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Referrals make me happy!  When I receive a contact form, an email, a phone call…. I love to see who the referrer is!  It’s seriously one of the biggest compliments in the world!  Not too long ago, a girl I coached on the SHS swim team LONG AGO referred a coworker.  That was so special!

Amy, Luke, and their cutie Sean called on a referral from the fabulous Smith family!  They recently moved to Maryland, but saw the pictures I took for Maggie and her kids and wanted to set up a session…. and they were going to drive down for it!  I chatted with Amy on the phone for quite a while… so I couldn’t WAIT to meet her!

We met up at Occoquan Regional Park… a location I’d never been to before.  I was NOT disappointed.  This park is super special for Amy, Luke and Sean…. while they lived in Virginia, it was their “thing” to go to the park in the fall… jump in the GIGANTIC leaves, throw rocks and sticks into the river, and be a family.

Amy told me prior to the session that Sean has high-functioning autism.  He’s gone through lots of therapies and is now mainstreamed in his class at school.  I was excited to meet him, but he hid behind his daddy!!!  When I peeked at him, I noticed a HUMUNGOUS smile on his face and a super cool watch on his wrist…. we hit it off right away!  He was so much fun, so smiley, and so silly…. also, he is the light of his parents eyes!

I asked him to pick a super cool spot for his pictures… and he pointed, immediately, to a giant pile of leaves that they had created!!!  So that’s where we started!  Sean jumped RIGHT IN!

Followed, quickly, by his parents!

The moment they all got in the pile together, they were very affectionate.  I mentioned how cute it was… and Luke said “It’s this place… it bring it out in us!”

Apparently, it bring out the silly, too!  ^

As I drove in, I saw this super amazing building, so I convinced Sean, after he ran around a few times, that it was a GREAT place for portraits! 

I love his expression in this one!

And, of course, this one too!

The moss, the cracked stone, the rusted building…. funny how these things make me SOOOOO excited!   I also think it’s neat how the rusted door bring out the maroon in his shirt!  And the blue in his eyes!!!! Cheese smile! 

And, one of the whole family… of course!  I think this image would be amazing on canvas…

Since BIG leaves were one of the things Amy, Luke and Sean love about this park… they HAD to be documented!  I can’t believe how big they were!

We had a lot of fun playing and chatting during our session!  Sean found a stick to bring down to the water!

From above, I saw this tree… yellow leaves, scraggly trunk, leaning right out over the water!

It was during this next set of pictures that I really had my eye on Amy and Luke.  It was so cute how they were flirting, giggling!

These 2 are clearly still lovebirds!  While I was taking pictures of Sean, I turned around and saw them in the tree like this…. see.. lovebirds!  I told them how cute I thought it was… and they said not only was it the park, the time of year… but also, they have both accomplished something INCREDIBLE this year!

Amy has lost 80 pounds… and Luke 60!!!  (I hope I got those numbers exactly right… to give them every ounce of credit and respect that they deserve).  So, they are looking at each other with new eyes too!!!!

THIS is what I was looking at while Amy and Luke were checking each other out!Sean really loved the water… he sat there for quite a while throwing rocks in!!  For a few minutes, his mom and dad decided to show him how it’s done and skip rocks!!!  The best part was the 1st one that dad threw DIDN”T skip!  He made up for it with the next throw, though!

I can not get over how pretty it was at this park!  And below… one of my favorites from the whole session!

If you’ve ever had a session done by me, you know I’m not a huge “poser”… in fact, I’d say formal posing is one of my biggest photography weaknesses!   Before couples sessions, I check out other photographers for ideas!!!

An upside of not being a huge formal poser is that I work with kids, mostly!  So… I wouldn’t get the “real” that I strive for if I did.  I let Sean choose his “poses” for all of these!!  I think he did pretty great!

And I had a lot of fun with composition!   Doesn’t Sean have the happiest smile!??

I posted this one as the peek for this session.  I like it so much… very contemplative!  I’m not really sure that is a word… but it definitely describes it!

Sean wanted the boat in these!! 

This one makes me smile!

I could tell Sean was slowing down…ready to be done!  But not before a few more snuggles!

Perfection!

And I said “OK!  All done!”… so, Sean tackled his mommy with kisses and then hopped off to push the buttons on the soda machines nearby!

With each blog post, I hope I do justice to the families they portray!!  I have a hard time finding the right words… and of course, being a photographer, I hope that my images speak louder than the words I type anyway!

But… Amy, Luke and Sean… I had a blast with you guys!  I loved chatting and photographing your family.  I loved watching how in love you guys are… all of you, and all the combinations of you!  Sean was a rock-star…. so sweet.  I am honored to have had a chance to be a part of your annual tradition!  THANK YOU!

Stacy