Tag: Teens

When to book Family Portraits if you Want Fall Color

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As I sit here on the super cold morning, I miss the perfect Fall day we had just two days ago. I wanted to take the chance to talk about when to book a family portrait session if including fall colors on the trees is important to you. I wrote about this last year, and none of that information has changed, but if bears repeating. I still have many clients who assume October is the best choice for Fall color.

First of all, I want to say that any time of year is perfect for a family portrait session. The important thing is to get them done, and to do it regularly, preferably at least once a year as our littles ones grow so fast and are constantly changing.  Beautiful memories can be captured any time of year. I’m now booking January photo sessions, and those can be absolutely beautiful (you just need to dress warmly!)

With that being said, lots of my clients really want that gorgeous fall color, and ask me when they should schedule family portrait sessions to get that color.  I always hesitate to answer because mother nature is unpredictable and I cannot promise you we will get beautiful fall color at all.  Sometimes, an early freeze or drought conditions or other things can put a damper on that beautiful autumn color.  

But I can tell you, after some experience and actual forecasts, when to schedule your session to get the best chance of gorgeous color, and that is the first or second weekend of November (the last weekend in October is a good second choice).  That’s when our fall colors peak here in Middle Tennessee.  I find a lot of clients who assume it happens a lot earlier than that, and that’s probably because it does up north. Our friends in Michigan saw their autumn peak several weeks ago (and now they are getting snow!). 

I said all of that same information last year, and here, as further proof, is one of my sessions from Sunday, November 10. I adore this family and loved getting to hang out with them again. I’m thrilled they were able to book this session and indeed did get gorgeous fall color.

My Roots as the Unofficial MOMS Club Photographer

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I joined the MOMS Club of Spring Hill in 2009, the day after I left my job as an Engineer at General Motors. It was during the big recession, GM was bankrupt, and the plant was closing. I had a new baby, a toddler, and no desire to be transferred to another facility, so I was out the door. Honestly, I was pretty excited about it.

Since I’d had the girls, I’d been pretty torn about working full time, but also nervous about living on one income. It all worked out for the best.

I had a friend from work who had told me about his wife’s involvement in the Spring Hill MOMS Club. I’d met her a few times, and she seemed nice. I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands, and a toddler who needed to get out of the house sometimes, so the day after I left GM, I showed up at one of their meetings.

It turned out to be a fantastic decision for me. It’s where I spent the next five years, eventually becoming president for several years. It’s where I met my mom tribe and the women who still get me through the hard days of parenthood. It’s a club meant for those with small children, so eventually, I “graduated” and left officially, but the women I met there are still a massive part of my life. Some I see often. Others I see rarely but follow along with their lives on social media. All of them are important to me.

These women were also hugely instrumental in me becoming a photographer. I joined around the same time I became interested in photography. And I photographed EVERYTHING…Playdates, holiday parties, and everything in between. The other moms encouraged me and let me practice. They made me feel like I was capturing something special, and not just the annoying woman who always had the camera out. My Facebook Timehop is filled with those memories, and I am so glad to have them.

At some point, it moved from just me casually taking photos at events, to friends asking if I would shoot their yearly family photos. I was grossly unqualified and had no idea what I was doing, but they encouraged me anyway. That’s when I really started to figure out my style, what I loved to photograph, and that photography was indeed something I was passionate about pursuing. Those sessions helped me practice and learn, and eventually, almost five years ago now, I turned it into a real business.

Jennie was one of those moms. I photographed a session for her family seven years ago. There are a lot of photos from that period that I look back on and cringe at, but I like looking at that session. I feel like I’ve improved a lot since then, but I feel like I can start to see my style emerging in those. They moved to Murfreesboro years ago, and I haven’t seen her in years, so I was excited when she asked me to photograph a combination Senior / Family Session.

I had not looked back at that session in years, but after I got home from shooting this week’s session, I wanted to go back and look at them. I was surprised to see that a lot fo the pics I took this week lined up nicely as a side-by-side comparison from seven years ago. They say time flies, but there is nothing like looking at photos like these to make it hit home. Was that really SEVEN years ago? And how did these babies turn into beautiful teens, with McKenna ready for COLLEGE???

  • 2011
  • 2019
  • 2011
  • 2019

We used to joke about how someday, maybe I would photograph Senior portraits for the kids. But now it’s happening already. I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I swear, last week, we were handing out juice boxes at the Giraffe Age Group Playdates.

Anyway, that was a lot of rambling. Mostly I wanted to say to all my MOMS Club peeps…thanks for encouraging & supporting me all these years. And to Jennie…dang you did good, mama. You raised three amazing babies.

Senior Portraits At Henry Horton State Park

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Drew is the nephew of one of my oldest and dearest friends from college, Mandy. I remember him as an energetic two-year-old at her wedding. I have only seen him a few times over the years, but I have gotten to hear fantastic stories from his doting aunt.

Drew is the third of four siblings, and Mandy has gifted each of them a Senior Portrait Session with me during their senior year. His oldest sister, Jesse, was actually the very first senior session that I photographed. Then, two years later, I had the joy of photographing his sister Caroline. Now, two years after that, it was Drew’s turn in front of the camera, and he did a fabulous job.

Portrait sessions make a great gift for lots of different occasions. You can even purchase a gift certificate to give to recipients and then they can book their own date at their convenience. Let me know if you have any questions.

If you are wanting Fall Portraits sessions for your family or senior, please book today. There are no October spots left but there are a couple of November spots still available. Book yours today.

5 Reasons to get photos of your younger teen or tween

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Why it's important to photograph Tweens & younger teens

A few years ago, my friend Stephanie from college hired me to do a portrait session for her oldest daughter Logan as she was about to start middle school. She wanted the session to focus on Logan as she made the transition from elementary to middle school, and I thought it was a great idea. We do milestones sessions all the time for babies, and then again when kids are seniors in high school, but those middle years often get left out. We need to document the lives of our tweens and younger teens too. I’d love to see more clients interested in photographing tweens

This year, Stephanie contacted me again, and this time it was a big year for both of her daughters. Logan is about to start high school, and her little sister Molly is about to start middle school. So she wanted a session for both of them to document this transitional time period in their lives, and I was super excited to get to hang out with both of them.  They are really fantastic young women and we had the best time. They are both gorgeous and were so easy to photograph. 

I couldn’t get over what fantastic weather we had for this late July session. I was a bit worried it would be insanely hot, like it typically is this time of year, but we got so lucky with a beautiful mild evening.  Preservation park has definitely become one of my favorite places to photograph sessions.  My only complaint is that it’s quite a bit of walking (and up a giant hill) to get to the spots I really like to shoot at.  

Since we do’t often think of doing a special photo session for younger teens or tweens, so I wanted to outline a couple reasons why you might want to consider one.

Reasons for photographing tweens & Teens

  1. They are changing so fast.  We typically book lots of photo sessions for our babies and toddlers because “they are changing so fast” and we want to document all those seasons and changes.  Well, that’s happening now too.  It seems like you look a way for a moment, and when you look back, your baby is gone and somehow a young woman is standing in her place. #dontblink
  2. Even if they don’t admit it, they enjoy the extra attention. I don’t actually know this for sure and it’s probably not true for every kid, but I think most of them welcome the opportunity to be made a fuss over just a little bit.  Especially when they figure out that my sessions are pretty laid back and casual and we are just gonna hang out and chat. 
  3. They are really becoming amazing, unique human beings and a session is a chance to get to know them better. We joke a lot about how tough it is to parent teens, and believe me, it is.  But also, it’s so freaking cool to be able to have these real, meaningful conversations with these amazing people that you MADE.  A photo session is an opportunity to stand back, take a deep breath, and appreciate your beautiful creation. 
  4. Maybe the photos will help them to see what amazing humans they are, if they don’t already know it. As tough as it is to parent a teen, it’s probably even tougher to be one.  Maybe the photos will help them see how beautifully made they are, if they don’t know it already. 
  5. Before you know it, it will be time for that Senior Portrait session.  As my friend Michelle always says, “the days are long but the years are short.” Before you know it, this season will be over, and you’ll wish you had documented it. 

So there you have it…5 reasons to either pick up the camera and get photos of your “big kids”, or hire a professional for either a family portrait session or a session of just your older kids. Did I miss any? 

A Christmas Gift to Last a Lifetime – Photo Session for Mom

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Franklin TN Family Portrait Photographer - Family of 5 with Teens at Aspen Grove Park in Franklin TN

Isn’t it funny how a smell can take you back to a time 30 years ago?  That’s how I felt at this session at Aspen Grove Park in Franklin, TN this week when I arrived early (like I always do) to take a walk before my clients arrived.  It was an absolutely perfect spring day, and as I walked down the trail, I was overwhemed with the scent of honeysuckle.  Honeysuckle is one of my favorite smells (I even use this in my kitchen), and it takes me back to my childhood in the mountains of East Tennessee when me and a neighborhood friend use to spend hours and hours walking through the hollows and back roads just talking and enjoying the sunshine.  

It was the perfect day for a family session for this handsome family.  Dad had purchased the session as a gift for mom this past Christmas, after she had hinted strongly that what she wanted was to capture her families special memories in a portrait session. This was especially important now, because her oldest, Porter, is graduating from high school this week.  

We all know how quickly time flies.  A portrait session gift certificate is a perfect gift for moms who want to freeze time forever, if only in photographs.  

Combination Family & Senior Portrait Session in Thompson Station TN

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A few times, I’ve been approached by a mom who needs to book a senior session for her child (or in this case, children) for graduation announcements and all that fun stuff.  But then she’ll also say that it’s been a long time since they’ve had family portraits done and that she’d like to get a few photos with everyone in them. 

I’m sure that other photographers may disagree with my approach to this, but I am 100% OK with combining a senior session with a family session.  I charge a set fee for a one-hour photo session for up to 6 people, so it is really up to the client on how they would like me to prioritize that hour. I always do individual shots of each child at a family portrait session, so it is pretty easy to combine the two types of photo sessions. 

Combining sessions might not be the best option for you if your senior is very shy and maybe might take a while to relax at a session, allowing me to get natural images. But that wasn’t the case for Sarah and Jacob.  It also might not be best if your other children are very young toddlers and may need extra time for getting family shots.  But Eli was just old enough to be pretty easy to work with, so this was an excellent option for their family. I feel that we easily got enough photos for the twin’s senior portrait needs, and also the typical family sessions shots. 

Beth had let me know that she had these adorable shirts that she wanted to get a photo of the kids in at the beginning of the session. So we planned to get these in first and then let them change for the family session. Aren’t these just so cute?  

The Perfect Day for a January Photo Session

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Once upon a time, Spring Hill was a tiny little town, and about the only restaurants were J.J.s Barbecue, the Poplar House and the Old School Restaurant.  At that time, I worked as a Quality Engineer at GM, and we had sort of a tradition in my work group. 

It would happen on those rare beautiful days, when it wasn’t too hot, or too cold, when Spring was just on the horizon.  You know the kind of day…where it is just too beautiful to stay stuck inside a dark, giant auto plant. It’s the kind of day where teachers choose to take extra recess time, and even adults get cabin fever and just have to go outside.

On those rare days, someone (not always the same person), would come one by one to each of our cubicles, and say simple “Huffs today.”  Then, at lunch time, me and the boys would pile into a vehicle or two, depending on how many of us there were, and head out to Huff’s Grocery, in Burwood.  Usually, my friend John would drive, and I would instantly regret allowing him to because he drove like a teenage boy with something to prove.  But with the windows rolled down and the wind in our faces, it was hard to care too much about being responsible. 

It was too far of a drive to go regularly for a working lunch, which is why it was reserved for those special days. Driving on the back roads and taking the long way was part of the fun. (Saturn Parkway didn’t go that direction back then anyway.) To be clear, Huff’s isn’t really a restaurant at all, but a little gas station with a few groceries, in the middle of nowhere. (At least it use to be in the middle of nowhere, but I haven’t been there for years. With the parkway it could now be a booming exit.)  It reminds me of the salvage store that was near my rural home growing up…where you can get the necessities you need when it’s too far to drive to Kroger. 

But they made the BEST sandwiches.  They had a little paper menu where you’d choose white or wheat bread, then choose your meat, cheese and condiments.  Nothing fancy at all, but it was SOOOOOO good.  

Then we’d take our sandwiches, with a bag of chips and a can of soda and go sit out on the front steps of the store.  And we’d sit and just enjoy the day, and our sandwiches, with the sun on our faces, and take our own sweet time getting back to work.  

So you are probably wondering what any of that has to do with photography.  Well, when this family booked their January family session, they were concerned about whether it would be too cold.  Not a problem because they got one of the most beautiful days of the entire year.

And as I got to the location early before our shoot, I kept thinking about how it was a Huff’s day.  And ever since, and especially as I edit the photos of this beautiful family, I keep craving a Huff’s sandwich, which I have not had in years.  But the beautiful weather only lasted a couple days, and now it’s all winter again.  Boo. But maybe soon, it will happen again and I can go to Huff’s. Who wants to go with me?

My ideal family portrait clients

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I want to apologize for the large amount of photos in this blog post.  I really am trying to get better about that, but I easily had enough photos from this session for three blog posts, and I had a really hard time choosing.

I first met this beautiful family last year, when they hired me for an extended family session after I had photographed sweet Lily’s preschool graduation photo and I just fell in love with them.  There is just so much love, and joy and togetherness with them that is just beautiful to be around. 

In photography workshops and facebook groups, they talk a lot about finding your ideal clients.  That’s not something I thought about at all before becoming a professional photographer, but I quickly realized how important it is to find clients who are a good fit for my style.  This past weekend, I had three family sessions, and I walked away from them all thinking about how exactly perfect the clients were for me. 

I can’t put into words exactly what makes them so perfect, because a lot of it is just a feeling.  But there are a few things that I know I love to see in clients:

  • They are familiar with my style of work and have come to be because that’s the style that they want, not just because someone recommended me or they found me in a google search (those are all great ways to find me, but my point is that they did look at my photos and made their final choice based upon my work.)
  • They put thought and planning into their wardrobe selection, but also understand that the primary subject of the photos are the people themselves, and have chosen clothing that they are comfortable in and feel themselves in. 
  • They value photos as priceless artifacts of their time together, and after the session, they take the time to print the photos and enjoy them. (I was so excited to hear how this family printed and enjoyed their photos from last Fall!)
  • They aren’t looking for perfectly posed and put together photos, but are interested in capturing real memories of their time together.

I feel so thankful to have so many amazing clients who are not only clients, but who have become friends.  I love being able to see them grow each year ❤️

The best weekend for Family Photos with Fall Color

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First of all, I want to say that any time of year is perfect for a family portrait session. The important thing is to get them done, and to do it regularly, preferably at least once a year as our littles ones grow so fast and are constantly changing.  Beautiful memories can be captured any time of year. I’m now booking January photo sessions, and those can be absolutely beautiful (you just need to dress warmly!)

With that being said, lots of my clients really want that gorgeous fall color, and ask me when they should schedule family portrait sessions to get that color.  I always hesitate to answer because mother nature is unpredictable and I cannot promise you we will get beautiful fall color at all.  Sometimes, an early freeze or drought conditions or other things can put a damper on that beautiful autumn color.  

But I can tell you, after some experience and actual forecasts, when to schedule your session to get the best chance of gorgeous color, and that is the first weekend of November (the last weekend in October is a good second choice).  That’s when our fall colors peak here in Middle Tennessee.  I find a lot of clients who assume it happens a lot earlier than that, and that’s probably because it does up north. Our friends in Michigan saw their autumn peak several weeks ago (and now they are getting snow!). 

This beautiful family portrait session from this weekend is a bit past the peak.  The sessions I did the weekend before had a lot more color, but I can’t share those with you at the clients request (some are surprise Christmas gifts, and we don’t want to ruin the surprise!) But I’m so glad that this family had such a beautiful day! We had actually rescheduled this session from earlier in October because of rain.  Are they not absolutely stunning!  I’ve known this gorgeous family for years, but this is the first time I’ve been able to photograph them.  They were so much fun to capture and I hope they love the photos as much as I do. 

The autumn leaves are going to be gone very soon, so get out and enjoy this absolutely gorgeous color while it lasts!  

10 moments I want to capture for you

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I feel like I was super lucky at yesterday’s marathon sessions.  I had three sessions scheduled with a 15 minute break between each session.  Between my first and second session, it rained fairly hard.  But then stopped in time for my second session. It caused some humidity and so vengeful mosquitoes, but we made it through. 
I warned this family ahead of time that I was going to struggle with their names.  These girls are Kaylie and Morgan.  My own girls are Megan and Kayla. The similarities helped me to remember their names, but I did, as I knew I would keep mixing them up because Megan is my oldest, but for these two sisters, Morgan is the younger sister. 

I finally managed to retrain my brain by the end of the session, and I hope they forgave me.  What a fun family to work with! I so enjoyed getting to know these girls and their parents. They were so fun to work with and naturals in front of the camera. We had a fantastic time. 
Before a session, I have a survey that asks clients what their most important shots are.  That helps me to balance the priorities of the session, but I always have in my head a list of shots I want to be able to include in a clients gallery. These girls made it easy to capture those shots.

  1. A family shot with everyone looking at the camera. (Not my favorite, but I feel like I need to include it.)
  2. A candid family shot, that shows emotion. (My favorite)
  3. Individual close-ups of each of your children.
  4. Full body & candids of each of your children.
  5. A more posed sibling shot, if possible. (May be difficult if they are super young.)
  6. Mom & Dad together. (It’s important to capture where the family began.)
  7. Details (feet, hair, lovey, hands, etc)
  8. Mom with the kids
  9. Dad with the kids
  10. Fun, create shots of everyone having fun.

Did I miss anything? What would be on your shot list?

Hannah’s Senior Portrait Session in Franklin, TN

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“And suddenly you know… It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

I’m a pretty strong extrovert.  This may or may not be obvious, depending on the circumstances of how you meet me, but I definitely prefer being around people and am not huge on quiet time. But for some reason, the exception to that is that I do enjoy the time before my sessions. I always show up to a location for a shoot pretty early. I’ve sometimes said that I do that to scope out the place, but that’s not completely accurate because I still show up early when it’s a location that I know like the back of my hand.  

Even if I’m very familiar, I still like to walk around and look at the light..light is always changing.  And since I consider light to be the most important element to my “backgrounds” it’s important to take a look. I’m a light chaser, always looking for interesting things the sun is doing. So a lot of the time on my walks around a location, I’m looking at the light. 

But also, I’m thinking about my session…who am I about to photograph? What part of him or her or them do I want to capture? What is important about this time period that the client wants to remember? For my family sessions, my goal is to capture interactions and emotion between family members. With senior sessions, that’s different because there is typically only one person. So the interaction is between me and my camera, and the subject. Hannah made that so easy because she was such a joy to talk to and get to know. She’s graduating next week from Independence High School, and even though this is the first time we met, I feel so proud of her and happy for her to begin this next stage in her life. Her parents can be very proud to have raised such a lovely young woman.  

So I guess that I enjoy this quiet time before the session because I don’t feel quite alone…I feel that it’s the first step in getting to know my client…imagining where they’ve been, where they are going and what these photos might mean to them.  I hope that these photos mark the beginning of a wonderful adventure for Hannah, wherever she may go.  Congrats to Hannah and to the entire class of 2018. 

Welcome to Spring Portrait Season

Posted in Big Kids, Family, Portrait Sessions, Sarah Benson Park, (formerly known as Thompson's Station Park), Seniors & TeensTagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fall was so amazingly busy and beautiful at the same time, and my Fall portrait season seemed to run right up until Christmas somehow.  For January and February, I had intentions of really focusing on and promoting my at-home documentary sessions, but honestly just enjoyed the time off too much to really have much motivation to book winter sessions.  But I did enjoy using the time to continue my education working on workshops and shooting personal work for my 365 project.

But now the sun is finally coming out and I’m feeling SOOOO ready to get back to photographing outdoor family sessions, which is my true passion. And what a beautiful March weekend we had to kick the season off right.

This session was actually a prize that I donated to my youngest daughter’s school.  The session went to the teacher who’s class raised the most money for their Fun Run this past Fall, and Ms. Stalling’s class blew it out of the water!  As PTO president, I was so overwhelmed with all the support that we got for the Fun Run, raising over $37,000.  With that money, we’ve been able to write a check for a new outdoor track (and now that Spring is here, hopefully they will be able to start working on it soon), AND we were able to buy 90 new Chromebooks for the school. 

Our teachers work so hard each and every day for our kids, I really wish I were able to give them all a session.  Please take a minute to thank a teacher in your life…it’s been a really rough month for most of them and they could really use some encouragement right now. 

There are only a few dates left for Spring Portraits, so if you want to book a session, don’t wait! 

Bridgette’s Senior Portrait Session at Thompson Station Park

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“Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that.” – Ellen Degeneres

It’s so much fun to take a break from photographing little kids sometimes and instead photograph seniors.  This beautiful young woman was a joy to meet, as was her mother.  One of my most favorite parts of my job is getting to know new people.  Bridget reminded me a little of my oldest daughter with her passion for writng and love of books..  She was so sweet to my younger daughter, Kayla, who accompanied me on the shoot as my “assistant.”  

One of the great things about photographing seniors is that they will stand in whatever beautiful light that I want them to stand in….which is not always the case for toddlers.  And Thompson Station Park was really showing off some gorgeous light last night.  The autumn color isn’t really there yet, thought I think it’s coming soon (I hope). But the weather could not have been more perfect for Bridget’s senior portrait session.  

I keep hitting the jackpot with these senior girls who are just naturals in front of the camera.  Also, I loved her clothing choices. I am often asked if it is OK to change clothes during a photo session.  My answer depends a little on the type of session and ages of the subjects.  For senior or couples portrait sessions, you may absolutely bring a few different outfits.  For family sessions, I don’t normally recommend it just because having to change clothes can sometimes upset little ones and disrupt the momentum of our session. Ultimately, I leave it up to parents but just caution you to consider the value of wardrobe changes verses timing and keeping little ones happy during a session.  But for teens and adults, there is plenty of time during a session for a few wardrobe changes, and it adds some variety in a senior session gallery.

Love these pictures?  I would love it if you would leave a comment below and consider sharing this post with friends!

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The Schafran Family

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Last night was actually the first time I had met Brandilee and & Dan, but I’ve known their oldest son, Gavin, for several years from my daughter’s school.   I’m at school quite a bit volunteering with the PTO and have gotten to know Gavin through my time there and he is such a sweet boy.  My first experience with the rest of Gavin’s family was this past May at the Special Olympics.  Gavin has Cerebral Palsey and was competing in one of the races.  I had been asked to photograph the event as a whole, but was of course drawn to events where our own Cheetah’s were competing, so I was focused on Gavin’s race.  As he started getting closer to the finish line, Gavin started having a little trouble when his two little brothers came in to give him a hand.  It was the sweetest moment, and the three of them just won my heart right then and there.  

It wasn’t until after the race that I learned that Gavin’s two-year-old little brother Finn was battling a rare form of bladder cancer.  I have followed their story since then through posts from mutual friends and through their blog.  You can read more about their journey on their blog, “Finn’s Fans”.


In the past, I had photographed a few other families dealing with childhood cancer, and it was good to feel like I could do something for them, no matter how small.  (If you remember those sessions, you may want to know that little Arya is doing great and Katelyn is about to finish up her last chemo treatment!)  So I was really excited about the opportunity to finally meet Gavin’s little brothers and his sweet parents.


Finn recently had surgery to remove his bladder and the surgery was a great success, but his fight is not over.  He will be starting chemo again soon to fight any remaining cancer cells that might still be there. I am glad we were able to fit in a session before chemo started for him again. 


It was a perfect evening for a session and it’s finally starting to feel like Autumn. We played with the leaves and the boys were particularly fond of gathering sticks. Four-year-old Everett even made a really cool fire pit with his sticks.  I think he’s probably on his way to a position in the boy scouts.  My favorite moment was when I asked the three boys to race towards me for a photo, and when we said go, Finn took off in the opposite direction.  Gavin thought it was pretty funny too.  


The courage & faith with which this family fights their battle has been very inspiring to me, and to many others who have been praying for them. Please keep praying for Finn and his family as they continue on this journey.