Our Story: My Side

There are two sides to this story....this is the first half of mine.

Yesterday was beautiful. Yesterday was full of anticipation, hand made goodness and warm, mountain light. It was an easy drive, a fully charged battery, and 24 MB of free space, waiting for perfection, images pure and true. It was one of those "I just got over my 12 hour bug and now I'm ready to conquer the world" days. It changed me, it altered my thinking and the way I view my God. Yesterday was a miracle that I can hold in my hand, that I can squeeze until I nearly strangle it. The miracle is tangible, real, I can taste it....it astounds me....

Yesterday was Tyler and Landon's shoot.

We had postponed this shoot a few times, location changes, wardrobe changes, babysitter issues. Finally heading up to Oak Glen was lovely. Holly and I marveled at the leaves, seemingly on fire from the season, burning in red and orange, falling upon the winding mountain rode, lifting in the wind as we flew past them. We talked about my Hubby's dream of owning land someday....possibly on this mountain side. Landon loved on his bottle, Tyler quietly took in all that his beautiful brown eyes could, absorbing every last turn, giggling with his brother from time to time. My insides jumped with excitement, thoughts of exposure and Speedlites running through my mind. Would we have enough sun? Did we leave too late?

There was sun, warm, inviting and glorious sun...sun that poured upon those boys, enveloping them in a heavenly glow. This type of sun, directly in my camera's sensor, makes it more difficult to achieve a perfect focus, makes me work harder, makes me passionately on fire for my art. This type of sun orders me onto the ground of a greasy parking lot, it taunts me, it challenges me, I fight it each time, I will get my shot. The sun will surrender to my art, the lens will flare exactly how I want it to, the sun will not tell me how to shoot.

We were blissful, Tyler was exploring, Landon was snuggly. Our shoot was amazing for almost an hour. I shot over 400 frames, and was ready for 400 more. Two weeks earlier, my own family and I had found a delicious spot past the apple orchard, past the pumpkin patch, at the top of the wheat field. Our next 400 frames were to be captured there, at that spot. THE spot. I was just there, it was a long walk, it would be worth it. So we walked. We walked. We kept walking. We laughed about our weak legs muscles. We stopped and traded babies. We gave Tyler an apple. We walked again. We headed into the trees....past the apple orchard, past the pumpkin patch, at the top of the wheat field.

I shot one frame of Tyler, and it happened. In that last frame, he had his hands covering his eyes. In the next second, I found out why...

(to be continued)