all the little sweeties | welcoming lawton

Oh man, picking the photos for this blog post filled me with so much longing and happiness. Longing because I got to hold Lawton last week and he is already 5 months old and so changed already from his wrinkly little newborness. This afternoon that I spent with this dear family seems like just days ago (except for the bare feet in grass part), but yet here we are in February with children growing out of pants faster than you can check off the days. Happiness because nothing makes me happier than seeing big families love each other well. And this family makes that top priority. I’ve been photographing them for 10 years and every new soul they bring in does not half or quarter the love, it doubles it.

I basically showed up and started shooting and photographed until everyone was spent. I wanted to get individuals of all the children in their **that stage** wonder. The bruised eye, the reluctant glance, the preteen attention to a just right hairdo…all of it. Not only was that newborn stage flying by so fast we could barely take it in, all of these children are growing every single day. I wanted to capture each child with each parent and got some truly tender shots.

In the end, I just wanted to gather it all up and inhale it like the most beautiful, fragrant bloom.

So immeasurably glad to know this family and to watch all their little sweeties grow.

welcoming lawton | the ledford family

The Ledford family loves babies and that’s a good thing since last year they brought home baby number seven. Seven of the most filled up with love children I’ve ever met. I’ve been honored to be at 3 of these babies’ births but this last one came during covid restrictions and truly wouldn’t have waited for me to make the trip down the mountain anyhow.

Instead, I got to be there right when they arrived home to the breathless crowd of siblings and I just love the movement in the pictures I managed to get. Such love, such tenderness!

I also got to do an in home newborn session with them of which I will post in a separate blog. For now, enjoy these precious photos of one of the most delighted in baby that ever lived.

Welcome Lawton!

abrianna | sacred roots

I remember the balmy day that I met Abrianna. I was feeling dry creatively for the past few months and was excited to get my feet wet, both figuratively and literally. These sacred roots sessions just cannot be planned out, they tend to unfold as we go along and it is the most truly magical experience. This was surely the case that day.

I waded in the cool waters, my clothes swirling around my knees. I sat in the earth smelling of rain and climbed up the majestic roots that beckoned me to inhale the tree that towered overhead. My art flowed out of me like the river itself.

Abrianna is much younger than I am but her ability to just sit with herself and just be was like that of a woman who had lived a full life already. Every shot I took I was just gasping at her beauty and at the confidence blooming from her core.

I was so impressed that a woman at the cusp of such change in her life would make it a priority to make having these pictures taken of her a reality. I know she will look back on these for all her days and I hope she will see what I see. A timeless beauty that is deeply rooted.