I always enjoy being able to photograph people and create beautiful images for them to look back on, but there are some sessions that I love a little bit more than the rest and really warm the heart and soul.
This session with one of my very best friends and her adorable son is one of my all time favorite sessions, and I'm not sorry one bit to admit it!
In the midst of the busy season I made my first trip to Smucker Gardens and I immediately felt so delightfully calm and comfortable, it just made all my creative juices spike and I knew I had to do a shoot here! While most people wouldn't think to add on a session that is for fun in the middle of the busiest time of year, I found the opportunity to flex my creativity refreshing and motivating. I also knew that my best friend was obsessed with this place and she would be the perfect one to photograph here. She immediately and enthusiastically responded with a yes when I asked her to go, and while I don't usually blog sessions that I do for my own fun, it's my blog and this one was too good not to so I can break my own rules.
Nikki and K are two of my most favorite people. They are both always wearing their million dollar smile that lights up the whole room, and they both have hearts of pure gold to go along with it! These two are the kind of people that you just feel better about everything in the world when you're around them. K in particular is sure to make you laugh, and for being so little, he is so incredibly mature and compassionate for his age. You can tell that his mom and dad are raising him to be an incredible young man already! He even helped to entertain my little one when he wasn't posing for the camera! By the way, what you don't see behind these photos is me, moving my baby in the stoller around the garden center with us, periodically giving him sips of my smoothie from Brew Boxx to keep him content. (Be sure to check out Nikki's Butterfly Tea from them, she tells me it tastes just as amazing as it looks!) Until the very end when he was completely done and I was holding him on my hip while taking photos, because this shoot was a fun outing for us which meant my little one got to tag along.
If you can't tell, not only is Nikki one of the most kind hearted people you will ever meet, but she also totally could have passed as a model. And if you disagree with me on that, I'll watch your nose grow faster than Pinnochio! In all seriousness though, she rocks the mom life and manages to make it look so elegant, while I'm slumming it with my hair a mess and just hoping that I made it out of the house without any baby food on my clothing. I'm hoping someday to learn how she manages to keep up with an energetic little boy and still manages to look so flawless while doing it!
Nikki and K, I am so thankful that you took time to humor my creative ideas and spend some time with me in the greenhouse. I always love to capture your amazing smiles and hear your laughs and this will be one of my favorite sessions for all time because of those very things!
P.S. if you need some plants, or just some time to wander around a beautiful and soothing place be sure to stop by and check out:
