Daniel Xu Photography

I am now booking for this coming summer. I am looking to book seniors, couples, families, and more. I have limited availability and only book one session per day (during golden hour), with dates starting after June 10th. If you have any questions, please do let me know!

We’re in the home stretch here at Dartmouth, hitting finals starting this week! Crazy how fast time flies. I will be home from March 11th to the 28th. Link in bio 🥰

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but enjoy this aerial shot of the sun poking over the mountains, with its rays coving the snow coated Connecticut River. 🌞🌨

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from my family to yours 🎅🏻🎄

I loved seeing this kiddo’s smile again, especially right before the holidays ☺️

Congratulations to this family for the newest member of their family. It’s the best thing ever to be able to follow the most meaningful times of peoples’ lives 🥰

Thanksgiving is just days away, and so is my Winter break 🦃! I will be home from November 23rd until January 4th, and will be available to book between the two dates. I will be able to turn holiday cards around within that time frame as well. Contact me to book or with any questions.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I move myself into the seminar room for seven hours to my work and to watch the sky change. Recently, thanks to the turbulent seasons and daylight savings, it’s been getting dark so early. The silver lining, is that I get to watch the sun set behind the mountains before my class starts 🌅.

Happy Diwali to all those who celebrate. May the world’s light shine a little brighter this year 🕯

As I quickly find my way navigating these 10 week terms here at Dartmouth, I’ve learned some important life lessons. One fallen leaf 🍂 is one moment less of the miracle that is the New England foliage 🍁 . Less number two is that I am not built for economics 🥸

The Road Not Taken 🚘 🥾 🏔 🍁… jk the trail was PACKED when we went. The road was very much taken, but it was so great to see so many people enjoying the gorgeous colors.

Seen enough Gile photos yet? 😆

Occum looking real nice lately as we near hat and glove weather here in Hanover

My favorite room, home to my Writing 5 class, the Pursuit of Happiness, lives on the second floor of Baker Library, next to the Tower Room. Something about the smell of chalk dust and the scratched solid wood tables makes me feel the history that exists in the room. That, and it’s the only room that isn’t 100 degrees all the time lol.

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Every day is a good day 🌆. What a way to spend the last day of being in Boston before I left for campus. One adventure to another.

To those people who are often puzzled about why I chose to stay in New England for college: still confused? 🍁

Happy Fall 🍁! Are you a Dartmouth student interested in a free portrait session or learning more about photography? I’m currently looking for more ways to build my portfolio and content here on campus so please shoot me a DM! 📧

A almost two century old tradition and the biggest fire I have ever seen 🔥. Thank you to the engineers, students, staff, faculty, and town administrators that make this possible every year 🏗.

Happy homecoming! Be safe, have fun, and don’t touch the fire 🔥(fire is hot). Even though I just got here on campus just a month ago, Dartmouth became home to me back in 2019, when I opened up my acceptance letter. I always knew that this was the place for me, and I was right.

I live in the River Cluster here on campus. My understanding is that I am on the New Hampshire side. Right over the river, is Vermont. Google maps, however, has us living in Vermont. One way or another, it’s quite a special place to be ☀️ 🌲 🍁

Here’s a challenge for everybody: go on a walk 👟. I took this on a walk around Occom Pond, commonly called a “Walccom” around these parts. Look up every once in a while. Inhale the fresh air. Maybe even take a photo or two 📷

3 weeks ago in Hanover it was 90 degrees and sunny. Now it’s 40 degrees and getting chilly ❄️! The leaves turning makes it worth it though 🍁.

You wouldn’t think that having a camera with fast FPS (frames per minute) would be important for a portrait photographer like me, but in cases of families with four young children and two parents, getting a shot with everybody smiling and looking at the same time is harder than it looks. Takes 200 shots and maybe I’ll get two or three good ones worth keeping. It has nothing to do with “how well behaved” the kids are or anything like that, it’s just the nature of the beast 😁. Worth it though!

Mr. Giraffe 🦒 is not exclusive to being around my lens- sometimes, he makes an appearance around my wrist. In rare occurrences, he decides to trek over to the littles ones’ arms when they need a special moment of comfort. To all my fellow photographers, Amazon has some really amazing tools to get your littlest clients smiling and looking at your lens 😂😁

Young children and photos aren’t always a smooth ride, like everybody might like it to be. Especially when you put a massive beautiful beach in front of them and tell them “no swimming!” I’m a fan of a go with the flow lifestyle, and love following my clients and their attitudes. It’s worth mentioning that these little ones love Pitbull! A dancing stuffed dog blasting Mr. Worldwide was the only way to get the little one to stop crying ;).

Duxbury pt. 1 of this last week before I head off to school. I have been up to my absolute ears in things I have to do. Between packing my entire life into the truck of my car, finishing over 10,000 photos, and getting some last things, it has been absolutely crazy. How and why do I own so many things. And here I was thinking I was a minimalist. Lol nope.

I woke up yesterday, put on shorts, a short sleeve T-shirt, and my flip flops and went outside to start my day. Did a quick 180 right back into my house because it was freezing 🥶! Went from 100 degrees (like it was in these beautiful photos), to like 65 degrees!!?? New England 🤨

Your mom is the single most important person in your life. Be nice to her 🤨😁. Take a photo with her 📸

Friends who do their senior pics together, stay together. 🥰

Since the last photos were so popular, here’s some more of Ben in another outfit picked out by his super talented mom. And a tip to everybody considering senior photos- please bring props! Might seem cheesy, might even be cheesy, but we LOVE cheesy. Parents eat it up. You will eat it up in 20 years. You’ll be glad you did it and your parents will be so happy 😁🇺🇸 🏒 🥍