I am so thankful that I’ve been doing this job for long enough now that I have the opportunity to reconnect with clients and see how their family has grown. The G. family is one of them, who I had phtoographed when the twin girls were newborns. Mom Leslie and I had talked about the look for the shoot and as she started using words she was hoping for captured in photography, and I had an idea for the location that resonated with her. This area in the Conejo Valley is really quite beautiful and as I did additional location scouting once I had arrived in Southern California, I knew it would be perfect. There is a reason that some big-name celebrities live here and Superbowl commercials and major motion pictures are filmed here.
I worked with Leslie on wardrobe, sending her some sample ideas and then she went shopping and also pulled some of what she already had and put together absolutely adorable looks for her twin girls. (I love getting text messages and emails from my clients with wardrobe options and helping them put it together.) We had so much fun during the session and incorpating different looks and meaningful props here and there. The violin– a family heirloom. I had asked Leslie about what she wanted to convey to her girls, and we had some beautiful moments of relationship and connection between the four of them, mom and girls, dad and girl, mom and dad, and sisters. And the four year old girls were amazing and I knew we would would most likely hit a melt down and we did. But instead of packing up, and because the G. family trusted me, we went with it and ended up creating some wonderful images in between the melting. Sometimes a fraction of a second is all I have for the moment, but that can be all we need too. A few days after our photography time I went to their home for their Session Premiere and helped them with ordering what would be best for them and their family. Leslie asked if I was going to make her cry again. I did, but good tears, really. And one more total bonus was that I got hugs and my hair done too. Seriously, I have an incredible job!
