Ten Years Of Gratitude + Claire's Communion

I find it incredibly fortuitous that I wrapped up edits on a shoot commemorating an important milestone in the lives of a family who have been devoted friends for plus 10 years, and loyal clients for the better part of the last 10...on the eve of the day that marks year 10 I officially cut the chord from the corporate world, stood at the edge of this cliff, said a small prayer, took a deep breath, and jumped.

And one hundred times over...knowing what I know now...I would jump again. Because despite the insecurity that inevitably comes with running your own business, and an intensely competitive and creative one at that, I wake up every.single.day hungry for more...the driving desire to capture more moments as well as the insatiable desire for more learning. I'm not sure I will ever feel like I've "arrived" as a photographer and I'm completely ok with that.

So not only do I want to give a massive thank you to my dear friends here who have supported me in this work from day one, but to every single one of my clients over the last 3,650 days who have believed in me, shared their lives with me, and inspired me to do better every time I pick up my camera. There aren't enough words in the English language to describe the immense sense of gratitude I have for this path I'm on and the people sharing it with me.

Croad Family

The universe conspired to put this beautiful family in my path and I couldn't be more grateful. We met at a cross country meet last fall and I discovered this family of Kiwis now residing in Portland, had previously lived in my small and relatively unknown hometown in Northern Virginia. Small world connections like that never cease to amaze me. But when we met up for their family shoot, that connection got infinitely smaller...not only had they lived in my hometown, but they had been neighbors and close friends with my tenth grade English teacher, a woman who helped inspire and nurture my love of storytelling, and is likely unaware of the massive role she played in helping to set the course for my college studies (and with whom I'm reconnected to thanks to Facebook).

I'm still in awe of this chance meeting. And with the time I shared with them in their own private slice of heaven, complete with real waterfalls. As well as the most delicious lamb shepherds pie they fed me after.

Rieke Portrait project

The last few months of the school year, I had the amazing fortune of documenting several kindergarten families on behalf of Rieke Elementary as part of the Rieke Portrait Project, a fifth grade legacy gift to the school celebrating the partnership between the fifth graders and their kindergarten buddies. In addition to these family portraits that captured the places and people who are important to the kids outside of school, the fifth graders interviewed the kinders about the first year of their Rieke experience, as well as each of the parents about their hopes for their kids. 

I'm immensely grateful for the time, personal spaces and stories these families were willing to share with me, particularly at this incredible leaping off point in each of their kid's lives. 

Finn

It's a pretty magical thing watching a long time friend evolve in the blink of an eye from kickass athlete and driven career woman, to Super Mom...and to do it with such immense grace and tenderness.

Finn, some day you'll know what a complete and life changing gift you are. 

Boy Oh Boy

Boys of a certain age are typically *not big fans of spending an hour or two on a Saturday afternoon having their photos taken. Or really any other day of the week for that matter.  But if you're fast enough, you can catch really amazing-but-fleeting quiet moments between the wrestling, chasing, and rock kicking that shows they are so much more than that stereotype.

As an aside, I thought it fitting that my first blog post of this newly minted site include not only my first family photoshoot of 2016, but also of a family who has seen this business grow from day one, and subsequently, whose boys I've known since day one.  Thank you so very much Bayne family for being a part of this journey.

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