Part Two: A Field of Wishes | Calgary Family Photographer

This is going to be a long post.

Bare with me…

I was reading this book by Cecilia Ahren called ‘If You Could See Me Now’ when I was completely inspired by one particular scene…a scene in which a grown woman, her nephew and their imaginary friend dance in a field of dandelions and try to capture the jinny joes. Jinny Joes being the little fairies that carry the dandelion wishes to the heavens. I had this wonderful vision of this family trying to catch their wishes and keep them locked up in mason jars. I told Michelle of my wish for a field of dandelions with glorious light. This is what we found:

People often ask me about my inspiration and I always say that I find it from my subjects. This is true…for the most part. The reason why I was drawn to this idea for this family was because of the journey they had taken over the last six months. One day in January I heard about it all…their baby–their precious little beautiful baby had a day of seizures. Tests, drugs, prayers and love followed. And continued to follow. You can read a bit about it on Michelle’s blog. It is their story to tell and it is still happening. Their beautiful baby has turned one which is a feat in and of itself. The other feat, the most amazing and wonderful and celebrated one, is that she is and has been for some time, seizure free. They are amazing to me–the whole family–for their love and commitment to each other. For their strength. Such a beautiful thing to witness.

So, when I told them that we were going to go and try to capture the jinny joes…explaining to them exactly what they were. Michelle picked up her babies and walked to the middle of the field grabbing the first dandelion at her feet. She looked up to the heaven and made the most glorious wish ‘I wish that all my children would grow up to be healthy and happy’…thus, started the most amazing session of light and love. These jinny joes we let fly and I am confident that they reached their destination.

This was my largest gallery EVER. By a lot…so narrowing it down for a post seems an impossible task. Here are some favorites of the girls…

 

 

Being a photographer, Michelle is rarely in the photos…we changed that.

I truly believe in the importance of parent images. Images that show the love they share so their kids can see it. Heck, so they can see it. I love these parent photos.

 It’s funny because I have realized that what makes up my most favorite of sessions is not so much the final outcome, but the experience that we all had getting there. This night was a gift to me. Truly it was. The images are just a bonus. Thank you to the wonderful Anderson family for being so present.

And, if you read this whole thing and looked at every picture–THANK YOU!!! Image overload for sure….

~Dana