One day, I'm going to sneak into their home and raid two closets...mom's and that of baby girl! These two are ALWAYS in the height of fashion and I love seeing what she puts together for them at each session. Also love those beautiful, fantastic curls!
A look back:
Oh yes, I'm old.
p.s. WHOA! My style has changed over the years!!!
That's probably the first word that comes to mind when I think of this session. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to top their last session, but I think we managed to pull of something so different and so incredible for them...
Tracy (an amazing photographer!) really, really, really wanted to go to a carnival, so planned the session date around that. Well, unfortunately, we got a little caught up in the flowers and didn't quite get over to the carnival as early as we planned. It was pure AGONY standing in line to get in watching the sun steadily slip behind the horizon. We had to hoof it to get our images and the kids (bless their hearts) were so patient with us. In spite of the darkness, we found some really cool spots to work in and I love how they turned out! Tracy...I hope you do, too, and I can't wait to see what display you create with these!
About 15 years ago, I was a young, naive college kid and had just landed a job at the Office of Student Activities at my university in Corpus Christi. It was there I met Tracey (gosh...did I really meet Tracey 15 years ago?). She was married, had a young daughter, and was kind of like my older, wiser big sister. I'm not sure Tracey will ever know what she did to guide me and show me the ropes as I was becoming a young adult. She listened, she led by example, taught me a great work ethic, gave great advice, reminded me to stay focused, and helped me through my boy troubles (I later married that boy ;-). A couple of times, she would bring in bags full of her old clothes for me. Tracey was (still is) so stylish and those bags of clothes were like treasure chests to me. I was going to college full time, almost 1,500 miles from the place I called home and I didn't have family close by. I was working and on student loans just to pay tuition, rent, and to make ends meet. Those clothes meant the world to me. I'm getting choked up just remembering.
Tracey also gave me extra jobs here and there to help me get by. One that stands out the most to me was when I watched her then 5-year-old daughter and her new baby brother for a weekend. Well, I tried to make it through the weekend. I ended up getting really, really sick and at about 5 a.m. the first night/morning, I was curled up in their downstairs bathroom, my head in a toilet, trying desperately to keep the room from spinning and to figure out how in the world I was going to survive two more days of this AND care for two young children. And it was there Darrow found me. She was still in her nightgown, she had lovely blonde hair that framed two of the biggest blue eyes I had ever seen. She was (still is) so angelic. Darrow looked at me and then at the toilet and then she said, "Here. Take this," handing me a trash can. "Mommy says when I get sick, I need to use this." I still giggle thinking of how "helpful" she was to me that awful morning.
And then, fast forward a few more years (actually, almost 12 years ago to the day) when I moved to Austin and sweet Darrow was my flower girl when I married my college sweetheart from Corpus Christi...
[forgive the poor scan quality]
And then fast forward a few more years...like to 2011...and imagine how my heart soared and perhaps broke a little bit when Tracey told me Darrow was graduating high school and wondered if I could take her senior portraits. What an honor!! But what disbelief! I could not even believe this little girl was going to graduate high school. I could not believe her baby brother was a teenager. I could not believe that Tracey went on to have two more children...TWINS, in fact. I could not believe on how much life I had missed out on and was ashamed I had not done more to stay in touch.
Well, we had our session just a few weeks ago. It was positively magical and surreal all at the same time. It was a strange time warp for me...Tracey hadn't changed a bit over the last decade+, but Darrow, Darrow was a young woman. Darrow...was me...my age when I started college and first met her mother. Un.Real.
Tracey and I could barely stop crying when we saw each other. I'm sure it had to have been strange for Darrow, LOL. But I can only hope that when Darrow decides where she's going to college--and especially if she travels far away like I did--that she finds someone who can be a pseudo-mom to her, just like Tracey was for me.
I hadn't been to this part of Austin in, gosh, 2 years? And eep...it was actually a little scary, I'm sad to say. I LOVE my city, but I'm not sure what happened here. Regardless of the horrible parking, the noise, the people, and the general disorder, they stuck with me and we got absolutely fantastic and super fun pics of their family. This is definitely going down as a fav session!
Well one thing is for certain: the mood of his one year photo session was *vastly* different than his newborn pictures ;0. Watching his mom and dad go from proud, emotional, somewhat nervous and unsure new parents to happy-go-lucky, joyful, exuberant, relaxed, fun-loving and experienced parents was quite the treat! LOVED the joy and love expressed by everyone at this session.
