Backstory:
I’ve known this family for a very long time. One of the first non-family humans I ever photographed professionally is Everlee, the little girl you’re going to see in the photos below. She wasn’t even a year old the first time I took her photos! The last time were together, Everlee was three, and Holden wasn’t even born yet.

Scott reached out to me many months ago, with a plan to gift Christine a session with me while they vacationed in South Haven, Michigan. Have you ever been a gift to someone? It’s quite literally one of the highest compliments I’ve ever gotten, and I was feeling the weight of that responsibility as the day crept up, but then I walked through the door of the cutest A-Frame cabin, and was met with all these smiling and grown up faces, and I knew wonderful things were upon us, and I was right.

We weren’t expecting Lake Michigan to be in a mood, or the beach to be half gone by the giant waves, but by the time I was done staring at the water, almost trying to will it in my mind to settle, we noticed that it sort of DID begin to calm itself enough for us to sneak into a cozy spot and let us play.

It felt like an invitation for just us,
one we all eagerly accepted,
come, let me show you…

(ps: my favorite part of the session was Holden raising his hand when he wanted to talk, and Everlee finding me and showing me all the things she found!)