I recently read about a blog idea that said to talk about your one favorite shoot of the season or year.  Wow, I can’t.  I am so grateful for all the business I get and I connect in a special way with all my clients, that I definitely can’t pick just one.  I did narrow down the ones that stood out the most in my mind.  The ones that had me thinking about them days after our shoot.  The ones that I wished I knew better so that I could hang out with them because I was sure that we’d have a ball together.

The M Family.

They were in Virginia Beach on vacation and they were great!  I pulled up to their vacation rental home and they were all standing outside ready for me and dressed just perfectly.  Everyone coordinated with 3 different colors and they looked picture perfect!  I rolled down my window and said, “you all look like you’re ready for a photo shoot.”  They all agreed and started laughing while putting their happy hour cocktails down.  I think it’s a great idea, by the way, to have a cocktail before your photo shoot.  Just one.

The H Family.

I love real people.  People who have gone through a struggle, survived and are still making themselves happy every day.  I love positivity too.  Man.  They had it.  And I’m so grateful I got to see a snippet of their life.   They were a large family all doing it for their grandmother on her birthday.  And grandma was as smart as a whip and funny and I loved her for that.  Reminded me of my grandma who is not with us anymore.  It just seemed like they weren’t afraid to choose happiness and those are the type of people I like being around.

The B-R Family.

The love in this family.  God.  I love meeting really good parents.  It makes me have faith in our humanity for the future.  I am confident that these men will raise super smart, super happy kids who will turn into amazing adults.  The way they spoke to their 3 year old twins.  The way they made things a game with ease while I coaxed them to smile.  The way they cuddled with them showed me the deepest love a parent can have for their child.  I smiled for days after that session.

The M Family (a different one).

Two sets of twins.  I’ll just let that sit there.  And mom was just as calm and cool as a cucumber.  We were far far away from a bathroom while shooting on the beach and well, one of the 3 year olds had to poop.  Now, let’s be real here, when you have to poop, it’s go time.  When you can’t go due to a bathroom not being available, one gets frustrated.  And doesn’t want to smile.  I know you all have been there.  Frustration.  The urge.  It’s an emergency and he was 3.  No diaper.  So, they did what any parent would do. They sucked it up and created a potty lined with a plastic bag in the sand.  Yep, they sure did.  Frankly, it was easy clean up too.  I’m just saying.  All was right with the world after that and mom was, and still is, a total superhero in my mind.

The A Family.

Visiting from the West Coast for Thanksgiving, their flight was canceled from the New York to Norfolk leg.  They got in a rental car and floored it south.  Rushing the entire time, not sure if they’d make it in time for our shoot because of all the Thanksgiving traffic.  Finally, they made it in the nick of time after road delays in addition to the flight fiasco.  I told them not to worry any more and to let me handle everything.  I said I would take care of them and I did.  While mom and dad touched up, I took the kids off to the side to get images of them first.  They.  Were.  Hilarious.  Usually, as the photographer, I have the client laughing, but there were times during our shoot that I had to look away or was doubled over laughing.  I hope my kids are as loving and close as they are when they grow up.  As I thought about them days after the shoot, I remembered that sometimes you just have to push through the nonsense and trust that everything’s going to be alright.

How lucky am I that I get to work with these types of people?  Positive, genuine, strong, funny and calm.  My people.

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