BOTANICAL GARDENS

I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Ms. Michelle & her sweet sweet family with her daughter Jimenez, son in law Alfred & grandchildren Zion & Sunni. I work with Ms. Michelle at the hospital where I do my other part time job as a Nurse. That's where I get to have my adult conversations instead of talking to my three & one year old all day.. which can be hilarious & exhausting; don't get me wrong, I love my kiddos, but sometimes the break is much appreciated. But anyway, back to Ms. Michelle, she is the sweetest person with the kindest heart who always listens to me talk about my babies, how my day is going or all of my wild dreams & wishes in life. When i told her that I had a dream to do photography, she was more than encouraging & just said go for it, so you know what, I went for it. I picked up my camera in November, I have watched hours of educational content, invested in educational courses, practiced on my dogs, kids, my brothers & their fiancés, & really just anyone who would step in front of my lens. So, I was more than thrilled to capture these family photos for Michelle when she came to me at work & said she wanted to get some family photos scheduled. I felt like maybe it was a sign that I was improving if she wanted me to take photos for her... so we talked color schemes, locations, time of day until we settled on some dates, the outfits, & then we had our session... and y'all I just love how much she loves her family.

Lets begin with the beginning of the session. . . I like to call this moment the warm up. The first 20 minutes in front of the camera is just getting used to being in front of the camera. I know when my family gets their photos taken I always feel so silly... but I always end up loving them. So this was our warm up... plot twist.. Ms. Michelle & her family didn't need a warm up. They jumped right in & got to work!! I mean, look at them!

I always ask families which person has the jokes.. there is always that one person in the family who keeps everyone laughing.. when I asked that question the answer was quick with Sunni. And you better believe she owned up to the role...she started telling stories and making everyone laugh, which was infectious, and I love that we captured some serious, real life laughs. Honestly, those are my favorite type of images to capture. I want my families to look at their images and think "man, we were really having a good time." Photos are the permanent memories that will last a lifetime and I always want them to be authentic.. seriously.. look how cute they are laughing with each other. I wanna add, it was so hot this day.. the rain was coming, it was humid and it was a true HOT Alabama summer day...they were such troopers!

I really love how they look like they are having a wonderful time. My goal was to capture the magic & love that the family has for each other & I feel like I accomplished that for them... i also feel like I captured how funny Sunni really is. She was the one cracking jokes & making everyone laugh.. the next thing we did was something I have heard called the "drunk walk"... it's basically families, couples, or anyone you are photographing walking together & bumping into each other, smiling, laughing & just being super cute... y'all tell me if you think we accomplished just that!!

I also really wanted to snap some very special portraits with Ms. Michelle & her grandchildren. She talks about them a lot. She is so proud of everything they accomplish & I really wanted her to have some extra special pictures with them..

We also made sure to get some really sweet portraits of Ms. Michelle & her daughter Jimenez & can I say what a fabulous duo this is!

It really was such a pretty day, so hot, but so pretty & thankfully we missed the rain. As we were finishing the thunder started rolling. We captured so many family photos of all five of them & then I made sure to take portraits of Alfred & Jimenez & their beautiful family! Plus, I got some of Ms. Michelle & Alfred... I think it's safe to say she likes her son in law!

& if you thought we forget to get some individual portraits of the lady of the hour herself, think again! Of course we did!! Ms. Michelle, you were born to model sister!! Your family is beautiful, so kind, & so fun to hang out with! This session was a blast! I thank you for choosing to spend the afternoon with me!

Again, if you made it this far I thank you & appreciate you for tagging along my photography journey with me. I love people, I love to laugh & I love to serve others. What better way to do that than this! Let's hang out & create some memories together!