Nearly every year since this young lady could talk, I’ve taken a walk with these two lovelies, and we take photos…this year, video too! I love that I get to call that a job. I cherish that I get to document how beautifully this woman wears motherhood…how bright, happy, and energetic her daughter has grown…their truly special bond…and how they so sweetly make their house a home.

After many sessions at parks and in fields, this was our first session in their home. Something comes alive in me with a home session. I feel like I can’t truly know a client or their family story until I set foot in their home. I wish I could return the favor and have them all over to mine! (No lie…a client party has occurred to me.)

A home says so much about what a person values. I can see it in the photos they’ve framed, what’s tacked to their fridge/windows, what’s lying around or neatly tucked away. Home sessions are where kids shine. It’s their domain and they’re proud of it…eager to show me and my camera around.

I couldn’t care less about what a home looks like…I care only about what it means to a family.

Growing up, I moved every 4–5 years, so homes were temporary and transient for me. I think that’s why these sessions mean so much to me. There are some childhood homes I can’t walk through in my mind’s eye, and it makes me sad. How could I have lived between four walls for so long and forgotten the floorplan or how furniture was arranged?

What I’d give for a reminder of what a day at home felt like at that age.

It was a joy to capture another page of this mother-daughter story and to celebrate all the love that makes their house a home.