challenger

Mom warned me how much resistance her family gives with their family photo sessions.  (Are you beginning to notice a theme here with many of my family sessions?  I never fully understood the extent of how much people dreaded their family portrait sessions until now.  Really makes me wonder how any photographer can stand taking family photos in a studio box all day?)

Mom continues to organize the dreaded family portrait session though because, like so many moms, she feels the urgency to preserve these fleeting moments with her family.  Unfortunately the rest of the family doesn’t feel the same urgency, which is why often photo sessions in the past haven’t produced the moments mom was hoping to preserve.   Without moms in this world I think the average family would have about 20 photos total to document their family (and half of those would probably be of the cars!)  Well, this time was different.

This session was shot at the Bowen home, the place where their family memories are naturally made.  Stephenie shared her desire to get great shots of her family playing in the yard and hanging out like they would normally.  I knew exactly what she meant—photos that tell their story!   By the end of our session Hunter, who’d been most resistant to being photographed, was asking me to take more photos of him and the tricks he was performing! 

Caroline’s the dancer but she convinced Mom to try some moves out with her!  She wasn’t too impressed by Mom’s moves but they did have a lot of fun trying!

Stephenie did not grow up with her mom, so being a mom now takes on a special significance to her.  It’s unchartered waters for her and she is doing everything she can to deeply vest herself in the role.  She is a constant presence for her kids.  It’s easy for kids to take the role of mom in their lives for granted because it’s all they’ve ever known …mom is just always there when they are sick, when they are performing, when they are competing, when they are quarreling, when they are giggling—Mom is there.  Stephenie has drawn a line in the sand re the priority of her kids, life may try hard to pull her away, but she will not cave!

Audrey is the family escape artist!

Stephenie struggled to find balance with her role in the family business, Burns Septic, when she became a mother.  The business was in constant competition for her attention, pulling her away from her kids and she knew something had to change.  She and Jarrett hired someone to fill the office management job she had been doing and she found relief.  Her lead role could now move to a support staff role and she could plant both feet into her job as a mother. 

Jarrett and Steph met back in middleschool…later he was on the football team and she was a cheerleader.  Now 15 years later, here they are, still in love and forging forward in this life mindful of all God has blessed them with.  Equally as important to Stephenie as her role as a mom is her role as a wife.  She wanted her photos to show the love she and Jarrett have found and committed to one another.  I think we nailed it! 

The Challenger is their date night car—no kids, no juice boxes, no agendas needing signed, no general grubiness kids bring to a car!  When I encourged them to kiss like they did back in high school when parking Steph said, ‘back in highschool!  ha–that was last week!’  You go girl!!!

We ended our session in the pool while the sun was setting.  Mom was a great sport for a portrait idea I had that she was game to try.  (typically this would be a separate session)  The set up for this was supposed to happen with the kids out front so they wouldn’t distract Mom…well they were fascinated and watched the whole time (causing no distraction).  After I finished shooting the portrait I looked over to see all 3 kids watching mom in amazement—such a cool moment!  Then the kids amazed me with their diving board tricks—can you tell Caroline is a dancer??!!  G O R G E O U S mom and daughter alike !!!  Thanks also for the Malibu & Cranberry and pool cool down after this session was over!