I can’t believe I have now known this beautiful mom since we were running buddies with Gilbert’s Gazelles starting back in 2018! We spent countless hours running together throughout downtown Austin (including the location of this particular family photo session), learning so much about one another and each other’s families. I’m so proud that our friendship has remained even after our marathon goal was completed and I am always honored that I get to photograph her boys as they dote on her.

I was super eager to get to use the boardwalk, located on the shores of Lady Bird Lake, as the backdrop for their family photos not only because it’s gorgeous (duh), but because we all have so many wonderful memories along this trail. During our pre-session consult, mom showed me her stunning yellow dress and I just knew we had chosen the perfect place to show her off!

In spite of the fact it was during the wee hours of the early morning (big fan of sunrise photo sessions, especially in the hot Texas months), the boys were eager to explore the boardwalk and play around. The boardwalk offers such an amazing variety of locations in which to shoot; from the sun sparkling on the water, to the majestic skyline, to the beautiful trees that line the shore, we made full use of all little vignettes and lovely light to create a diverse set of images to cherish.

One of the things I love most about working with families year after year like this is that I start to feel like part of the family…like an aunt with a fancy camera. The boys are super comfortable around me now and they have no problem being themselves. They don’t require many prompts at all and are thrilled to create their own unique poses and shot ideas. In fact, their candid shots are some of my favorite images from the session, as they capture their true personalities and emotions. In fact, we have our next session coming up very soon and I can’t wait to see what they create this time!

This is your (my) little reminder that there are *still* wonderful things happening in the world. I cannot wait to meet this little miracle very soon!!!

I promise this will be the last time I will make this disclaimer, but from here on out, please consider every post of my blog to be jumbled and out of order and reflective of how memories just swirl around in my brain. I’m just going to post sessions as they come to me…as they re-inspire me…as I wish to re-live them. I was drawn to the colors and the repeated symbols of love and connection in this particular session. Plus, I really dig these people and am so grateful to have watched these girls grow up.

It hurts a little to go back and look at the sessions held before March of 2020. At the same time, it’s a great reminder that what was important “back then” is just as important, if not more important, now. If I have learned anything this year, it’s that nothing, and I mean nothing, is more valuable than family. And, like basically all of my clients, I love this family as if they were my own family. When I see their kiddos, I think of one of my fav shots taken from above (the wagon). I think of what The Broken Spoke used to look like (I *still* have that garland I use from time to time). I think of them singing this song during this maternity session (and honestly, I *always* think of them whenever I hear it to this day). And then, of course there’s this one’s Birth Day (scroll down). And now I’m realizing I never blogged their family session from 2017!!! I think I’m going to have to do a follow up for that one :-).

The point of this is that I hope you all realize that your family feels like *my* family. I am so grateful to get to experience the wonderful and momentous and even the simplest moments in life with you. I also feel your pain and your lows. I see your children growing up at warp speed and it is a feeling of pride and nostalgic ache that I wasn’t quite prepared for emotionally.

The release of Taylor Swift’s new video reminded me about a project I had worked on a while back and I was so inspired to revisit it. I’m loving the prismatic aesthetic of the new album artwork and I realize that I’ve been obsessed with that for quite sometime, actually. I’ve photographed this talented young lady and her family for years now, but it was magic to get to work with her *in* her element and in such a creative and colorful way. I love the fantastical and dreamlike nature of this photo session! I love that we were able to simply play and embrace the child-like nature of this adorable Austin landmark. My love for Lisa Frank also resurfaced when creating these images…if only we could have incorporated dolphins and kittens :-). Thank you SO much to C and her mommy for playing along with this vision!!!

There is so much energy and love and vibrance in this family, you’d be hard pressed NOT to have an amazing photo session with them. Once again, I’m drawn to the brilliant colors in the clothing, the different locations we found, their incredible eyes, and of course, my favorite: red hair!

Since I’ve blogged TWO days in a row, that makes me officially “on a roll!” I loved the amazing color and vibe this family wanted to incorporate into their photo session in a relatively new part of Austin. Both girls are highly involved with musical theater (which holds a special place in my own heart) and there was no shortage of beauty or personality in these portraits! The hardest part of the photo session was everyone (including me) getting distracted when an adorable doggo would stroll by (they had to leave their own pupper at home for this adventure). Next time, they should definitely bring their furriest family member!!

Ironically enough, I first met Mom and their eldest about 5 years ago…the first time I did my Back to School mini sessions…which reminds me…I should dig those pics up because I know he was absolutely adorable during that photo session. I was sad to hear they were moving to Washington state, though maybe a tad jealous of their cooler summers ;-). Earlier this summer, they embarked on an EPIC road trip across the country and I was honored that a family photo session with Pinkle Toes Photography was one of their included stops. We got to do the first part of their photo shoot in lovely park during a gorgeous sunrise. I know we were nice and toasty at the time (and not in a wonderful way), but in going through the images, honestly it didn’t even look like we were even in Austin. My absolute FAVORITE image from that series is HERE. And then, we got to stroll over to get a bit more of the colorful, urban side of Austin to round it out.

This is a busy, busy family and it was no easy task to try and find a date that would work for all of us for their annual family photo session. So when the day of their session arrived and there was the small threat of rain in the area, we chose to pretend that didn’t exist and met up at this incredible location anyway. Of course, I was keeping the radar in the back of my mind and we had to work super fast…I know the kids were grateful for that as it was crazy humid that day, but of course, Mom and I were just dying to explore every nook and cranny in this place. And just as we had gotten everything that we needed, the skies opened up on us. We were trapped in the greenhouse which seemed like that would be a good plan…at first. But then the water started pouring in from the windows above! Of course, I had to take a few shots to commemorate the laughs, but then we made a mad dash to our cars. I don’t know why I bothered to run…I was soaking wet the second I stepped out of the greenhouse. All in all, it was a very memorable session and I absolutely LOVE the images we were able to get before and even during the rain!!! This one, too!

These two gorgeous and kind and intelligent young ladies are recent (well…one is soon-to-be recent) high school grads and while they live in two different states, they have actually been incredibly close friends since they were super little. In fact, I think their birthdays are just a few weeks apart? It was really something special to get to photograph them AND their mommies together (who have been best friends all this time as well) as we all explored downtown Austin and strolled along South Congress. One mother/daughter pair had flown in super late the night before and thanks to storms in the forecast, we had to do our session at sunrise the very next morning. Wow, they sure were troopers up for this adventure with only a few hours of sleep the night before! Way impressed!!! Favity fav HERE!