I have started this post several times today and still can’t find the words to express any more than what is: my husband’s father, known to all of us as “Pop,” passed away early this morning. On the heels of losing Jim, it is overwhelming at best. We are numb and exhausted.

Thank you in advance for your patience as our family makes the necessary arrangements. I will return messages as soon as I am able.

Love,

Michele

That was a special reference just for her daddy who, for some reason, falls into this awesome southern lawyer courtroom voice whenever he’s talking to his baby girl ;-). This little doll baby is so incredibly photogenic (well, her whole family is, actually) and doesn’t she make the CUTEST faces? Such expression for a wee baby! Oh, I adore her!

[Not entirely out of place here, but thought I would mention that with the exception of the tractor, this is a pretty good look at the greenhouse we’ll be using for the upcoming .emme. boudoir Secret Garden mini sessions in September. We have just a couple of openings left, so contact me ASAP for full details.]

Not gonna lie. I do get a little bit excited when I get the opportunity to do some senior portraits. I mean, it is kinda nice to have a subject that will stay in one spot for more than 5 seconds, but even more so, I love it when we get to collaborate creatively together to come up with something new and fresh and personal and a brand new take on traditional high school senior photos. She was magnificent! I loved her willingness to try anything and my goodness, does she not have the perfect look and profile for one of those mod/hippy 60’s super models? You won’t want to miss my absolute favorite and most unusual senior picture HERE. I’m so very, very glad we got to work together. It was a fabulous afternoon!

If you are a graduating senior (class of 2014) in the Austin or surrounding areas (Westlake, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Lake Travis, Buda, Georgetown, etc.), NOW is the time to schedule your senior portraits! While I’m already booked up for the fall, we can absolutely create amazing senior pictures for you at a session in January or February of next year. Contact me ASAP to get full session details!

I love, love, loved all of the beautiful colors…the bold, bright blues and reds and sunshine and blue skies. And I love, love, loved that we got to fly a kite…a lot…and it actually worked! But my favorite image from this session can only be found here ;-).

Twice…TWICE we are all geared up to head into downtown Austin for their photo session and we got rained out :-(. But finally, a week later, the clouds parted and we were able to make it happen. I did find it a little bit humorous, though, that we avoided the rain just so we could get soaking wet at the end of the session! But I guess it’s nice to have a little bit of control over the water levels all while letting the kids have the time of their lives!

I am blessed beyond words to have 10…yes, TEN, best photographer friends and if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I recently had the good fortune to go on a girls’ trip to Cape Cod last month. (By the by, my dear, talented, over-achiever friend 🙂 Lena beat us all to the punch and has already blogged her amazing pictures from the trip HERE). Cape Cod. Sigh. Honestly, friends, not a day goes by now where I don’t wish that I could be back there in that beautiful, splendid place. Or at least own a house there I could visit once a year.

Long story long, upon planning for this trip, my other dear, talented friend Sarah asked if I would photograph her family on the very beach there where she and her husband were engaged. Sarah…I don’t think you realize this, but I was extremely nervous about this shoot…for a number of reasons. The greatest of which being a fear that I wouldn’t be able to do your family justice the way you are able to do each time they are in front of your lens.

Well, the day of the big event, our gang arrived on the Cape that afternoon later than anticipated (silly, silly airlines and their plane doors that don’t open), and we had to hoof it out to the beach to make it before sunset. Aaaaaaaaand, unfortunately, I got a little carsick along the way :-(.

When we pulled up to First Encounter Beach, I was completely overwhelmed…with beauty, with possibility, with amazement, and with fear watching the clouds roll in and our beautiful sunlight disappear. Aughhhhhh! I was panicking. There were SO many wonderful spots to use on the beach and not much time at all. This was compounded by the fact that Sarah’s family is kinda gorgeous and we were stopped several times by beach goers who needed to ohhhhh and ahhh over her adorable children and that AWESOME starfish headband mama had made for baby girl.

All this to say that we found our rhythm and we just let the kids lead the way. We couldn’t keep them out of the water very long (duh!), so we dove in…quite literally. By the end of the session, I was COVERED in salt and sand. I felt very exfoliated. But more than anything, I was elated. A photography high is like no other. When all the pieces fall into place and you somehow get lucky enough to experience the perfect combination of love, light, laughs, and little moments…well, let’s just say I do not take those kinds of experiences for granted.

Sarah, our time on the Cape was perfect in every way. And I am very, very honored and thankful that we were also able to share this special time on your special beach with your special loves. It will absolutely be one of those sessions that I will never forget and I hope beyond all hope that I did you proud that evening.

XOXO,

Michele

OH! Almost forgot…as much as it pained me NOT to post it in the blog, my ALL time favorite couple’s image is now up HERE. (And in case you missed it, another sneak can be found HERE)

Their timing couldn’t have been more perfect because we literally had just finished with the greenhouse construction (in preparation for the .emme. boudoir mini sessions coming up in September!) as they were pulling into my studio drive! We had a beautiful, golden sun setting behind us, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Great for pretty sunflare lighting, not-so-great for a greenhouse, we learned. While we didn’t get to spend quite as much time in the greenhouse as we had hoped, we did have plenty of opportunities to explore and bathe in this beautiful sunshine! Thank you Lauren for making the drive to Austin with your family to do your annual photo session and I hope you enjoy your pretty pictures of your pretty family!

Other favs can be seen HERE and HERE!