I’ve been working with this family for so many years, but when I arrived for this particular photo session, I was totally like one of those Aunties who just couldn’t stop saying things like, “Oh, my! You are so grown up!!” or “The last time I saw you, you were only this tall!” or “I just can’t believe how grown up you look!” and other completely annoying, but absolutely true things like that. I’m pretty sure I embarrassed the kids (kids? more like young adults) like crazy, but I can only hope that they will forgive me and one day, when they are my age and experience this for themselves, they will understand why my jaw fell to the floor when I saw them.

As always, Joy (the pupster), brought us all plenty of smiles and giggles and made me want a doggie just like her. When the time came for the paddle boards, I didn’t believe it when they told me Joy absolutely has to join them or she gets upset. Sure enough, she walked right out there onto the paddle boards and loved every second of it! I was completely amazed! Fav paddle board image HERE. I also got to get a glimpse into the talents of these two kids…er…young adults. I could have listened to them play music all afternoon long! And, the best surprise was when I got to meet their bird, Angel, who absolutely adores Dad. It was hilarious to see how protective she was over him.

I have to say, I’ve loved each time I’ve gotten to play with this family, but this was probably one of my most favorite sessions with them to date. It was just so relaxed and personal and I was beaming for the Mom, who has so much to be proud of (yes, I know it’s a dangling preposition, but I don’t want to sound pretentious ;-).

From Mom:

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… Two kids, 16 year old Michael and 13 year old Grace.My Mom, Jana, aka Mema. Super awesome kids except for the fact that Michael looks like he is in front of a firing squad when asked to put his arm around ANY family member for the photo shoot! And lets not forget sweet Joy, our favorite Westie and Angel(our not so favorite old fart bird who has an attitude)
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? Try to do it every two years. Moved into a new house!
3) Where was your session held and why? At our house. Thought it was appropriate as we had our last photo session at our old house.
4) What was your favorite part of your session? watching the kids on the paddle boards
5) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? Always worried about the clothes and if Michael will smile and not look like we are killing him!!
6) Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session? Michael almost fell off the board trying to do a yoga pose on the paddle board.
7) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Drink a HUGE margarita!!!
8) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? Love Michelle!! She does awesome work!!
9) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? We had a lot of fun even though Mom made us do it!!

Pinkle Toes Photography has been around long enough to where I am starting to see many of my session come full-circle. I first met Marianne almost five years ago when we got together in downtown Austin one morning to photograph her daughter’s senior portraits. It’s hard to believe she’s MARRIED now! A few years later it was her son’s turn (the pupster is prominently featured in the images below) and then next thing you know, her youngest son was also graduating high school.

And here we are…it’s 2015…the kids are grown and going in all new directions and Marianne wanted one last chance to capture them together, at home, being a family before even more momentous changes take place in their lives. I was so looking forward to get this incredible opportunity to finally work with them all together and honored to be invited into their home.

Oh…these flowers. There’s a story about them. I won’t get into details (well, maybe you can learn some below), but I can only hope that everyone will have a little giggle each time they see this pic and remember what their dad went through to get these gorgeous flowers “planted.” 😉 just for the session.

A house full of love. And animals!

The treehouse they built together.

The look this cat gave him when he picked her up? Oh, my, word!

Love.

Love. And LOVE.

And then Marianne retreated into the kitchen to make a giant breakfast while the kids and animals 😉 visited in the living room. It was comfortable. It was natural. It was so relaxed.

Three words come to mind when I see/think of Marianne = radiance, grace, strength.

And I have to say, Marianne has a true knack for decorating! I adored the way she dressed the breakfast table! And there’s all kinds of sweet, tasteful touches throughout the home.

Priceless! I’m afraid we encouraged some bad habits that morning. Ooops!

The whole crew!

In Marianne’s words:

Tell us a little bit about your family…

We’re a ragamuffin crew that love each other immensely. We’re so far from perfect but we stick together through whatever life throws at us…it’s better together. We are blessed with mercy and grace.

What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc?

We are all launching out in new directions…boys in college, Annie and Ben beginning a new marriage and new careers…and Rick and I entering our 25th year of marriage as empty nesters…. I wanted some photos to memorialize how much we love being a family but also how “okay” it is that we are moving into individual spaces in life. It’s kind of a way of leaving breadcrumbs along the trail…or a big landmark on the path behind us.

Where was your session held and why?

As a military family we have lived in 10 different homes in 7 different locations including 3 different countries. We’ve lived in this house the longest (6 years) and wanted to have the shoot here to remember the last (and longest) place we’ve lived together. It seems that this house holds the most special of memories…proms, graduations, weddings, and even tough times – and it is chalk full of life and love. As empty nesters, Rick and I will most likely move in the not too distant future. Somehow having pics of the last place we all lived together under one roof makes it all them much more special.

What did you like about your session location?

We loved having Michele in our home. She is so easy to be with and we have considered her a dear friend for so long…it only seemed natural to have her here. It was fun to have her “eye” spy the beauty in our home and I knew she would memorialize it perfectly.

What was your favorite part of your session?

Though none of us are particularly “morning people” it was so fun to have everyone “up and atem” at 7am and even smiling. I loved that the session was more like a family event – “remember that time Michele came to our house super early and we got all dressed up and took pix…”

Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session?

I was worried that no one would smile at 7am!

Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session?

Well…I’m not sure we should mention the flowers for our mailbox that Rick took from the neighbors bush at 6:15am the day of the shoot…but fyi – they were dead by the next day! It was funny to see our Cat diva-it up. He never comes around but just had to be part of the action.

Any advice to other families before their photo sessions?

Do what seems natural…whatever you do as a family that brings pleasure (for us…well, we eat breakfast!) haha.

What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography?

We love Michele!

What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images?

Remember that day we got all dressed up early in the morning and Michele came and took pix? That was so fun!!

All along, we had been planning to take her high school senior portraits in downtown Austin. However, after getting a glimpse of their BEAUTIFUL home, we decided it might be a better idea to try photographing her there, instead. Throw in the underwater pictures that we took at the end and I think we created some gorgeous, very personalized, unique senior photos to capture her…in her element…to commemorate her senior year before “leaving the nest.”

Also loved THIS underwater photo. And of course, THIS one, too! And a Behind-the-Scenes pic, too (thanks again, Jackson).

In Lilly’s words:

Tell us a little bit about your family…

My family is awesome! It’s just me, my mom and dad, and my sister and we all get along really well. We are a little weird but that’s what makes us so close. My sister and I have always had a very close relationship and have always gotten along well. It is the same with my parents. I consider my sister my best friend and my parents my greatest role models and supporters. [Pretty lucky bunch! –M]

What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc?

I did this photo shoot for my senior pictures.

Where was your session held and why?

It was held at my house because I think there is something very personal about where someone lives and I thought it would be cool to capture me in my “natural habitat.”

What did you like about your session location? 

I didn’t realize how many cool places there were around my house to take pictures. I loved the thought of being in my own element and capturing kind of what my daily life looks like.

What was your favorite part of your session?

My favorite part of the session was probably the underwater pictures. I have never done anything like that before and it was really awesome to see how they ended up. It was also nice to cool off after a hot photo shoot!

Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session?

I have always been kind of an “awkward photo taker” so I guess I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to pull off some of the things that may be asked of me. That fear went away quickly though because Michelle made me feel very comfortable.

Any funny stories or interesting happenings during your session?

The underwater photos were definitely an experiment! We weren’t sure how they were going to turn out but they came out beautiful and I am so happy for that. My dog also wanted to be in on all of the action. She followed us to every location and always wanted to be a part of the pictures. [True story!–M]

What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography?

I have had friends that have used Pinkle Toes for their senior portraits and I loved them. I knew ink district after I saw my friend’s pictures that I wanted to use Pinkle Toes for my own portraits.

What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? 

I hope that they will just talk about how natural they look. I am big on being yourself and looking natural and so I hope that when we look at these photos down the road, it won’t necessarily look like I had a big photo shoot, but just that I was spending time in my house and decided to take some photos. [Love this, Lilly! I hope so, too! –M]

Oh, were we ever lucky that the skies parted and gave us this glorious evening for her high school senior portraits!! We had be fretting over the forecast for a week and even the day of, we were checking the hourly every five minutes. But we took a chance and decided to make it happen and I’m so glad we did! She happens to be the sister of someone you may recognize on the blog and I was so very honored to get to create these senior pictures for her. She looked absolutely incredible, full of confidence and full of creative ideas for her photo session! And thanks to no rain, we were able to explore pretty much every single vision she had for this special occasion and then some!

I can’t decide if this one above or THIS one is my favorite bluebonnet pic!

 Oh, I do love confetti!

Gorgeous, gorgeous person and a gorgeous, gorgeous evening!

It really wasn’t all that long ago when I had the opportunity to take senior portraits for his older sister.  And now we got to carry on that tradition to celebrate and commemorate his senior year in high school! When I first started going through the images, I just had to send his mama a note:

I just thought you should know that you are doing something right, my dear! Both of your children that I’ve met so far are lovely, confident, charming people. You give me hope for my own kiddos 😉

And I meant every word. There is no denying that her children are gorgeous, but when they can be funny and humble and gorgeous on the inside, that bodes so well for their futures as adults in this world!

I kept teasing him, convinced he was part of the Secret Service or something. Then we invoke a bit of “Men in Black” in this pic above.

 Random shot here, but I just loved how candid it was!

 Pretty incredible eyes, huh?

I really love that we got to work with one of most prized possessions…his car! There’s something about your first car that you never forget. It symbolizes freedom and growing up and adventure.

Also love that he refuses to remove the beach parking stickers leftover from all of their family vacations. Winner!

H – I really enjoyed getting to meet and work with you. I know your family is incredibly proud of you and your accomplishments. Enjoy every second of these last few days of high school life.

P.S. This might be an unusual choice, but THIS one might be my favorite from the entire session. AND, for a little behind-the-scenes look, check THIS out.

Her high school senior photo session was absolutely incredible. I mean, wow, everything came together perfectly…a lovely young lady who really let her personality sparkle, perfect weather, beautiful light, amazing hair and makeup (as always) by Katie with Modern Muse Beauty, and the height of wildflower season. Could not ask for anything more to feed my creative soul!

Lensbaby, you did not disappoint:

I think she resembles Lana Del Rey a little here?

Oh, this dress was divine! And the back, too! Wow!

By the time we got done with the bluebonnets, it was dark :-(. But not to worry. The greenhouse and a little off-camera lighting made for some really cool nighttime portraits:

You can see the setup here.

Not sure I could pick a fav from this session, however. I mean *maybe* this one HERE, but really, she kinda nailed them all!

I cannot even begin to imagine how I will be feeling when my oldest son is on the edge of high school graduation, so my heart is both elated and crushed for the parents of this brother and sister who are celebrating their senior year of high school. We somehow managed to pull this senior portrait photo shoot together in record time. Literally, I think we spoke on a Thursday and somehow the stars aligned with everyone’s schedules and held the session that Sunday. It was wonderful to photograph them separately, but my favorite moments were their candid interactions as brother and sister. I loved all of the splashes of color we were able to find in downtown Austin (sigh…this city never disappoints) and especially the convenience of the construction sign for the new South Congress Hotel. The beauty of a Sunday morning is that we pretty much had the city to ourselves which allowed lots of opportunities to (safely) play in the streets and get unique perspectives. I was very much honored to be given this opportunity to photograph this monumental time for their family and I so look forward to seeing what these two can do in this world!

Let me tell you, it was REALLY cold out during her senior portrait photo session. Much, much too cold for Austin. And we lost our light sooooooooo fast. I truly thought it might just snow on us…that’s how it looked. But you know what? This absolutely beautiful young lady wasn’t phased one bit. She didn’t complain once and she just rolled through the session like everything was awesome. And because of that, it was! And doesn’t she have the most perfect smile ever???? That’s what happens when a wonderful personality radiates from the inside, out.

austin urban family photography

I’ve had the pleasure of working with this family for years…many of my most memorable sessions have been documenting their lives and the girls growing up. We’ve spent most of our sessions at their beautiful ranch land, exploring the outdoors. However, they have since traded some of their ranch life for city life in the heart of downtown Austin and it was a super cool change of place to explore the urban outdoors for this session. Such a fun family, always up for anything and we always create something unique together! (Favorite family shot is HERE.)

Looking at these images together like this, it’s very Halloween inspired, huh? Very much looking forward to seeing everyone’s pictures on Instagram and Facebook tomorrow! Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

I can’t say it’s any big secret that I kinda dig Georgetown and have quite enjoyed photographing several families and high school seniors there over the past 8 years. It’s got this cute vibe that’s retro, Texas, antique, vintage, funky, cool, hip, and country all at the same time without the same level of traffic and parking issues as one might face here in Austin. So I was thrilled when I got to work with these guys again, but this time, on their turf.

While I’m very used to the little ache in my heart I often get when I see a newborn baby or toddler grow up before my camera, it still amazes me how much even older kids can change so quickly in the span of just a few years. I take this little preview into what I have in store for me as a blessing and a constant reminder to relish every single moment and milestone I have with my own kids.

K…your boys are still as fun and funny as they were two years ago. I think you are obviously doing something right. And they are obviously kindofamazing all on their own.

A little moment that was both spontaneous and created as I was leaving that night HERE.