Tyra Banks would be so proud

Even though my first attempt at booking a photographer did not go over well {catch up here}, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I wanted family photos. Our dogs really are our family and they aren't getting any younger. I just felt it weigh on my mind that it was important to get it done as soon as I could. So I hesitantly reached out to another photographer. She responded back to my initial email very quickly, which was good, but the same as the photographer before. I was still on the fence so I sat on it for a few weeks to think about it. When I finally decided to bite the bullet and book the appointment she and I arranged for me to drop off the {non-refundable} session fee at her home. Now, that was much different than before where I left the money at some random downtown business that had nothing to do with photography. I had the chance to meet her face to face and love on her animals (which went a long way in soothing my nerves).

I asked her to please just hold my hand because I didn't have a very good experience before. She seemed eager to not repeat the mistakes of the first photographer. Over the next month and a half, I would text her several times and..guess what...she always got right back to me. Imagine that! It's the little things, people. The time and place of the appointment were a little loosy-goosy. And, to be honest, it made me a little nutso. We didn't know exactly where we were going to meet her until a few hours before the actual appointment. However, I was able to cope with that because she was still communicating with me...it really made all the difference in the world.

The appointment went great! Even with the wind blowing my hair all over the place and the clouds rolling in to hide the sun for the first 30 minutes of the appointment. The dogs were..dogs. lol. They actually did very well, especially being off their leashes. There were stickers in the grassy area we were using and poor Lola was acting like a diva princess and looking at me with sad eyes, holding up one paw. I could almost read her mind, 'Why aren't you picking me up?! There are pokey things down here!' Duke doesn't really like the camera anyway, add in another dog being walked, and well..he made us work for his picture. I was jumping around making high pitched noises like a crazy person, trying to get him to look at us and perk up his ears. As if on queue, as soon as we finished with the dog pictures the clouds went away and that wonderful golden sunlight came out. Just in time for the pictures of just me and Jeremy.

Overall, I'm sure she snapped hundreds of photos. We ended up running around to about three or four different locations. Which makes the whole 'not knowing where the appointment is going to be at' thing a little more understandable. She didn't have set locations really. When we were driving around she would slow down and check out an alley way before deciding if she wanted to stop there or not. There really was no way to pre-determine the spots we ended up using.  She let me see one or two pf the photos on her camera and they were both amazing. This was the sneak peek photo she shared on her facebook page later that evening.

LaRae Russell Photography

 

The hour and half appointment went by smoothly. It was comfortable and a lot of fun. We were talking and laughing the whole time. She was a dream to work with and I have every confidence that she captured the true spirit of our little family. I am beside myself with excitement to see the rest of our pictures.