So I wanted to finally finish sharing the last two beach sessions from last November. These last two families had the cutest little boys. And I just love the colors of the outfits they all wore – perfect for the beach! I’m really looking forward to beach minis again in the future – please let me know if you’re interested!
By now, you all probably feel like you know this couple. I posted about their first session with me here, in which we captured Aaron’s new ability to stand. Their second session with me the next year (found here) was truly amazing because Aaron was walking! For the past couple of years Renee has asked when I was going back to the beach again. We finally made it happen in November, and I was so glad Aaron and Renee were able to meet us out there! Aaron was such a good sport as I made him walk all over the place, even through sharp, painful shells and freezing cold water. I love what I captured in this amazing couple. Theirs is the ultimate example of love – in sickness and in health.
A new trend for expecting mommies these days is to have a “gender reveal” photo shoot as a way to let everyone know if they are having a boy or a girl. I’ve seen many different ways to do them on Pinterest and online and have thought it was such a unique and fun way to share the excitement of “boy or girl?”. So you can imagine my excitement when a sweet friend from my small group at church asked if I could meet her and her hubby on the day they were finding out the sex of their first baby. Yes!!
So, one afternoon a few weeks ago we met at Bruster’s ice cream shop to snap a few images. She was then able to create a blog post on her personal blog later that night that read:
“I scream, YOU scream, we all scream for……
a GIRL!!!”
Isn’t that adorable?!! Congrats Mary and Brandon on your sweet baby girl. I can’t wait to meet her!
ps. With us that day was my little guy Austin. He got an ice cream treat while we were shooting. This is what the view behind me looked like….
“No pictures please!”
I’m so happy to finally blog about this session that I have had to keep secret for over a month! Meet the Holt family. Their story has a tragic beginning, but ends with one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. This family lost their home and all their belongings in a house fire in October. Right after it happened, I remember hearing about it at our church as they asked for donations of food, clothing, and gift cards. Pretty quickly though, two friends were talking during one of their routine walks about the idea of building the family a new house. One of the ladies, Kristina Bunch, is the wife of Wayne Bunch of Bunch Construction and Development Inc. Together with Sheri Carey (who attends my church), the three put the wheels in motion for what turned into a community wide project of love and sacrifice. I was talking with one of our pastors one day about the project and mentioned that if the family needed portraits for their new home, I would love to donate a session. The very next week Kristina Bunch (who is the mom of the adorable twins I’ve been photographing for the past year), approached me about taking pictures of this deserving family. Before she could even finish her question, I said “Yes!”.
The time finally came in February to schedule a time for their session. They had never had professional pictures taken of their family before. But we had so much fun on that somewhat cold day in February! The kids were a blast – I even recruited one of the younger boys to be my assistant in making his siblings (and parents) give me real smiles! He did such a great job I told him I might have to hire him for all my sessions!
After we finished the session came the really fun part for me. I met with Kristina and Sheri to pick out which images would be printed and hung in the Holt’s new home. The entire interior of the house was top secret. They had donations pouring in from all over, everything from appliances to furniture, electronics to bedding and decor. We chose this first image as a large 36×24 inch canvas to fill one wall in their living room. We printed the one of them walking as a storyboard mounted on wood to display on the table by the front door. The portraits of the kids lined the hallways, and the candid family portrait was a 16×20 for Mom and Dad’s bedroom. I had the opportunity to take a tour of the house before it was totally finished and snapped a few shots of how everything turned out. They finally moved in this week and I couldn’t be happier for them!
And here are some snapshots of everything on display in the house….
They put a sign out front showing all the companies that donated time, money, labor and other resources to the project. It was so heartwarming to realize how much the community pulled together to help someone in their time of need.
Be sure to check out their facebook page to see more pictures of the process. They’ve also posted a video there by Fox13 news that is a must see.
I was going over my list of sessions from the fall that I never blogged and realized just how many of them were done out at the Circle B Bar Reserve. I love that place! A lot of these were mini sessions, some were full sessions. All were fun. I created a little blog board for each session that I had out there at the end of last year.
I also have to say RIP to the awesome, run down fence you see in a lot of these images. I had another session out there a couple of weeks ago and it is gone! That whole area has been cleared. They’re building something else right behind where it used to be, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s photogenic!
