I love LOVE LOVE this photo of 7-yr old Amelia sitting on a rock on top of Dickerson, Maryland‘s Sugarloaf Mountain, arms outstretched and feeling free as a bird! Amelia’s mom and dad were the happy winners of a portrait photography certificate that we donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to be auctioned at its annual Brewer’s Ball. It had been a long six years since their last professional session with a family photographer, back when they’d lived in Florida. When they came by our photography studio in Germantown-Clarksburg, Maryland for their pre-session planning meeting, they told me about how they’d like to hang some wall portraits in their family room, possibly above the fireplace mantle or on the teal accent wall of the room.

“Our previous family photographer gave us a CD of the images, but now that I see your samples, I really like the metal print wall portraits,” Eric said.

After exploring various possible locations for the O’s family portrait session, we settled on Sugarloaf Mountain, and even the 13-year old family dog, Martin, was scheduled to come along on the hike! As I photographed the O. family, Amelia reminded me of a previous year’s family photographer session with a 10-year old named Lizzy. Both Amelia and Lizzy loved being photographed, to their parents’ surprise! At one point, I had Amelia change her pose at each flash of the lights, and oh my, did she get into it with all sorts of glamorous poses. So fun! Her parents’ reaction? “Oh boy, are we in trouble!”

Anyway, it was such a fun session, and in the end, the family decided on a 6-piece metal print, wall portrait love grouping of their favorite family portraits. Stay tuned; I’ll be posting a photo soon of the final grouping!

It’s not too late for a fall color family portrait session with a professional family photographer and pet photographer!