, it's a very expensive and time consuming sport. I do regret asking her to do this, as I didn't realize the consequences would be that she couldn't make the team the following year. I'm heart broken and guilt-ridden over it of course. However, there came a time that I needed to focus on long term goals for me and my family and that had to be started with a job, so I opened my studio.
With so much on the line, with my daughter giving up a year of dance and sacrificing her team so I can see our family's future dreams hopefully come to fruition, so I could finally have a little time to work on some of my goals after years of dedicating my time to finding the right doctors and treatments and getting my son healthy, I certainly have to make this business a success. I owe it to them. It's a struggle many days trying to juggle everything as a mom and a business owner. There are many days I want to give up, many days I feel beaten and battered, but my philosophy is to just keep showing up. "just keep swimming" as Dori the fish would say. Covid has thrown a huge-ass wrench into plans, both my plans, each kids' lives; I moved my studio closer to home because they're in school only part time and have emotional struggles some days with all of this, the family plans and my husband's business plans, too have all changed. Everyone's lives are changed right now. We like many others are struggling, but I'll keep showing gratitude for the lives that we do have, I will keep showing up, moving forward and be ready for better days for my family and for all of us.
I love my family & my career. I adore my clients and cherish my beautiful studio in Landing, NJ.
As I mentioned, I took this photo of myself, with a little remote in my hand, this photo is edited; the one I had posted previously was not edited; I go either way; honestly, just depends on the level of creation I'm feeling that day. I just like to tell moms that; I know that we all have our hang ups about ourselves, I'm no different, however, I hide many a flaw with shadows and good lighting. I use photoshop, I did in this image, it's a wonderful tool to have, however, not a mandatory tool for us! Please don't be concerned or feel self conscious about being in front of my camera; I'm here to remind you, that
you're perfect just the way you are.
ME WITH MY KIDS...(hubby/daddy at work as usual)
11 & 13...(AND I WON'T MENTION MY AGE) ; D
11 & 13...(AND I WON'T MENTION MY AGE) ; D