While staying up in Seattle this past weekend, I got to spend lots of quality time with my dear friend Amy. Amy is one of those remarkable women who is just a "steady as she goes" kind of person. On the one side, she is a solid, dependable, reliable, level headed and straight-forward gal. One the other side she is incredibly funny, playful, creative, artistic, fun loving, and an absolute joy to be around. Amy is a pragmatic straight shooter which is something I absolutely love and admire about her. She's also the most generous, kind, compassionate and thoughtful person you will ever meet. A devoted mother who is practically single handedly raising her two beautiful daughters while her fabulous husband is gone 6 months at a time on tours in Afghanistan. This gal does it all and she does it well.
Amy has been a rock for me over the past 2 years offering emotional and tangible support as I navigated a most challenging transition in my life. I could always turn to her and know she would give me well thought out and practical advice. When I was planning this trip I was super excited that I would be able to get images of her and her daughters to send to her husband and put on her walls. Little did we know that her husband was planning a surprise trip and showed up just a little over a week ago for his 3 week stint back home. The timing could not possibly have been better! I was able to capture images of all FOUR of them together, a very very very special moment in time for them. The day was dark and gloomy but the mood was not, and everyone had glowing smiles! You'll see that Amy has a thousand-watt smile that could light the universe! Her girls, Anna & Alex, are two of the cutest, sweetest little bugs on the planet and I just completely fell in love with them. I so enjoyed watching the special relationship they have with their dad even though they don't get to see him as often, it's clear how near and dear he is to their hearts.
We did most of the shoot indoors at their home because it was just so cold and dreary outside but did venture out for a few minutes around their neighborhood before realizing that the girls were not feeling the outdoors. By then, two hours in, they were done with the shoot but we still managed to grab some family shots on the couch. I had to do some creative lighting techniques because there wasn't enough ambient light and using flash would have cast shadows on the wall behind them due to the proximity so I played around with a technique I developed a while back. It worked well enough! I'll be coming back up to the area in April for another shoot with another friend who lives up there and I am so excited to capture her family too!
After our shoot we drove into Seattle to help Jayme get all set up for her fashion show and then had a rocking time there. The next day Amy & James showed me and my James around Seattle for the speedy gonzalez tour in the 3 hours we had before needing to head to the airport! It was just a truly amazing and wonderful weekend!!! Amy & James, thank you for being such amazing hosts! I hope you love your sneak peek! Your girls were beyond adorable! Love you and your family so very very very much!!! xoxoxoxoxoxox
