Visual Uprising Photo

Visual Uprising Photo Alison Little. Southwest Virginia based family photographer. Specializing in honest, emotive imagery that will move you for years to come.

I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in April of 2024. It has informed nearly every decision I’ve made since. I d...
07/10/2026

I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in April of 2024.
It has informed nearly every decision I’ve made since.

I don’t want it to, of course. I want to forget about it. I want to act as if it never happened. Click my heels together and say “there’s no place like home”, and return to the time before. Or something like that.

But life doesn’t work that way, and so I continuously fumble around for the hope and determination that has somehow carried us the last two years.
It’s all so different than you think it will be. Or maybe you’ve never thought about it. I didn’t.

What can my body handle now? How will I feel tomorrow if I do that, eat that? How much do we share with the kids? Do I even want this job, or am I wasting my one wild and precious life? Does Scott know where I keep the birthday banner I put up for every kid? I need to make sure I add that recipe to the book. How many years until they all graduate? I sure do want to see that.

I’m not actively dying. I’m actually doing very well. And still, it’s a constant push and pull of living my life while also being fully prepared for whatever happens. Maybe in some ways we all do this, because we just never know, do we?

The words genuine and authentic get thrown around a lot in the family photography space. I can see why people use them, ...
06/30/2026

The words genuine and authentic get thrown around a lot in the family photography space. I can see why people use them, and I can see why people hate them. It's hard to find another word that has the same weight. Real, true, accurate. They don't have quite the same ring to them. When I say I want to give you photos that have an authenticity to them, I really mean it. When I say I want them to feel genuine, and true to who you are as a family, I mean that too. So even if they feel hokey and over used, I think I'll keep using them until I find a suitable replacement, because they fit so well.

Genuine (per Merriam Webster): sincerely and honestly felt or experienced; free from hypocrisy or pretense

Authentic (per Merriam Webster): not false or imitation: real, actual. True to ones own personality, spirit, or character.

This is one of my babies in our kitchen a few years ago, and this is why I will always take snapshots at home. The littl...
06/26/2026

This is one of my babies in our kitchen a few years ago, and this is why I will always take snapshots at home. The little things are the big things. They always were.

Yesterday evening we found a coconut that had washed up on shore in some kelp. We could hear the milk sloshing around in...
06/16/2026

Yesterday evening we found a coconut that had washed up on shore in some kelp. We could hear the milk sloshing around in it and had high hopes! Alas, it was not meant to be. We cracked it open only to be met with the most God awful stench 😝 But it was still a fun find!

I have a friend who doesn't care very much about photos, and it blows my mind every time she says it. She doesn't photog...
06/11/2026

I have a friend who doesn't care very much about photos, and it blows my mind every time she says it. She doesn't photograph vacations, doesn't take very many pictures of her kids, and even once said she didn't care all that much about her wedding photos 😱 It's hard for me to understand how people can go through life without wanting to take photos, even of milestone moments. I feel like I see in photos. I see a scene and know I want to photograph it. I know what the image will look like (or, at least, what I want it to look like). I love going back through old photos of family and friends and reminiscing. I get a little teary eyed when I edit client photos. I LOVE photos and all the emotions they bring up in us.

I'm going to bet that if you follow me, photographs are important to you too, and if they are, there is no time like right now to schedule that family session and get emotional about what we create together 😉

If you've ever wondered what an in-home family session with me *actually looks like, this post is for you! I like to thi...
06/09/2026

If you've ever wondered what an in-home family session with me *actually looks like, this post is for you! I like to think it's much more laid back and enjoyable than you might think. I've heard from more than one client that they weren't sure what to expect when booking this type of session, and it ended up being more fun than they could have imagined. I've even had a husband or two say it was their favorite family photo session, because it didn't feel like a family photo session 😉

I recently pulled down some old medium format cameras I've had on a shelf for years, realized they still work, and promp...
06/08/2026

I recently pulled down some old medium format cameras I've had on a shelf for years, realized they still work, and promptly ordered film for them. I've also been playing around with an old Mamiya 35 mm that was donated to . Seeing me with so many different cameras, one of my girls asked how many I have, and why I needed so many. I asked her how many plushies she has, and why she needed so many 😄 I explained that each camera was a little bit different and would give different results (to some degree). I also just love cameras, so there's that. She then asked me, (and I know this sounds like a made up story, but it isn't), why people love photos so much. I told her that, for me, it's because it's one of the few ways we have to preserve our memories. I said, "what if I didn't have any pictures of you as a baby? or any video of you as a baby? Can you imagine having no idea what you looked liked, or what I used to look like?". This answer seemed to satisfy her and we moved on to something else. But later, the best thing happened. She came into my room with a camera her Nana bought her for Christmas. It's one of those that has a little printer with it, and you can immediately print the photos you take. It was still in the box, as she has previously showed no interest in it. She asked if we could figure out how it works, and I said OF COURSE. I also noticed she added film for her Polaroid camera to her birthday wish list ☺️ I imagine this interest will come and go for her, but I will sure foster it while I can. And so we're off, my daughter and I, to make tangible memories together for as long as she's interested!

Over the last year I have been pushing for a shift to in home photography. It's what I feel passionate about in this sta...
06/02/2026

Over the last year I have been pushing for a shift to in home photography. It's what I feel passionate about in this stage of my photography career, and I think it gives clients photos that are truest to who they are. That said, a good ol' mountain top sunset session will always have my heart, and I will never, ever say no to a client who wants one. This family drove up from Charlotte, NC to frolic around on Whitetop Mountain for an evening, and we had such a lovely time! When I sent the sneak peeks, Aly (mom) replied, "Love, love, LOVE them. They look amazing - so giddy!". And that's really all I could ever ask for, is clients who feel giddy over their photos ☺️ If you also want a gallery full of amazing photos that make you feel giddy, reach out and let's get something on the books!

At our first Field Notes (photography) meet up, we all came away with a prompt to work on. Mine was motion blur. It's s...
06/02/2026

At our first Field Notes (photography) meet up, we all came away with a prompt to work on. Mine was motion blur. It's something I've always loved and have incorporated sparingly, but I wanted to explore more of. I recruited a friend's daughter as my model, and we traipsed around the mountain one recent evening. I ended up with some fun images, and a desire to keep at it. I remember hearing (I think it was Summer) say we first had to learn the rules of photography before we could break them. Here's to always learning and growing and breaking the rules in the best ways.

My oldest child graduated from high school last week. I dropped him off for his last day of school and waited until I wa...
05/26/2026

My oldest child graduated from high school last week. I dropped him off for his last day of school and waited until I was out of the parking lot to let the tears fall. There are so many cliche sayings about how it all goes by so quickly, and we know it does, in some sense. But watching him walk into school, that school, for the last time, hit me in a way I wasn't prepared for.

We think we know to savor it, take pictures of it, file it away in our memory. All the little moments, all the big moments. And then time slips right on by and we wonder if we'd done everything we could do to enjoy it while we were in it.

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