!  congratulations to Chris and his parents

thanks for making my job so easy.  have a blast in NC this fall Chris!!

VP of student council

captain of softball 2yrs

 NHS president

survivor of S.W.A.T. team/bank robber shoot out… make that two of us!  our shoot was delayed by three hours as a crazed gunman held up traffic on I-75 and police shut down all access to our photo location.  that’s just a fun anecdote, probably not helpful on college apps, Ash. homecoming queen

marching band chick

school mascot last year

varsity athlete {softball, volleyball, basketball, track}

a respectable young lady and total “role model” material

 class president

dabbler into the guitar world

and finally in her own words “being totally awesome”.  you should read this with the modest sarcasm it was spoken from as i asked for her list of accomplishments.  she’s totally adorable and the most refreshing mix of humble and confident i’ve ever seen in a young woman her age. 

We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. {Japanese Proverb}

p.s. just so you all know, going in with your friends for a limo to prom/homecoming is SO cliche.  all the trendsetters are going in on custom photo sessions.  just sayin.

this of course meant that she was FREEZING {but you’d never know it huh?} and got to do guerrilla style wardrobe changes behind a blanket in the woods.  she even had a chance to sneak in a series of shots with her BF who was a very helpful assistant with all our crazy ideas.  awwwww.

i realized as i was editing who her “twin” is.  i love playing this game with people.  who do they look like, or better yet, who do they look like the love child of?  it’s THE BEST way to pass time in a long line at the airport or wal*mart.  but i digress.  jenni’s hit me hard with that shot above.  she could be a double for supermodel adriana lima.  *google image her at your own discretion and you’ll see what i mean* i continue to enjoy how photography makes my world bigger, and smaller at the same time.  i get to discover so many places and meet so many people and hear their stories.  big world.  jenni came to me after seeing some pics i had done for a classmate of hers from high school.  as we chatted during the shoot, it turns out that she was good friends with my younger brother years ago, and actually spent lots of time at my parents’ farm riding horses and passing time on warm summer days.  small world.

congrats to Jenni as she leaves Wright State University next week with an undergrad in gen business.  also, thanks to her for her service in the air force as an E5/SSgt.  good luck in your next adventure – whether defending our country, continuing your studies or stunt-doubling in a victoria’s secret promo

 at age 12 i really did learn a lot.  sleepless nights pacing the floor with a crying baby.  birthday cakes for a one year old covered in chicken pox.  blondie curls, gap teeth and upside-down heart shaped sunglasses that melted hearts.  as a scrawny pre-teen i popped her up on my undeveloped hip and carried her around as my own.  the disappointed glares of assuming strangers never bothered me a bit.  if they thought i was her teen mom, i just took it as acknowledgement of the hard work i happily did to take care of my living doll, my baby, my first real wish come true. truth is, all that was the easy stuff.  i got my own family to deal with just in time to miss the rocky hormonal years.  our amazing mama got to take the full brunt of the era where you cry unexplicably and have no idea what’s best for you and you hate your mom because she does.  the hardest part for me is appreciating how much she has grown in the moments i missed.      i had always wanted a sister, but when i got her, the age gap made me her caretaker.  making the transition from big sister to peer sister has been a bit uphill.  just now we can share clothes and movies and experiences.  but it’s hard to watch your first baby deal with boys, or drive a sketchy car off into the night.  i imagine those are the times when a peer sister should be the one keeping your secrets and figuring out life with you.  instead i have to suppress my unsolicited advice and remind myself that i am not her mother.  {which by the way, she should be very very grateful for.  it gets no better than the mama we have.  it’s a shame that you can’t appreciate that sometimes until you become a mother yourself }  i’m fumbling my way thru’, taking it as a practice preview for when my life will consist of two teen daughters, and trying to force myself to be a teen with her again to make up for lost time.  it’s really not such a stretch   Lord knows i spent enough of my childhood trying to be an adult.  ironic that i spend my adulthood acting like a kid.  { i think i just had an epiphany!}  so when we get together now, it’s equal parts of intentional influence and immature nonsense.  one week i drag her along to a women’s growth group, the next we skinny dip in a public lake.  most days i roll my eyes as she is unnecessarily awkward and shy… i will have to wait for her to become comfortable in her own beautiful skin and gain confidence in her impressive intelligence.  meanwhile we laugh at inside jokes and her hilarious snorts that usually follow.our tradition of seasonal photo shoots has stood the test of time.  have to say tho’, this time felt more like two sisters on the same level having a blast than ever before.  through my lens this day, there was very little evidence of my baby.  i think i was finally able to see my sister.  it was a good day… hopefully the prototype for many more.  we shopped, ran around town trespassing for the sake of art, and shot til we {and the sun} dropped.  we even topped the day off with side by side pedicures. most astonishingly, she jumped into the leadership role, pulling me along when i uncharacteristically wanted to chicken out of shooting at this crazy artist’s house we spotted. great call. 

i heart you too Kaitlin Cherie.  i’m thankful for you, our story and the journey. 

xoxo,

Sissy

sue, i’m sure i don’t need to hear it from me, but you should be so proud of your daughter. it was a pleasure to meet you both, and i’m happy we got to spend such a beautiful morning together.  oh, and no worries, there are plenty of pics with her gorgeous smile… the kind i’m guessing the mom in me would want.  it’s just that the photographer in me couldn’t get over her model looks, so those are these ones i settled on sharing today.  cd on it’s way, thanks!

thanks for choosing me shawna, thanks for making the long haul, and thanks for enduring all the catcalls and spectators.  guess you gave ‘em something to talk about!  other than that, we didn’t do too shabby for a last minute emergency location change huh?  good thing no one will ever know the difference

*speaking of music, i think that pics are best viewed to the tune of your favorites.  i can’t stand those sites where they impose their own collection into the background, so i suggest opening another window and tapping that wonderful resource called pandora.com.  get your custom sound going, then come back and add the visual dimension to your sensory stimulation bliss. go ahead, i’ll wait*

ready?  now.  i know it’s overkill but i started with 50 FAVES.  it was all i could do to narrow to these 15.  her cd is maxed out at 6.3 billion images she rocked so many sweet locations for meum, really with this beauty?  fave straight out of camera!work thisand that. thank you very much.dreamcometrue!laundrymat or laundromat ?  {debatable} either way, i’m SO excited to move this to the “done it” file.  no, make that the “revisit with my next rockstar client” file. we found the greatest colors!and the prettiest patch of natural light on earth

can’t you see a super cute engagement session here?k, i know i have to quit.  leaving you with this very favorite over all!!!!

molly maloney, you rocked my lens, and made my heart jump with artistic excitement.  hope someone brightens your week the way you did mine!!  -photolove-

thanks for playing along with us Allyson.  you have a CD full of pics coming your way, and look,  i was able to pull away from your gorgeous eyes for 20 seconds and work some great body shots in there after all.  look for the ones back by the wheat stuff, they’re my fave