We're going behind the scenes this week with my beautiful niece, Katie!
Family is super important to me and one of the things I treasure most is being able to watch my nieces and nephew grow through each stage of their lives. Luckily for me, Katie is always willing to be my subject :)
This particular shoot was completely spontaneous! For days I traveled to and from my home passing these beautiful purple wildflowers and could NOT stop thinking about them (if you follow me on Instagram then you've most likely read about my thought process during car rides). There was no doubt that I had to get someone immersed in these flowers. Katie and mom, Sarah, were at my house in about 15mins and we made our way to these patches of purple heaven.
The flowers were right off the road so we had to take some extra precautions when shooting, but that didn't stop us from having a blast! If you've been keeping up with my blog posts then chances are you'll recognize Sarah from behind the scenes of my BFF session (Link to her Facebook is at the bottom of the page). Naturally, I asked for her assistance with Katie's flower crown.. because you don't surround yourself with flowers and NOT make a flower crown!
As a natural light photographer (and nature lover) I'll jump at any chance to surround myself with mother nature's beauty. Although it was late afternoon we had plenty of shade from the surrounding trees to avoid any harsh shadows. But with the sun still high in the sky, there was such beautiful dappled light shining through the leaves, creating perfect backlight that I LOVE.
I get a lot of enjoyment from layering my photographs through leaves, flowers, trees etc. I always find it gives the viewer all "the feels" of being in the environment with you. Although, it usually tends to backfire on me when I start showing signs of poison ivy in the days following the shoot.. which in this case I ended up having it on my ankles for about 3 weeks. Worth it? Every time.
Once we had our fill of flowers we started our walk back home when Sarah spotted the perfect backdrop for more portraits (when she's with me she's always my second pair of eyes and I LOVE her for it)! A quick phone call and Katie's Aunt graciously allowed us to use her land for a couple of quick shots. Leading lines can be your best friend when taking photos and that's exactly what this structure gave me (we made sure to bring our purple bouquet along to keep with our theme). Family, flowers and fun pretty much sums things up!
Photography means many things to me.. it's a creative outlet, feeds my soul, and makes me feel I have a purpose. But if I'm being honest, the most important thing it does is create memories and capture them. I'm always hearing "where does the time go?" and I find myself asking that same question. Luckily, we have photographs to look back on those times. We can reminisce on who we were or how we felt in a particular moment of our lives. I know I'll want to remember these moments.
xx Melissa
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