The Youngs contacted us in the fall for a family session they won at an auction for a local school, Joe Harrison Carter. We couldn’t wait to serve them in the spring! The mom told me that they hadn’t had professional portraits made since her daughter was really little. They wanted to see in the photos how much their children have grown. Time tends to slip away from us and before you know it, our children have grown more than we thought they would. Where did the time go?
We started with a little walk as a family to calm nerves and get the beautiful City Lake in the background. Right off the bat, we knew this was going to be an amazing session. They glided together as a family, perfectly in sync. And can I just mention how gorgeous mom’s hair is?!
Sometimes we only capture the major moments in life. But we have to remember that it’s all a journey. And those you have walking beside you make that journey more enjoyable. You could see the pride on the parents’ faces as they looked at their precious babies. These children have grown so much and now they can really enjoy their time together as a family, especially the outdoors and riding their RZRs.
Speaking of how the children have grown, their daughter is now old enough to finally appreciate a father-daughter dance. You can see the love and pure joy on her face as she looks up at her daddy. She had so much fun twirling as fast as she possibly could! There is no fear in this child as long as daddy is close by. She is safe, protected and just free to be a kid.
We enjoyed how much laughter was on this session. Sometimes people feel nervous and get stiff. But not this family. They totally rocked their session! We can usually tell the family dynamic by how a session goes. And with this family, fun is the name of the game. Plenty of laughs to go around!
There is something so beautiful between a mother and a son. Yes, we’ve heard the term “momma’s boy” as a negative in the past. But when momma can raise him to be a strong, confident, respectful boy…that is something to be admired. It seems like just yesterday, her new son was placed in her arms. And now look at him! Almost taller than she is! She knows her children have grown, but where did the time go?
One thing young children sometimes resist is showing affection for each other. But when we look back on our lives, we realize that our siblings were the ones who truly had our backs. It was so beautiful to witness this moment where big brother was trying so hard to hold his sister’s hand. In a few years, we know she will really appreciate this. Having a big brother to look out for us during all of life’s challenges is a gift not to be taken for granted.
Children learn how to show love through the example of their parents. And these children have an amazing example to look up to! Mom and dad got to share a quiet, intimate moment together during the session. So many times, parents have the identity of “his parents” or “her parents”. But we have to remember that first and foremost, we are a couple in love. And you could truly see that here.
The best part of being a close family is the freedom to just be. You can be yourself. You’re accepted for who you are and, even more, loved for it.
We took a moment to do some of just boys and some of just girls. After all, mom had done so well matching these outfits! The boys tended to be a little more serious. But the little girl was cracking mommy up!
These moments are what life is all about! Way too many times, we see photos of everyone looking and smiling at the camera. But does that show us what our family is really like? Kids don’t always do what we ask. They don’t always sit still and smile. But man, do they make us laugh! They light up our lives. They bring us true joy. THAT is what we were able to capture on this session.
Things don’t always work out how we thought they would. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty in the chaos. If we have someone we can laugh with in life, things go so much better! This brother and sister were having so much fun just trying to get this one photo! So glad we were able to capture all the in-between moments!
But once we got it, look how sweet this is! They were enjoying themselves so much. This is what we love! To see genuine smiles, emotion and connection! Their personalities really shone thru on this session! Even when they were being serious, they just have the sweetest faces!
And for those more serious moments, look at the innocence of youth! She’s got that model gaze down! And who doesn’t love blowing dandelion seeds? I know when we were young, this was something we looked forward to every summer! There is something magical about watching these little seeds dance through the air.
It was time for just a few individuals of the children. The boy was a rock star, always doing exactly what we asked. And much to our surprise, no cheesy faces that are typical of boys this age. He was an absolute dream to work with. The girl didn’t want to wear a bow, even for mom on Mother’s Day. But we pulled off the most fun surprise. We decided to “trick” momma! We made her walk away and turn around so “she had no idea what we were up to”. Moms always know. But for the sake of this, we “really pulled one over on her”. We hope she loves the “surprise!”
We absolutely loved how this session went! So much personality in one family! Giggles for days! So we leave you with just these final photos to show all the fun this family has! These kinds of smiles can’t be faked!
Thank you so much to the Young family for trusting us with these photos! We hope you had as much fun as we did during this session!
Love, Kevin and Reneé
