I'm Tegan

Photographer, storyteller, wife, mum, and professional small-child wrangler. I'm a little obsessed with golden evening light, driving with the windows down, and the in-between moments most people don't think to keep.

The Little White Studio is where I get to do my very favourite thing - help families hold onto who they are, right now.

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A little about me

Behind the camera since 2010

I'm one of those rare photographers who actually started by studying it - and rarer still, one of the few who went on to work in the exact field they went to school for. After graduating I moved to Melbourne for a few years (lucky timing - I landed there just before the Christchurch quakes) and took a job with a photography studio. That's where it all clicked: my love of people and my love of photography came together, and I was completely hooked.

I've been documenting families ever since, and I count myself so lucky to do it. But while I'm passionate about photography, I'm even more passionate about people. You'll catch me quietly welling up behind the camera, or driving away from a session with your wildly busy two-year-old wearing the biggest grin - the real, unposed moments are the ones I live for.

I founded Tegan Johnson Photography in 2013 and opened my first Lincoln studio in 2016. Everything since has been a slow, happy evolution toward one dedicated home for this work - and in 2026 that became The Little White Studio. Same me, same heart, a proper little white studio to call home. Read the story of the rebrand →

Tegan holding her camera, dressed in a striped top

Real & unposed

A tender black and white moment - Tegan, her husband and their daughter, cheek to cheek with arms wrapped around each other

Why I do this

A mum, documenting childhood

Becoming a mum changed the way I see my work. Raising little people is this strange, tender mix of joy and grief - constantly falling in love with the new version of them they're becoming, while quietly aching to hold onto the one who just slipped away. I know how quickly a stage passes - how the way they say a word, or reach for your hand, is here one season and gone the next.

So I photograph families the way I want my own remembered: gently, honestly, and often. Not a single perfect portrait, but a growing collection that quietly documents a whole childhood.

People often can't believe my energy capturing baby after baby, especially during our Little Portrait Club sessions - but honestly, I thrive on it. It really is the best job. If it seems like I'm passionate about this, it's because I am.

How I work with little people

You'll never hear me say cheese

Not once. A forced "cheese" gives you a stiff, on-command smile that's missing all the things that make your child them - the dimples, the twinkly eyes, the little crinkle of a nose. After years of doing this, I've built up a bit of a secret recipe for the real thing instead.

The secret is simple - we play: an endless repertoire of silly noises for babies, silly words and tickles for toddlers, and jokes, challenges and little dares for big kids that rarely fail me. I'm not remotely afraid to make a complete fool of myself - because that's what draws out the cheeky personalities and the proper belly laughs.

Those are the frames that make you go - that is SO them.

A little boy caught mid belly-laugh in his mum's arms

The real thing

My own greatest chapter

These three (plus a very goofy golden retriever)

I live in Lincoln, Canterbury with my very patient husband, our two little people - Eva and Jack - and Archie, our goofy golden retriever. I run this wee business from our purpose-built home studio (thank you, patient husband).