Addison, Leslie & Allison

One of my favorite sessions from last year was Addison, Leslie and Allison’s family session. Allison turned one and she had a smash the cake session by the beach. Her parents joined and wiped each other with icing too. My favorite part though when Allison saw her father approaching. Her face broke into a smile while her mama cuddled her protectively.

Moments like these keep me going. These are the moments that I look for too. My challenge has always been the posey kind of photoshoot. I find it hard to look for the unguarded and spontaneous moments. My brow would start to knit and then drops of sweat would start to form. My heart would start to race.  Somewhere I’d get lost with my own thoughts about how to make it very real. As if awakening from a trance, I break the ice and tell my subjects to imagine I’m not there but instead to pay attention to who they are with. Talk to each other, I say!

I am just very grateful that the people that I meet and photograph have more or less the same thirst that I have — realness and spontaneous.

It’s the middle of January. Fifteen days of this year sped by like lighting. Life is indeed very short.