Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of shooting at my alma mater thanks to an old family friend. Brooke and I have known each other since we were little girls. Our moms are best friends and because Brooke is a couple of years older than me…I often got her hand-me-downs. Fast forward a few years and I followed Brooke to Peace College. I remember one day in particular that my mom and I took a day off from school to visit Peace and hand deliver my application. Brooke met up with us in the dining hall. Seeing a familiar face made me feel right at home. After a tour around campus, my mom had me standing in front of the Main building holding a bouquet of balloons to celebrate my acceptance. She must have taken a gazillion photos that afternoon. She then realized that she had no film (remember those days). We had a good laugh over that! Going back to campus with Brooke brought up all those memories…and while the college has been through a number of changes over the past five years, it still feels like home. Interestingly enough, Brooke tells me that our session was their first time having official “family photos” done. Hey Brooke – let’s make that happen more often, mmmkay? Brooke’s little girl, Emma Kate, took a little while to warm up to me. Emma Kate has met me before at my mom’s shop, but meeting someone in a store and spending any time with them are two very different things. Luckily, I speak kid…and Emma Kate and I quickly became friends. At 4 years old, I let her call the shots (you know, with a little bit of direction). In some cases, this meant she wanted her parents to take photos by themselves (which I entertained a little bit)…in other cases, it meant a lot of silly faces. Either way, we had fun with it. I’m hopeful that these photos show you all sides of Emma Kate’s beautiful personality. Sassy, sweet and silly! Actually, if it wasn’t for the sun disappearing, we probably could have shot for much longer. As we were slowing down, that’s when Emma Kate started really getting into it. You know what that means, right? I know where to find a model when I need one! Cough Cough – do you SEE this last shot? That’s all her. All that said, we had an incredible session and I’m so glad you (Brooke) contacted me. Thanks for being such a fun family to work with and I hope you love your photos as much as I do.