Rachel Vanoven

International photographer, educator and speaker
Cincinnati • Indianapolis • ✈️ AZ/WI/CA/LA/TX
Education 👉 Rachel Vanoven Collective
(214)

Rachel is an international photographer, educator and speaker with a passion for capturing images of newborns and families in an honest and beautiful way.

08/25/2026

This is a tough one for me to answer 😅

On one hand, I usually just steamroll grumpy dads into being happy, a lot like difficult toddlers…it’s all about giving them options to choose from, short interactions and long breaks, plus the art of distraction and lots of positive reinforcement 😆

On the other hand — a fully awake baby — they just can’t magically sleep. Nap? Yes. Sleep hard enough to do a whole sleepy session in different outfits and set ups without being wrapped? Not so much.

So I think I’m choosing the sleepy baby magic spell, since I could use my power for good like some Newborn Sleep Fairy that visits exhausted new parents’ homes if they leave out offerings of tacos and margaritas for me 💀♥️

08/18/2026

It’s been a little over a week since the Collective Retreat wrapped up, and I’m still not quite over the fact that we don’t get to do this again in Brookville until next year. 🥹

But going back through our river shootout took me right back to this perfect summer night with these beautiful humans…

Ebony, David + crew made their encore appearance as our Retreat family after modeling for us in 2025 — and this year I even convinced them to stick around for the bonfire afterward.🫶

Watching this family grow and thrive over the years has been one of the funnest parts of being Ebony’s friend. They’re the kind of people whose energy somehow charges your soul just by being around them.

And THIS is what I love so much about these Retreat weekends:

We photograph. We teach. We learn.

BUT - by this last night? The models, the attendees, me as a teacher — the roles all kind of fall off us and we’re just a bunch of friends sitting in bag chairs around a fire roasting marshmallows and talking about life as the stars come out.

It’s always my favorite part about the retreats, when the nerves wear off, the perfection masks drop and everyone gets REAL.

I can’t wait to share more from both the July and August retreats — we have SO much BTS video 😍

08/10/2026

13,078 images delivered from the July 6th Wisconsin minis, Chicago full family travel sessions, newborn clients, Storytelling Sessions, Brookville family sessions and the July Collective Retreat. ♥️

My heart is so happy that so many of you are coming along with me on this journey to lean gently away from the rigid, perfectly curated and posed family sessions…and embrace the real stories that make up your unique families…whether it’s an engagement session or capturing life with teenagers — I want ALL the realness.

A few days ago I had yall guess exactly how many images were delivered in 32 galleries over 30 days, the closest to the correct number without going over could choose either a free session OR virtual 1:1 mentoring…and that winner was Bojana Doganjic with a guess of 13,000 ♥️

DM me to set up your shoot or mentoring!

08/07/2026

Over 30 sessions in the last four weeks.

These are just 20 that I haven’t shared yet 😅

Mini sessions across three different Wisconsin cities, three full family sessions in Chicago, newborns, an engagement session, and the start of river-session season here in Brookville.

And somehow, these don’t even include the July Collective Retreat sessions, or any of the other sessions that DO have a spot on the grid 🤪

I would love to give every one of these clients their own main character moment, but at this rate I’ll still be posting summer sessions at Christmas — we’re kicking off another Collective Retreat *today* followed by two travel sessions next week and filming a guest feature…whew!

So for now, here are 20 images from the last 30 days—and a pretty accurate representation of why I have no idea what day it is. 💀

Anyone want to guess how many TOTAL photos (including black and white images) that were delivered to all 32 clients? Including the Collective Retreat headshots!

Closest to the actual number withOUT going over wins either a free photoshoot of their choice OR virtual 1:1 mentoring 👀

You have until Monday to guess in the comments! 👇

08/05/2026

It’s river session season, guys 😍

And we kicked the first one off at last month’s Collective Retreat with this gorgeous (last minute!) model family and it was such a great lesson on my favorite topic to teach (next to marketing) — LIGHTING!

The skies were completely overcast when we got to the river, so I planned on teaching cloudy day lighting — which is so important since most photographers will still put families in the same spots whether it’s sunny, hazy or cloudy-covered.

But the second the family showed up — BAM — full sun, so we pivoted…

…then it got cloudy.

Then hazy.

Then cloudy.

Then fully sunny 😆

The entire session we ping-ponged all over the beach trying to keep up with the fast moving cloud cover and while it was a work-out for me, it was such an awesome learning experience for the retreat attendees!

I have BTS video coming from this — and it’s just as dreamy as these stills 😍

(Edited with a preset from my Film Collection — this tweaked preset is available FREE in tomorrow’s Collective video drop from our live editing sesh last month!)

08/02/2026

If I had to do it all over again, these are exactly the kind of family photos I would be sure to get.

Hands down. 🥹

This little family, photographed in their home on a normal Friday morning…doing all of Davis’ favorite things 🫶

07/30/2026

Sweet Myori already has me convinced she’s just like her daddy. 😆

Every time he’d come over for sleepovers with my son back in junior high, he was the one who never wanted to sleep and was always up causing a little trouble. This morning, Myori decided to carry on the family tradition 😅

She kept us on our toes, but goodness… she is absolutely beautiful. I cannot wait to share more of this sweet little girl. 💗

Address

325 Main Street C Loft
Brookville, IN
47012

Website

http://www.rachelvanoveneducation.com/, http://www.rachelvanoven.com/

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