I have the coolest clients in the world! I just have to start off with that because I don’t know if I say it enough but this recent family photo shoot had me thinking about it a lot! A few months ago a friend of ours reached out to hire me to photograph a special member of her family. I thought it would be just a traditional family photo session but when she told me it was her parent’s dog, Ike, I was like, “Oh! Well okay! Let’s do it!” Laura went on to tell me that her parents have had him for quite some time and now that he’s getting up in his years, she wanted to gift them some portraits that would preserve his place in the family. So, for the love of Ike, we met for a family portrait session on a beautiful Saturday morning at the Arapaho Bend Nature Area in Fort Collins, CO.

Laura’s original idea was to have me go up to Red Feather where her parents live and just photograph the 3 of them. But the more she started talking, I realized that he was an important member of the whole family. So I saw an opportunity to extend the invitation to everyone! Laura was excited about the idea and went about nailing down a date that would work for her and her 3 siblings plus their families and her mom and dad. Now, we all know how hard scheduling get togethers in the summer can be so the fact that she was able to round everyone up, my hat’s off to her!

The morning of our shoot, I arrived a little early to plan out our route. I am usually the first one there but her family is incredibly punctual and had already begun arriving… I recognized them immediately because standing there, in the middle of everyone, was Ike. A BIG, adorable and very friendly Rottweiler. He greeted me right away and seemed very excited about having his picture taken! He had also brought his “cousin” along, a sweet white mut named Max. These two had matching handkerchiefs and I died from cuteness overload.

It was so fun hanging out with these guys. They made each other laugh without much prompting from me which is always a blessing. We made jokes, goofed around with the kids and the dogs and it was clear how special this time was together for everyone. So what started out as just a photo session for Ike turned into a family memory. How cool is that? See what I mean about best clients ever? I love telling stories through photographs and I love meeting people even more...what is your story? How would I help you tell it? Let’s start a conversation to find out!