There’s no better session to kick this fresh start off with than with the Barker family and their Northern Virginia family portraits! If you’re a frequenter to this corner of the internet that I’m blessed with then you may notice things look a little different around here. I thought it would be a good idea to work on a complete website and blog redesign in the middle of summertime and moving. (Insert a little laugh and eye roll) I may be a bit crazy for taking all of that on, but I’m so happy with the end result! I desired a simpler, more cohesive look and feel to both the website and blog and believe that I was able to achieve that with the amazing ShowIt5 platform! What a summer it has been! We moved at the end of July and are finally settling in enough to where I can do more than just the bare minimum to get by in day-to-day life and business. And I’m super grateful to share that we have childcare help again so now I’m so glad to finally be catching up on blogging and sharing the images from shoots and weddings over the past few months.

I’d love to share a bit about these dear friends of mine, however one blog post simply wouldn’t be able to capture and convey how special they are to me and my family. So I’ll just give you a brief introduction for now. :) I met Jenny through Instagram about three years ago after she found me by searching a hashtag for an author that we both adore. Several comments and conversations over Instagram were shared for about a year until we finally had the chance to meet in person when Michael and Jenny had me photograph Jane Anne’s senior portraits. Since then they’ve become like family to us and I’m sure you can see why. Their genuine joy and love is evident even in these photographs. Michael and Jenny are so warm and welcoming,  Justin and I have loved getting to know each of them and we always love when our families get together! Jenny is a talented writer, encourager, and joy-finder. She shares bits of her heart on Instagram and more on her blog. Their daughter, Jane Anne, is bravely sharing her heart through what God is teaching her in a “gap” season of life between high school, adventuring through life with God, and whatever is next on her blog. She’s also a super talented musician and singer and I think you’ll enjoy her youtube channel ;) My oldest son, Noah’s, favorite song of Jane Anne’s is “Famous”. And I can’t forget the youngest Barker… Gray. Jenny says that Noah reminds her so much of Gray when he was young. Noah can be a bit strong-willed (okay, A LOT). So that’s super encouraging to me because I think that Gray is a wonderful young man, he’s always respectful and polite and has so much fun being like a big cousin with my boys when we visit. I can’t wait to see what God has next for Jane Anne and Gray!

Thank you to my dear Barker family for the opportunity to capture your family portraits early this past spring in Northern Virginia at the beautiful battlefields near your home! I hope to have the opportunity to come back and serve more lovely families in your area.