When my goddaughter was born 16 years ago, it was my first experience with a newborn. At that time, I was a mere 28 years old and , quite frankly, knew nothing about babies. I remember getting the phone call that my sister was in labor. I was teaching at the time and after the last bell of the school day rang, I left the school and drove straight to the hospital to meet my parents, who were already waiting there. I can remember sitting in that waiting room for what felt like an eternity and then finally hearing the news that she was born. There are not many moments in my life that are etched as clearly and vividly as this moment, but I will never forget walking down the hospital corridor to the glass paned nursery and seeing that tiny little miracle for the first time. I didn’t know much at that age, but I knew that she was the embodiment of love and God all in one…and a true blessing.

Now, here I am 16 years later and she is a stoic and beautiful young woman. It is like I blinked my eyes and here we are. There is not much this girl can’t do. She is a stellar athlete and scholar, a master baker, crafter extrodinaire and, above all, she is kind, patient and strong beyond compare. We are all so proud of her.

When my sister told me she wanted to have my niece’s Sweet 16 portraits done, I wanted to do something that matched her style. I needed to do a session that was whimsical, natural and organic. As with any of my birthday sessions, the propping is kept to a minimal, so I can focus on the teen’s beauty and personality. Although we were supposed to originally shoot these photos at the beach, the weather report was not promising on the day of this session and I felt that greens would really be a better location for her session. As always, we scheduled the session at sunset and we had magical light at this particular location. I am so glad we opted to use this location. I love the dimension and texture of the greens and it really gives such a bohemian feel to the images.

It was hard to not get emotional when editing these images. She is so darn beautiful and so grown up. Here are a few of my favorites from her session.

If you are interested in a session, contact me.