When Kara first contacted us about possibly doing photos with her family, we jumped at the opportunity. Like hibernating bears, the winter had been lean for us photography-wise.  But now the long bleak days of winter had since blown over and the DMV area buzzed with anticipation of cherry blossoms and warm weather…which we got…then it went away…and came back for a few hours…then got so cold it postponed said cherry blossoms. For those of use who experienced this confused weather pattern, every morning seemed like Christmas…nobody knew what meteorological surprise would greet us, including the possibility of snow.

All this being said, we scheduled the shoot for a date far enough in the future that springtime was bound to have the kinks worked out.  Which is why as Lauren and I checked our camera equipment on the way out the door the last thing we expected was a big fat raindrop to the face walking out the door. We reassured each other that the weather in Annapolis would be far different than that in D.C., and like storm chasers we boldly rode the 495 Beltway straight into the center of the hurricane….which would’ve been better, because hurricanes have good weather in the center. And more importantly…light.

We knocked on the door, huddling under a small portico to stay dry and met Kara and her family for the first time. We could’ve taken amazing photos just from Kara’s glow, her smile permeated the home and immediately we fell at ease. Their beautiful home had lots of windows (photographer happy dance), Danny playing with little Braelyn in the corner, and a feeling of family that was impossible to not capture. Braelyn watched us both suspiciously at first until we pulled the ultimate break-the-ice move…jumping on the bed.

My favorite part of family photography is going from the initial awkwardness of meeting these people (who we previously only had met online), finding common ground, gradually relaxing and by the end find ourselves laughing and breathing heavily on the floor with a new family of friends.  That was the magic of this shoot.  Some narrow-minded people might think that something as trivial as light is needed for a photo session, but I can tell you from shooting in Hawaii that light is just another factor.  What is essential in a shoot is love.  The kind of love that made our cheeks hurt at the end of the day, the kind of love that made us forget it was raining outside, the kind of love that echoed off the ceiling as the family jumped and wrestled on the bed.  This is the kind of love that the new baby would be coming to…and that is pretty cool.