Harley Family

Heather has known she wanted me to capture her family for a long time.  Her family is everything to her and she wanted that preserved through my lens.  Then last fall she decided it was time.  Unfortunately, her doctors also decided it was time for ankle surgery.   She decided to delay portraits so she could make sure she’d have the full experience and adventure of a Jennifer DiDio portrait session sans a big boot! 

We all offered up several prayers that Guinness, Heather’s beloved almost 9 year old
German Shepherd, would
still be with them after the cold winter gave way to milder spring
temperatures.  He was projected not to make it to 7, so the Barnes’ feel
they have been living on borrowed time with their loving and protective
shepherd.   Every time he was looking too tired to rise, they cheered
him on, ‘come on Guinness, just a few more months.’   

Jeff and Heather are a part of bike club and love their time together on the Harley.  These two have been inseparable since they first started dating back in high school!  Jeff enjoys heading up to Gettysburg to ride around and explore the battlefields for hours.  He’s quite the Civil War buff and scouted out this location prior to our session.  He’s also has a passion for photography which has resulted in a giant collection of photos to chronicle his time at Gettysburg.  Now he has quite a few more to add to his collection! 😉

For you Civil War buffs, that’s Big Roundtop Jeff is riding off towards! 

It’s pretty clear that Adam and Zach are taking on their parents love of the open road! 

When it was time for the Barnes’ to get a dog almost 9 years ago, their timing happened to coincide with the timing of another family getting a puppy…or two I should say.  A father decided it would be a great Christmas surprise to get his 3 young children a brother/sister pair of German Shepherd puppies from an excellent local breeder.  Two major flaws with this plan—he did not consult his wife prior to making this decision and his job required that he travel a lot.  I think you can guess where this is going!   

While dad was away, in a fit of utter frustration, mom packed up the puppies and took them to the pound.  Cue lucky day for the Barnes family!  Although, Heather did not want a puppy.  She had said so repeatedly.  While they were looking around the pound, not really seeing any dog that was the perfect match, in came the Shepherd puppies.  The female didn’t even make it back the hallway before she was scooped up.  Jeff and Heather relented and decided to check out her brother.  He climbed right up into Jeff’s lap….all resistance melted away and here we are almost 9 years later!   

As you can imagine Heather is prizing these images.  What’s so cool about this one in particular, is in the general sweet moment, but also in the details.  Heather is an equestrian (check out her ear rings)….she loves her time riding with Jeff (check out Guinness’s collar) and her boy’s dog tag is also visible….so much power in one small image! 

It’s uncanny how often a session is over, my assistant Hayley and I are packing up the gear and preparing to head out and then magical moments happen.    We were all walking to the car when Heather mentioned this was the first time Zach had ever ridden on the Harley.  WHAT!  First time—well, how can I not immortalize this moment for them!?  I grabbed my camera and the above image confirmed for me the best moments in life are rarely the ones we plan for!