Gymnastics Photography, Blue Springs, Mo ~Dragons In The Woods

I wear many hats. The ones I am most proud of are the ones my children have placed on my head and end in the word “mom”. As a “gymnastics mom”, I was so sad to see this competition season cut short. These girls practice year-round, some for as many as 30 hours a week. They leave school early, miss extra curricular activities, parties, and events. They have calluses and “rips” (the skin actually rips off of their hands) and bruises. For all of this they get typically less than 10 meets a year where they get to show off and (hopefully) be rewarded for their hard work and amazing achievements. This year that was only 4 meets. I’m a “fixer”. As soon as a problem or dissapointment presents itself, my brain starts working overtime trying to figure out how I can fix it, or at least make it a little better. I couldn’t fix this but as a photographer I could give them a day in the spotlight. I could show the world (or as many people as social media will allow) how beautiful and amazing they are. It was hot and the day was long, but there was a lot of laughter and fun. I photographed girls doing what they loved more than anything. I photographed sisters, friends, teammates, role models…family. This was one of the most fun and rewarding sessions I have ever done.
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Lexington, Mo Wedding Photographer: Zeller Wedding

Between the slow winter season and then quarantine, it had been a while since I had been shooting for clients so I was more than ready for this wedding! It felt great to be back behind my camera and to get to experience some normalcy and celebration for the first time in months. This wedding was a beautiful traditional church wedding and with a fun reception following. Here are my “favorites” from this gorgeous wedding.

THE DRESS: I feel like I use this one in every wedding post, but seriously…this dress (and bride) were gorgeous!

THE BEER PHOTO OPPS: So, maybe I’m old because this was new to me but when the bridal party arrived at the reception the first thing they did was puncture the side of beer cans with pocket knives and drink from the hole in the can which proved to be messy (and kind of a waste of a lot of spilt beer) but hilarious and provided some great photos!

THE FIRST DANCE: I was pleasantly surprised at all of the music at this reception. Lots of “old school” country and other music that was played at my very own wedding 16 years ago! They even had the same first dance song as we did!

THE MOTHER/SON(FATHER) DANCE: The Father/daughter dance gets me every time and this wedding was no exception but what I wasn’t expecting was for the father of the groom to join in on the mother/son dance. This was such a sweet moment full of emotion and you sure feel the love in this family as they celebrated this happy moment together.

IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED: My biggest favorite thing for this wedding would have to be that it happened at all! This bride and groom decided to take their chances instead of rescheduling everything amid the COVID-19 Pandemic and it paid off. With restrictions listed enough just prior to their wedding date, they were able to have a beautiful, somewhat socially distanced day with the people they love.

A BIRTHDAY PARTY: This also happened to be the jr bridesmaids birthday so she got her very own cake, singing of happy birthday, and presents at the reception! That plus a twirly dress and a dance floor makes a PERFECT birthday party for a little girl!

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Kansas City, MO High School Senior Session: Faliene

To say this is a crazy time for everyone would definitely be an understatement. But for High School Seniors it’s a time of missing out one of the big milestones of their life…graduation. We started planning Faliene’s session last summer. We threw around the idea of fall, but decided Spring would be best. We scheduled her session for over Spring Break but then, well…Coronavirus had different plans. Sometimes things work out for the best though and we ended up with lush green leaves on the trees and perfect weather. I had a little more trouble narrowing down which images to share than usual. Maybe because it’s my first session of the year thanks to Coronavirus and I’m just so excited! Maybe it’s because on my senior questionairre I ask my clients what feature they like best about themselves and Faliene said her “hair and eyes” and OMG no kidding! Maybe it was the perfect lighting of the overcast day or the fun locations we used and her ability to “strike a pose”. Probably a little bit of all of these things, but I just love this session Good luck to Faliene and all of the Class of 2020!2020-05-21_0001.jpg
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Blue Springs, Mo Family Photographer: The Paden Family

Finally sharing these beautiful images from my last session of 2019. They make me antsy to get back to shooting in the great outdoors! Spring sessions are starting to make their way onto my schedule though so in the meantime i will just relive the memories of shooting this fun extended family session at Burr Oak Woods.2020-02-04_0002.jpg
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Fall Family Photography: Espinoza Family

I had the pleasure and honor of shooting lots of sessions for friends this year and I love seeing them all together hanging out as a family. Families are so busy in this day and age that it is usually a rare thing to have everyone all in one place at the same time. It has also become abundantly clear that I know some really beautiful people! This family is not only beautiful on the outside, but also clearly just as beautiful on the inside. This was such a great session to wrap up the year!
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