I’ll be honest. I was a little nervous when Brittney, a professional photographer here in Amarillo, asked me to take her family photos. I always get nervous when I’m shooting for other pros! But once I started the session at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens I was totally at ease because her family is so much fun! First, her son is a definitely a photographer’s kid so that made things easy. Second, her family has a natural way of interacting with each other that makes those candid shots a breeze. I barely had to do a thing to bring their personalities out in the pictures. It seemed more like a fun evening than it felt like work to me.

About five years ago, when I was just starting my photography business, I asked the Dolezol family if I could take their pictures for practice. They graciously accepted my offer and all these years later, I got to take their family pictures again. It’s kind of unbelievable how much their kids have grown and how much I’ve been through as a photographer in that span of time.

You know what I love about three year olds? We’re on their time, their schedule, and they honestly run the photo session - which makes my job easy! Little Kennedy here is so spirited and precocious. The best photos that we got (in my opinion) are the ones where her sunny personality shines through. I love the way she hugs her mom and laughs with her dad. I feel like those are the photos that mom and dad are going to look back on and remember what she was like during this time. It’s easy to forget how your babies were even a month ago. I think pictures can help jog those memories more than anything else.