Jake

As parents, time is not on our side.  It marches faster than we’d like.   No amount of pleading or cajoling will stop the inevitable rhythm of its cadence through our lives.

 

 

 

One day our children fit
snugly into our laps, the next they lay their head on our chest while they stand to hug us, and just a few months
later we find ourselves swapping roles as they tower over us.  The days can often feel eternal, but the
years will always fly by when raising our children.

 

 

This was a special senior portrait session for me because I was
partnering with the Roach family to celebrate Jake’s senior year.  The
Roach family was my first ever family portrait client!  Three years ago Kathi was one of the women in my life who cheered me on and believed that my lens was something others would love viewing their family through.    She had tried to hire me to take family portraits long before I started my business and I told her she needed a professional….so yeah, this family has a special place in my heart!

 

 

Jake plays football for Liberty High school and this is a huge part of his life.   Mom
wishes her boys had chosen golf, much less anxiety, but no such luck!  Kathi and Brian
accompanied us on this  session and were a big help to my assistant Grace
and I while we created these athletic portraits.  We were putting into practice some portrait techniques I learned from a Sports Illustratrated photographer I trained with. Jake was more than happy to oblige!  Dad threw footballs to Jake.  We re-created the 1950’s football card pose you see above for dad as well…you’ll see that hanging big in his office very soon!

 

Jake told me about the LHS football player tradition to touch the Liberty lion every time they walk out onto the field.  This will bring back a flood of memories for Jake years from now.

 

 

While Jake shines as a football and baseball athlete, even more important is who he is as a young man.  He is quick to smile and has a relationship with his parents that is filled with love, laughter and encouragement.   While watching them together I kept thinking, ‘I’d be blessed to have that relationship with my boys when they are teenagers.’

 

This summer Jake went on a
life-changing mission trip to Haiti.  He stepped into the heart of poverty and
learned what it means to be filled by giving.  The little kids fell in love with him and just about every photo his mom shared of him in Haiti involved him giving a piggy back ride to one of the Haitian children who had a smile a mile wide.

 

 

 

 

I told Jake he reminded me of something from a Transformer movie here!   After all the years of commitment to football—how cool to preserve Jake’s athletic pursuits in action!  My own boys have already put in their request for these portraits when they are seniors!    May be doing these with one of our Ravens families coming up as well!

 

 

Jake, may the Lord smile upon you and guide you every step along the way as you grow into all He has created you to be!