Sometimes an overcast day is the best for photographs…
This awesome dad purchased a gift certificate for a full family session. Best gift ever!!! I am so happy we chose Lake Mercer in Springfield, VA for our location…
These strong and beautiful sisters were a dream to photograph.
I would like to personally thank this family for being so gorgeous, coordinated and easy to work with. Some color, some black and white, magical in- between moments and a whole lot of fun.
If you've got a teenager you know what I'm talking about. The last thing on earth my teenage son wants to do is let me take his photograph. I usually get a nice strong "NO way!"
And don't even mention posting said photograph on any social media...heaven forbid!
However...sometimes miracles occur and they actually say yes and you think about how fast time has gone and how your baby is 3 inches taller than you. It's painfully clear he will be gone and off to college in less than 2 years time. You realize how most of the days are spent apart now while he is learning to navigate through his teenage years and the pressures that are on his shoulders now to achieve and mature even though he's only 15. The dinners home together are limited, no more trick or treating as a family and the keys to the car are all he will want soon. I know it...I will blink and it will be here. I'll miss the books and the dirty socks he leaves around and dare I say this, but the fighting he's mastered with his younger brother, I'll probably miss that too. I wish I could shield him from the haters and the negativity of this world, but I know I can't. What I CAN do though, is hold on and savor this time...even if he is really nasty sometimes and I wonder what strange creature has taken over my kid...Even if he thinks I am the most uncool person in the world and even if he shuts me right down with my too many questions.
Finally...I can keep asking about taking his photograph, even though most of the time he will give me the eye roll and run away, there will be that occasional miracle when he will say "Yes!"
Ahhhh it's the perfect Fall Sunday. It's all planned in my mind...A leisurely breakfast to start at our favorite restaurant then a peaceful car ride out to the farm to pick our own apples and maybe some pumpkins. We would sing to the radio and enjoy the breeze and the sunshine. The kids would all give me great material for photographs and they wouldn't complain a bit about the camera. Ha, Yeah right!!What I got was pretty much this..."Why do we have to walk so much?" "All of these bugs!" "I'm soooooo thirsty" "Can we just go home?" "I'm hot!"And let's not forget the fighting over seats, the hitting each other, the hurt feelings, my teenager's attitude and heaven knows what else. No, the day didn't really go as I envisioned it but we managed to enjoy the outdoors, some apple cider and we did take home our 15 dollar bag of apples we picked ourselves. The following photographs are the moments in between the chaos and complaining. I'm thinking I need to do a better job at documenting those irritating parenting times because from these you would never know how they tested our patience today...
I know I'm going to miss it all one day...even the days that are hard...Even those days that require every ounce of patience and calm. The house will be quiet, the car will be quiet and I'll wish for the yelling and the fighting back again.