Oh Dani, how can I even begin to write these words, my dear friend? Thank you so much for allowing me to document the authentic love that you and your family share, and on the Oregon coast no less!! This gallery is everything I could have imagined it to be; believe me, I imagined it for a long while.

Dani and I met during a Dear Photographer Elevate + Grow Workshop. She was attending the workshop herself but then also modeled with her family for one of the sessions we did as a group. Dani’s bright light of a smile just drew me in. This girl. She is the friend you didn’t know you needed. Always sweet and caring. Always smiling and ready to be kind. I am forever glad that I met her and we remained in touch.

I think that building friendships like the one I have with Dani is what I missed most about last year. The fact that I didn’t get to attend any workshops made me super sad and missing my friends something fierce. Being able to once again snuggle up with the people I love and do all the things together is going to be such a lovely reality soon. I can just feel it.

This family photography session on the coast in Oregon was goals for me, friends. I actually got to photograph two families on this beach on the same weekend while taking my daughter on her 16th birthday road trip and it was glorious. Bristin and her crew are one of those families that I got to hang out within Colorado but then the military took it away, haha. That happens a lot in Colorado Springs with it being home to several military installations.

I try to always find the good parts of what feels like a sad situation, like when families move away. I think the biggest perk when this happens is traveling to them! I LOVE traveling and seeing new spaces and most of all, I love seeing old friends and documenting their authenticity in their new home.

This family photography session in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains was goals. Charlie, her mom, and Mitch traveled to Colorado for a spring break birthday trip for not only Charlie but also for Mitch. Kirsten wanted to document the authentic love their small family unit held.

Kirsten and Mitch have a story full of love lost and rediscovered. Mitch and Kirsten have known each other since they were teenagers. Even getting matching tattoos at some point in their past (scroll down, they are there in all their glory). Mitch has been in Charlie’s life for a while now and she wanted to document them in the space that they are in. Happy, healthy, and full of love for each other.

Sweet friends and this mama’s hair give me life. We met up for their family session in one of my most chosen spots in Colorado Springs for some adventuring and snuggles. I can tell that all of Lesha’s boys love her to the moon and back. What a life to live.

I love when families take a break from their busy vacation life to spend some time with me documenting the love and authentic connections they share. This family came to visit me from Missouri and braved the cold Colorado air. Colorado can be unpredictable with the weather but there is one thing that I know, regardless of what the weather was the day before, there is a 90% chance that the next day will be sunny.

I know it seems like a funny thing to write a blog post about however, questions about the weather come through my inbox often. What do we do if it rains? If it snows? For my local families, this does not pose a big issue, most likely we can move your session date to a new date and roll with it. When I work with vacationing families and couples, that question becomes a tad bit more important.

This family traveled to Colorado Springs on vacation and met with me to have an extended family session. To get everyone together and document was so lovely and important. They take a vacation each year and decided that Colorado Springs would be perfect for them this time around.

I wish that when I was a kid and my family and I got together, that we did an extended family session like this. My mom has five sisters and I have 14 cousins. Each year when I was a little girl, most of us would travel to my aunt’s home in Ohio each year for Thanksgiving. I have a bunch of home photos but I can’t remember a time when we ever did a professional session like this.

Clients book family sessions for a variety of reasons. To document birthdays, to celebrate other milestones, yearly updates to portraits for grandparents and family too. Living in a military town brings another reason to schedule a family session; deployment.

Vanessa’s husband is due to deploy soon and she wanted to document the authentic love their family shares one more time before he left for a few months. Documenting the love a family shares is so important, especially when you know you won’t see each other for an extended period of time. To have those images to look at while your loved one is far away, I can think of nothing more precious to hold in your hand.

Emily and Eli, you two are the sweetest humans and I am so glad that you picked me to document your sibling love. Eli is my daughter, Emma’s best friend. Eli is so special to me, like my own child. Can I be your surrogate mama? You can’t say no. These two peeps have got this siblinghood thing down. I mean, you cannot look through this gallery and tell me that they don’t like each other. More smiling and laughs than going to the damn amusement park.

Emily had been wanting to schedule something with Eli for a while and my daughter finally sent me a “business inquiry” for Emily, haha. I was totally down and we made it happen. I don’t typically shoot downtown Colorado Springs but this really fits them and their personalities to a T. It was perfect, just like them. Thanks for sharing your rawness with me. Your joy with me. Yourselves with me. I love you both with all my heart.

Steven, Brandon, and Brandon’s family came down from Denver to spend an afternoon with me at Garden of the Gods for an extended family photography session near Christmas time. This session was super important to Steven and Brandon for multiple reasons.

Brandon’s grandfather had passed away and he did not have many photos with him, so capturing images with his grandmother was special and important to him. Steven and Brandon were also celebrating their 5 year wedding anniversary as well as being together for 10 years. I was so honored to be chosen to be the one who got to take this journey with them.

Extended family sessions are something special. To see parents with their babies and them with their babies, generations in the making, it’s the sweetest thing you can imagine. I got to meet up with Lori and her bunch during their December vacation to Colorado Springs and we got to play in the mountains and explore the beauty that is Colorado.

To be honest, this is the second time I got to meet Lori and her crew. On their scheduled session date, we met up and the wind was super chilly. We walked up to where we were going to start their session and looked at each other and I knew that it wasn’t going to work. They have twin newborn babes and a tiny sweet girl and with those kiddos in tow, we just couldn’t make it work and have everyone happy.

Comfortability and feeling safe. That is what I offer families during their time with me. I want you to feel like you can be whoever you are without judgments or faults. That your kiddos can enjoy the same feeling as well. In order for families to authentically connect with each other, you have to give them space to help them make those connections happen.

Have you ever dreaded scheduling a family photography session? I am guessing that you are concerned about what to wear, where to take the photos, and the fact that your kiddos might act less than perfect is making you sweat. I got you boo. I have a client closet and online service to help you with choosing your clothing, I have a client exclusive location catalog for you to browse through all the best locations and I LOVE kids, truly, so if they are acting crazy, it is probably going to be an amazing day for me!

Maria wanted to adventure with her sweet girl Charli and have me document their mother/daughter relationship. We met in Cheyenne Canyon and let Charli lead our time together. She is an adventurous little girl and I had so much fun following her lead as we journeyed through the area.

Sessions that focus on motherhood are special to me. I have five children in this blended family of mine. Each one of them is special in their own unique way and they all whole my heart. Maria wanted our session to focus on the love she has for Charli and the love Charli has for her. I wanted their clothing to be simple so we could really allow their connection to shine through. Charli is wearing a sweet little dress from my client closet and Maria was able to find the perfect dress for her using my online styling service.

When I get to shoot for myself, I almost always don’t edit the images for months. It was no different with this session for my cousin, Jenni, and her girls. Jenni is more like a sister than a cousin. Though we didn’t get close until later in life, we are thick and thieves and I love her and her heart so damn much.

I visited Iowa for the first time in years over the summer. My mother and I moved there when I was a sophomore in high school and I moved away shortly after I graduated. My mom stayed, along with a lot of my mother’s family. My cousin Jenni and her family hang their hats there too.

When we made plans to visit, the first thing I did was convince Jenni to let me photograph her and her girls in the water. This session was bucket list for me. I styled the clothing 100%. Jenni is wearing my wedding dress from the amazing We Are Reclamation. Her girls are wearing dresses that I hand-picked to go along with that dress. Jenni and her girls played barefoot in the creek, over the rocks and trees, and enjoyed each other. They let it all go. We just relaxed and I documented the love she has for those little girls and the love they have for their mama.

Sweet family. Sarra and her boys adventured with me in the Garden last month. Sarra and I planned out their session clothing well in advance. I ordered Harvey’s little jumper from one of my favorite Etsy shops, Dannie and Lilou. They have the most beautiful linen clothing for kiddos. They didn’t have Harvey’s size available so I reached out and they made it special, just for him.

Sarra was interested in capturing the innocence of her boys. The smallness of them. Her babies. This jumper was the perfect way to showcase that he was on the cusp of growing older, but still that small boy in Sarra’s mind. Both boys brought along with them little treasures and trinkets. Leland was proud of his glasses, Harvey, his little blue harmonica. It was special because it was them.

Leticia and her crew were as fun-loving and they were absolutely adorable. Her two sweet girls and her husband met me at one of my favorite new locations and we explored our hearts out. We adventured by the red rocks, on fallen cottonwood trees, snuggling up on blankets, hiking up paths, and secret staircases. It was like a fairytale.

I have been waiting to deliver this session for what seems like ages. I met Sarah at a Tuesday Together networking meeting. During this meeting, she said she really wished she could meet other local photographers who would actually be her friend and have it be genuinely real. I look at her, gave her my card, and said, “I’ll be your friend!”. The rest is history and what has really only been a few months but has seemed like a lifetime.

A mohawk, a bolo tie, the cutest pigtails, a man bun, and one barefooted mama, was this beautiful family session with Amanda Zoe and her crew. From the moment she and I talked, I was smitten with the love she had for her children. The grace and kindness. The genuine love and caring she exudes from her heart.

This family traveled down from Denver to hang out with me at the base of Pikes Peak in our breathtaking Garden of the Gods. This space allowed her family to explore and play. Connected. In love. Can I also say, her session clothing choices were on point! Like, really really. The whimsical boho style and feel of it all together were perfect for the setting and their personalities.

I want to let you in on a little secret of mine. I want to be a kid. Perpetually. I want to dress crazy and make goofy faces. I want to talk gibberish and eat all the candy. I want to dance until the sun comes up and sleep all day only to wake up and watch cartoons and eat pizza and ice cream. I know that as an adult I can’t do these things on a regular basis, but believe you me, I DO DO THEM SOMETIMES!! Honestly, I wish that I could all the time. That is my why for shooting families and especially kiddos.

Often times, we meet people that change our lives when we least expect it. I was a wreck when I arrived at that hostel in Denver. Over the next few days, my faith in people being kind was renewed. Somehow, it helped. Jocelyn was one of those people. When you go through something hard and there are people around to lift you up, you tend to hang on to those people with all your heart, even if they don’t really know the full reasons why.

I want to also take a quick moment to thank you all for filling up my fall calendar so quickly. My family and I truly appreciate your patronage to my small business. Truly. Each one of you that book with me helps me pay my monthly expenses and do things with my family that I would otherwise not have the option to do. From the bottom of my heart. Truly. Thank you. You keep the adventure in my soul and my heart in the clouds.

I think that things like this happen for a reason. Session postponements almost allow me to really understand and soak up who a family is, who their kids are. It was such a treat to finally meet them in person and adventure with them in the soulful Colorado Mountains. It did rain a tiny bit during our time together but their family session was everything I had envisioned when she first reached out to me. I call that a success.