Called to Capture

“…we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us…” –Brene’ Brown

When I started my business in 2017, it was after years of feeling a stirring deep within my soul that I was being called to use photography to capture life for others.  I know that sounds kind of crazy.  People are called to ministry not photography right?  But now as I reflect on the past nearly two years in business, the only way I can describe is “called.”  And perhaps God called me to this profession years ago so that when the time came I was prepared for this very session with Peyton.

From the very beginning this session was different.  The family doesn’t live in Nashville.  In fact, they don’t even live in Tennessee.  Instead, we were connected by one of the moms from my kids’ dance studio that I got to know while rehearsing the moms’ recital dance we performed together in the summer of 2018

And yet when I got of the phone following the first phone call with Peyton’s mom, Lori, the call had been so special and we had made so many connections in such a short time that I actually posted about it on my personal Instagram page.  They live in the same DFW suburb as my cousins.  I not only went to college in Dallas, but we go back to visit those same cousins in Flower Mound as often as we can.  Lori is a dance mom too which is how she knew the mom who made the introduction.  She told me about how she always thought Peyton would grow up to be a dancer until her school music teacher recognized how vocally gifted she was, and now she will be pursuing a music career which is what led her to pick a college in Nashville.  And then Lori shared with me about navigating unimaginable heartbreak and grief due to congenital heart defect (CHD) complications all while trying to celebrate Peyton during her senior year of high school which is filled with hope and excitement and promise, and I shared about how my own family has been touched by CHD and how I use photography to raise money for CHD research each January and February.

They were only in town for a short college visit, and due to weather our first session date back in January was not to be.

When we had to cancel the first session, Lori mentioned they may be in town again in March, so fast forward a few months.  My March schedule was packed full with my kids’ dance competitions as well as work travel, but I reached back out to them to see if they were still planning to be in town.  And this time even with a dance competition on the same weekend the schedules all aligned, and the weather cooperated, and we were able to do the session.

We met out in Leipers Fork on the last morning of March. I have to give a big heartfelt thank you to the landowners and businesses in Leipers Fork for welcoming us and allowing us to do the session on your property.  I also have to give a very special shout out to Puckett’s Grocery and Gypsy who allowed us to do some shots on their stage and even turned on the stage lights for us so that the portraits would really look like Peyton was up there performing.

Peyton and Lori y’all are a joy to work with.  I feel incredibly grateful that our paths crossed even if I may never fully understand how or why.  The day after the session I posted to Instagram that all I knew was that it had to be a God thing because only He could connect all the dots that led me to working with y’all.  Thank you for trusting me to capture and document this special time in your life Peyton!  I can’t wait wait to work your entire family in few months for your family portrait session.