Perhaps it’s just my memory, but I can’t recall a summer so full of heavy rain. And not just rain, but sever thunder and lightning as well. You know the scary kind that makes you jump and unplug all your computer equipment. This crazy on again, on again weather has presented a real challenge when it comes to scheduling family portrait sessions. I felt like Houdini trying to cram four sessions into the only two hour rain free top hat for an entire week!

One of those sessions was for familiar faces, Ann and Jay. We met at Mandy and Charles wedding and they wanted to have pictures made to celebrate the rare moment the whole family all visited at the same time. Ann and I were on a constant weather vigil, calling, texting and emailing back and forth for days. But eventually, our window of opportunity was slamming shut since everyone was going to be heading home by morning. So we decided to just shoot the portraits at the house instead of the beach. It wasn’t ideal, but the most important thing was that they were all together.

I packed the car with tons of gear, grabbed Helen so she could help me set up all the lighting and we headed to Sandestin. En route, we received a call from Ann. The rain had stopped! YES!!! Finally a break! We were sooooooo excited, Helen and I celebrated with coffee cake. The weather miraculously turned perfect and we enjoyed every minute of our cloudless play time in the sand. The cool thing about our erratic weather is when it does stop, we are treated to amazing sunsets with vibrant orange light and deep blue skys, which we really appreciate since it’s become as rare as having the whole family together.

These two could barely keep a straight face the whole time!

When asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, he replied, “A Teenager!” Good answer.

When asked the same question, she smiled and said “a Scientist.”  I replied, You must be really smart!  Laughing, she said “Yeah, You got my number!”

This is our future defender of America. He’s going to be a sniper. I bet he rocks at video games too.