A few weeks ago I had the BEST time doing the BEST shoot for 3 hours in the heat and I didn’t get paid for any of it.

The only thing people had to do to get some photos was to purchase one of Kate T. Parker’s books “Strong is the New Pretty” or “Heart of a Boy,” and they’d get a 5-minute mini session for one kiddo. I know 5 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but we got a TON of pure gold.

Kate’s books are all about celebrating children for who they are, just as they are. I fell in love with the images, story and heart in “Strong is the New Pretty” and wanted to share it with others. In keeping with the sentiment behind her book (and in keeping with how I prefer to work with children, anyway), I told parents to let their kids dress themselves. That meant that some came in bathing suits, some in pajamas and even one girl came in a swim cap, goggles, rainbow tutu and mardi gras beads! It was perfect!

Before each kid got their photos, they had to show me their favorite page and tell me WHY it was their favorite page. This part was amazing & heartwarming. So many kids connected to so many of the kids in the book. And parents who had never heard of these books before were telling me that their kids pick up the book and look through it on their own, and that it created dialogue among parent and child that had never been before! How beautiful!

I’ll be sharing some of the images over the course of several posts. For Part 1, I have one boy who was by himself and then I had a brother and sister. As I’m sure you’ll be able to quickly tell, I’m really partial to the black & white images!

First, let me show you their favorite pages, then on to their images!

And, don’t forget, you can always book a regular session with me and we can do something like this!

CHECK OUT PART 2