So maybe we missed a stunning sunset (thanks to a major flight delay for fog in Austin ?????), but the sunrise the next morning was a close second. My only regret for this gorgeous beach family photo session in Florida was that I wasn’t able to stay with them longer. I don’t have the brain capacity right now to say the right words to tell their mommy just how magical that day was, but I think she already knows. And I think she and I would both come back here in a heartbeat to do it all over again. xoxo, girlie! (Favity fav HERE.)

Continuing from yesterday’s post, after a few days spent in Georgia, we drove to Charleston, South Carolina. I was beyond thrilled to get to take my family back there after the trip I had last May with all of my photographer friends. I just couldn’t be that close to Charleston and NOT go back.

And, I couldn’t be in Charleston again without visiting with a family that I had been working with since this little one was a wee babe :-). A…it was just magical to reconnect with you and to see how she has grown up. What a beautiful child she is and I’m so glad we got to capture a piece of her childhood right here on the beach! It was a session I will never forget, my friend!

Oh, and you do NOT want to miss this balloon image HERE.

Wait. Can we talk about that amazing dress for just one second here?

Yes, please. And is that a goldfish in a balloon on that dress? Yes, yes it is. I want that dress. For my daughter. For myself. I want to be the person that created that dress. Okay, back to the photos of the adorable little girl, but this time, she’s in a towel, accessorized with a lollypop 😉

From Mama:

1) Tell us a little bit about your family… We moved to Charleston, SC from Texas about 2.5 years ago and we absolutely love it here. We are a family of three girls: Mommy, Harper, and LaScala (our King Charles Cavalier). We have lots of fun and lots of laughs through a lot of fun family adventures.
2) What made you decide this was the time to do a photo session? Were you marking any special occasion, etc? Michele was coming to Charleston and we are trying to commit to one annual spring photo shoots to capture our family as each year passes.
3) Where was your session held and why? Kiawah Island …. on the beach at the Sanctuary. [In case you can’t tell in the images, this is the most magical place on Earth. My family loved it, too! And thanks so much for THIS idea, A!!!]
4) What did you like about your session location? It is a perfect representation of a child’s dream playground. It just so happens its in our backyard, figuratively speaking.
5) What was your favorite part of your session? When Harper changed into her D&G dress and then sat down in the water to play. That was my last outfit change and I thought….its over! Looking forward to seeing the candid pictures. [I present to you, a D&G dress…in the water…]

6) Was there anything you were nervous or worried about before the session? Nope
8) Any advice to other families before their photo sessions? Just have fun and let kids be kids!
9) What made you choose Pinkle Toes Photography? I love Michele’s work and style. I was thrilled when she reached out to us stating that she was going to be in the area. Like the consistency of a family photographer that captures life changes.
10) What do you hope your kids/family will say years down the road when looking at these images? Wow….what fun!

It’s going to take some getting used to, this thing called “back to school” and living on a schedule here in Austin. It’s going to take some getting used to blogging again as well. It was certainly the most magnificent, incredible, exhausting summer of my entire life and I think we are all still recovering from being on the road so long. I know I will be equally excited and saddened to start this process of blogging about everything we did and everywhere we went this summer. Going through our pictures will mean it’s truly over and I’m not ready to face that just yet.

For now, I’m going to blow the dust off the blog and work backwards for a little bit. I know I’ve missed blogging several families that I worked with this summer and I *will* get them up here eventually. But today, let’s start with my photographer friend Angela with PB Kisses Photography in sunny California. Angela was a past lifestyle photography workshop attendee not to long ago and I was so amazed we were actually able to work out a maternity session while I was in southern California this summer to document this pregnancy for her caboose joining the family soon ;-).

Things you should know about this session:

1. Big bro and big sis up there? They are going to be AMAZING to their new baby. No. Doubt.
2. Angela is funny. Like really funny. I like that. She’s also really talented. And I like that as well.
3. There were like a bazillion people on this beach and in the water and I don’t get that. Coming from the WARM waters of the Gulf Coast, the “warm” Pacific is not so warm along the California coast. Or maybe I’m just a wimp?
4. I did this session within just a few hours of first setting foot in the great state of California. Way to dive in head first, huh?

Angela, you can be sure I’m going to look you up if I’m ever in your neck of the woods again and I want to get to hang with you in a non-business environment. Well, maybe after I snuggle on that new little one first?

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)