Santa Barbara Family Session

I live in the landlock state of Utah, where the “lakes” here are actually man-made reservoirs. When I first moved here from Washington state I lived in Northern Utah surrounded by the beautiful Wasatch mountains. The past 6 years, I’ve lived in Southern Utah where I am surrounded by red sand, red rocks and these little reservoirs. It took me a while to appreciate them because they felt so small to me. I felt like I could boat across them in 5 minutes. I’m used to swimming and playing in Lake Roosevelt (81,000 acres of water), Banks Lake (27,000 acres of water), Moses Lake (6,500 acres of water)… not to mention the Pacific Ocean. I now get to play in Quail Creek (600 acres), Sand Hollow (1,300 acres) and Gunlock Reservoir. I like to take out my inflatable kayak, sometimes with my waterproof speaker or with my current book. Just sit there and float. This year is going to look a little bit different now that we have a little bundle of joy joining our family in May.

I say all of this because I CRAVE water, I crave sitting in the ocean, I crave listening to the waves crash over, the smell of salt water and the sunsets over the horizon. In February 2020, I attended Photo Native in Santa Barbra and signed up to take Brook Schultz styled family shoot. I never enjoyed family shoots, mums get stressed out if their child is behaving or not, stressed that they have the picture perfect moments… which then makes me stressed because I want to make mum happy. If I don’t get enough smiling photos or what I considered picture perfect photographs I felt like I disappointed the family.

What I learned from this family session is that kids are kids, with their own strong personalities and sometimes they can’t be reasoned with. A family session with your little ones shouldn’t be forced to have those picture perfect moments. Let us have your session be fun, let’s show off those missing teeth, let’s get dirty but it’s also remember the tenderness of being a parent. Let us soak in the sweetness that our children bring into our homes and into our lives.

All images were shot on Porta 400 film on a Canon EOS 3 developed through Richard Film Lab.