backyard garden family session

Lydia + Luke are long-time clients of Expressions and friends! They have come to me for all milestones of their growing family for over 16 sessions + counting with their two daughters, Evelyn and Amelia. This year though Lydia wanted to include her entire family in our session. Lydia’s mother Doreen faced a long battle with cancer treatments and although she has appeared in previous sessions with Lydia’s family we have never done a shoot with Lydia’s brother and sister in the mix. When deciding on a model family to showcase this new offering, our team considered families who were longtime clients, would especially love and cherish an heirloom like this and also not mind being a guinea pig for The Legacy Collection.

When I first brought this project to Lydia’s attention, I had only began explaining everything it entailed when she stopped me mid sentence. The second I mentioned video, she responded with an astounding “Yes! Yes! Whatever it takes, yes!”. The opportunity to preserve the sound of her mother’s voice in a professional manner for her young daughters and nephew was something she couldn’t pass up.

One of Doreen’s favorite activities with her granddaughter’s is gardening and she has quite the green thumb! Her backyard is full of beautiful flowers and landscaping design with every detail thought out. It’s the most impressive garden I think I’ve ever seen! She even took the time to strategically plan out her space. Luke, with a degree in architectural design, drew a model of her backyard, noting North, South, East and West, and Doreen was able to place each plant where it would flourish. Her backyard heaven includes a patio, pergola, hanging lanterns, potted plants and a hammock that create a colorful dream like setting right out the back door. Needless to say, the photo opportunities were endless!

Lydia has two siblings, a sister, Jessica, and a brother Ethan. Jessica + her husband Grant and Ethan + his wife Lorena and four-month-old son Charlie, also joined us for the day.  We started our session capturing each family sector individually, before bringing them all together for a fun filled day with Nannie (what the grandkids call Doreen). One of the most amazing parts about Doreen’s yard is the diversity of settings in one place. I was able to capture Jessica + Grant under the pergola with stunning robin’s egg blue bird cages. Moments later, I was able to get  sweet family shots of Ethan + Lorena + Charlie in the hammock. While each backdrop was different, the overall look was cohesive. It was a perfect setting to say the least!

One of Evelyn and Amelia’s favorite things to do with Nannie is water the plants. They grabbed the watering can and made sure each flower had plenty to drink. Evelyn also loves to swing her dress around and dance. She and Nanny put on quite the show for us with their dance moves!

Little Charlie isn’t quite big enough to help with the gardening, but Doreen made sure he got to partake in the dancing, held safely in Nannie’s arms.. Even though Charlie is too young to remember these times, I know he will look back on these pictures and cherish the moments.  

We finished out the day by gathering the whole family together for some classic portraits. I was able to highlight the special relationship each one has with their mother, siblings and their families in images they will treasure for years to come.

One of my favorite series from the entire day though, were the portraits of Doreen herself. She has a witty personality and is always quite fashionable. Wearing a navy and white floral dress, she put on a pair of oversized sunglasses. She showcased her lively spirit twirling her dress around in her favorite place, the garden. Her family won’t be able to look at these pictures without laughter and smiles.

Lydia, thank you for taking a leap of faith with The Legacy Collection, allowing Anthony and I to take a test run and create a heirloom for your family.

-xo-

Jamie