You take it to the Heart

The Waiting is the Hardest Part….

~Tom Petty

For the final week of my class with Brooke Snow, our assignment was to find some inspiration outside of the world of photography and apply it to our photo session.  When my friend SlackerMama volunteered her family to be subjects for a session this week, I knew I had the perfect situation.  They live not too far from the quaint train depot in Historic Manassas, Virginia, and I figured that with her 30-week pregnant belly, we could do a fun “waiting” themed session at the train station.

S Family – thanks for giving up part of your SuperBowl Sunday to spend with me.  Your girls are adorable and I can’t wait to meet Baby Slacker!  Enjoy the wait ~K

When I walked into my suite at the University of Virginia on the first day of first year, I was a little bit worried.  You see, my roommate-to-be had sent me the traditional “getting to know you” letter (yes, we wrote real letters then), and she described herself in every way as the complete opposite of me.   When I showed up at school- me with my floral comforter, her with her black one; my secret antiperspirant – her crystal deodorant stone; my Birkenstocks – her combat boots… my fears magnified tenfold.  Fortunately, in the room next door, there was a similar mis-matched pairing, and Kathy and I found safety in each other.  I can remember countless nights standing with her at fraternity parties, trying to force ourselves to enjoy the awful beer and wondering how anyone could actually claim to like the stuff,  her teaching me how to drive a stick shift, and then actually letting me take her car occasionally, her teasing me as I went off to my “coke dates” where I would actually study with the guys from my engineering classes – no one ever seemed to believe that that actually happened.

As the years passed, we drifted apart, but recently reconnected on Facebook (have I mentioned how much I love FB?). When she found out that I was going to be in the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the same time that she’d be there with her girls, we set up a photo session at Duck Town Park.  It was wonderful to see her again, and her daughters were adorable.

I was thrilled to learn that Kathy is expecting a third addition to their family later this fall.  Even though she didn’t think she was far enough along to take real maternity photos, she obliged me with this one.  With one obvious exception she hasn’t changed a bit since first year!

Miss L is getting ready to head off to kindergarten this fall, and Kathy wanted to capture some images of her little girl before she started losing teeth…  I think this was my last shot of the day.  I always love it when I end on such a good note!

Miss M put on quite a performance on a little stage we found at the Duck Town Park.  She gave a wonderful rendition of Jingle Bells – I believe this shot was part of the grand finale :)

Kathy and her girls were staying at her parent’s house while on vacation.  They came along and were great assistants, and they even got to be in a few shots!

I’m going to end with my two favorites – sitting by the Sound…

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I’m lucky enough that one of the women, Beryl, lives just around the corner from me, so we’ve met several times over coffee and dinner.  Last week, we were paid a visit by the lovely and talented Marcia, aka Mrs. Classy, from Keller, Texas.  We had a wonderful time catching up with her in person, over dinner and then spent some time walking around downtown Leesburg practicing our photo techniques and cracking ourselves up.  If you saw three nutty women with cameras out last Sunday in Leesburg, that was us!

Beryl Young of Be Young Photography is currently located in Stone Ridge, and will soon be based out of Lovettsville, VA.  She does incredible lifestyle photography, and took our family’s photos this weekend.  She’s expecting a new addition to her family, and I can’t wait to help her document her first days with her baby girl this fall!

And this is Marcia Stulher of Classy Kids Photography.  Her tagline is “photography for the classy and sassy”, and that fits her to a T!  She’s a loyal and passionate friend and a fierce business woman. I couldn’t look at her while she was taking pictures of me because all she did was crack me up.  My face hurt after a while from all of her antics, but she could play it cool too.

So this final picture is a special one for Marcia… She kept telling us she didn’t understand the allure of senior photos where the subject was standing in the middle of the street.  I’m still not sure of the symbolism, but I think it’s kind of a fun shot!  My son is worried that she might get hit by the car, and I can assure everyone that she did not.

Finally, here’s a shot of what it felt like to be on the receiving end of these two with their cameras.  If you head over to Beryl’s blog, you can see her take on the same shot.

I’m planning another blog post this week on my thoughts about being on the other side of the camera.  It was definitely an eye-opening experience, and this session combined with my own family session this weekend, has taught me a lot about how my clients feel.  I look forward to sharing that with you this week!

I wanted to focus on taking some timeless photographs for them that captured this moment in their lives.  To make things even more exciting for them all, they are moving out of the area in mid-April, so I know this next month will be a total blur for them.

I hope these pictures froze a few memories for you B family.  I can’t wait to meet your new little one.

This last one isn’t a maternity shot, but I just can’t get over how cute Miss R was being.  She and her big Brother Mr. N were terrific photographer’s assistants.  They sat with me and made Mom and Dad laugh and whispered to make the baby kick.  They are going to be a great Big Sister and Big Brother!