This sweet in-home newborn session was just what I needed last week. I had been waiting to meet Miss Liv for weeks as we needed to postpone their first scheduled session to allow this sweet girl to acclimate to her home at high elevation. I was so excited to hear that I was finally able to make the journey up to their Colorado mountain home and hang out with them and their sweet baby girl.

Canyons, mountain views, trees, water, and boulder areas pepper the lands around where Laura and David live, and I was in awe. My drive up and through the mountain also included cutting through one of the many burn scars left in our Colorado forest from recent wildfires. It was a quiet two-hour ride and it allowed me to reflect on many things as our minds tend to let us do when we are by ourselves wandering.

Hey friends! I am teaming up with my good friend Sarah of Vintage Violets Photography to document your authentic love during the Fountain Creek Ranch Micro Wedding Day, Sunday, May 16th, 2021. The Fountain Creek Ranch is a new wedding venue as of 2020 and offers their wedding couples an authentic Colorado ranch-style wedding complete with a western boho-style ranch house surrounded by beautiful pasture land on the Fountain Creek.

Believe me, I know, getting married can be a stressful adventure. There are so many moving pieces to pull together in order for it all to work out the way you intend. Having a micro wedding is becoming a popular choice for many reasons. Ease of planning, fewer formalities, easier on the pocketbook and more, are just a few of the justifications for having a micro wedding in lieu of a larger, more formal, wedding.

Dawn reached out to me a few weeks back wanting to do a branding session for her new photography business, Dawn Autumn Photography with me. Dawn and I met when I look my kids to the Great Wolf Lodge a few years back. She was helping us with our time there and we got to chatting about photography. I gave her my card and we have stayed in touch since.

I have watched Dawn grow in her photography journey. Last year around this time, she booked a mentorship with me and we talked over technical things she was having trouble with, we ate some delicious pizza together, and then we photographed a beautiful family side by side. Afterward, we worked on some editing techniques and I have been in contact with Dawn on and off checking in on her and her growth.

This is my second time hanging out with Miss Addison, her mama, and her daddy. This time, however, she got to introduce me to her new baby brother, Hudson. I traveled down to Canon City, Colorado to document in their home now that Hudson had arrived with a Lifestyle Newborn Session.

When I walked up to their home, I knew I wanted to grab an item from nature nearby to incorporate into the session. I asked Sarah for some scissors and snipped a few branches from their pine tree in the front yard. I could hear Addison inside talking and when they opened the door she was very excited to show me around her home.

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.

The Fountain Creek Ranch is a historic wedding venue located just south of Colorado Springs. They are a new venue that launched during one of the hardest years we have had in a long time. They are still here though and I wanted to share their lovely space with you!

Alex, Daniel, their kiddos + I explored the house and grounds at the Fountain Creek Ranch on a fall day. The house was built as the Frost Family home and was lived and worked in by the Frost Family for some time. The ranch has decided to open its doors and land to host authentic Colorado weddings, lucky you!

I enjoyed the time I spent watching and hearing the kids play in the rooms and hallways. Each room holds different vibes and possibilities. The grounds of the ranch has its own flower garden which, when in full bloom, takes your breath away. The land is on the Fountain Creek as well so there are chanced to explore the creek area along with the large cottonwood trees that inhabit the land.

Elopements were the word for 2020 and 2021 is looking to be just as elopement heavy. So many couples have opted to elope instead of having a large wedding due to all of the reasons you could think of for 2020. Personally, I only take on elopements are smaller/less formal weddings as a rule of thumb. I love hanging out with my couples and document their love in an authentic and natural way.

Jennifer + Jay eloped with me in Colorado Springs at the end of 2020. They drove down from their home in Woodland Park with her in the backseat with a blanket between them so he couldn’t see her! It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. He pulled up and I was like, “where is Jennifer?”, I could hear her from behind the blanket saying hello to me. I die. hahaha

I was lucky enough to travel to Arkansas and spend time with this sweet family to document their new baby boy, Knight with an in-home newborn session. David and Shereka were so welcoming when I arrived at their home. They let me do my thing by finding great little pockets of light throughout their home and I think that the spots I found worked perfectly for this session.

Their home was quite dark with little natural light access. I found some light by their backdoor out of their bedroom and also in a bathroom by the window, a lovely spot in one of their older sons’ rooms that I could use, as well as a nice shaded area between their garage and house. I moved around some furniture and set it up for making use of the light that I had. It was perfect.

When I get to work with a client for both their maternity AND their newborn session, I feel extra special. It is something special to trust someone to document not only one but two amazingly important times in their life. Laura is due in just a few days and I am so excited to get that message that their sweet babe has arrived.

I noticed something during my time together with Laura and David. David helped Laura along during our session. Making sure her every step was carefully taken and he was there to ensure she didn’t fall. It makes me think about how it might feel to be the dad in a pregnancy. I have been pregnant, but I am not a dad. To feel so much love for someone before you have ever met them, let alone felt their presence, in the unique way only a mother can. They protect and care for and love that sweet babe, right from the start. That is some powerful love.

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!

Madison and Brandon are high school sweethearts. Madison reached out to me because they had a dream of eloping in the Rocky Mountains. They wanted to proclaim their love to one another in our beautiful Colorado landscape and I had just the spot for their private ceremony together.

I met this lovely couple at one of my favorite locations, in fact, I also eloped here. Each time I go here, I relive my own time with my sweet husband and it revives the romantic parts of me. It’s almost like a gift to myself to take these beautiful couples to this spot of mine. To have them laugh and love in the same space that I gave my forever love to Daniel.

Erin lives in another state and they both have jobs that make travel hard with the restrictions in place. Erin was lucky enough to get some time during the holidays to make the trip to Colorado to spend some much needed time with Bobby. Erin and Bobby had only seen each other a handful of times when we met for their session at the end of 2020 because of the COVID pandemic. It was so lovely to see their love on fire for one another during our time together.

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.

Shaylyn and Taylor wanted something different for their engagement session with me. Lovers of the outdoors and all things nature, they really wanted to showcase the beauty of where we live near the mountains. This location immediately came to mind and just in time because if we would have waited just a few more weeks, this spot would have been inaccessible.

I used to think that if you fought in your marriage, that you didn’t have a good one. This was because I wasn’t taught what marriage truly looked like. It has taken me YEARS (I am 34) to finally figure out that marriage is so much more than what I thought it was. It is respect and fighting with respect. It is love and fighting with love. It is agreeing and disagreeing and all the things in between. What makes a marriage is not perfection or bliss. It’s the desire to stay with the one that stole your heart and choosing them. Every. Single. Day.

Have you ever met someone you didn’t know that just made your heart soar? This family does that to me. Sweetness to the core. Tiffany reached out to have her sweet boy Liam and her family documented. Liam had a hard landing into life and Tiff and Cam wanted to celebrate their sweet boy by documenting their first family photos.

Tiff is wearing one of my client closet dresses, my favorite one in fact. It allows the freedom of the wind to blow and create movement and feminine grace in her images with her son. Shortly into our time together, sweet Liam wanted to nurse. It was so enjoyable for me to spend time with Tiff, Cam, and Liam as Tiff gave the tiny human she held in her arms nourishment from her own body. How amazing are women that we can not only grow a person but an entirely new organ and THEN keep them alive, well-fed, with nothing more than what we already have?