{Bluebonnet Mini Madness! Pt. 2} Central Texas Natural Light Photographer

Day ONE
-------------------

Minis started Saturday afternoon--- and the madness began! I packed my car, filled up gas, grabbed a Monster and headed out a little early to get everything set up!

 As you can see I am quite awake and looking very excited. I also look decent, and wearing my signature scarf & ray bans...you just wait.

We brought an insane amount of props, water bottles, fruit snacks, and lollipop bribes treats for the kiddos.

Since we were early, we decided we should play some. Bright sunlight like in the above pictures can be a little scary for us photographers. We are used to shooting at what they call "the golden hour." When you have 10 mini sessions booked, you can't stay to just the golden hour or you could get about 5 minutes per family! NO WAY!

Quick side note: Meet Emily (see below). She was our incredible, amazing, awesome assistant for the weekend. Not only did she greet families, but she carried props, held memory cards, told us when 20 minutes was up, helped the kids smile, and was even our guinea pig for lighting setups a few times! Thanks so much Em, we couldn't have done it without you!

Isn't she pretty? She's such a good model. This is what Lindsey gets when I go in front of the camera...it doesn't end well ;)

Before we knew it clients started arriving! We quickly got into photographer mode! Here are some behind the scenes shots.

 This is me in all my craziness. So, if you haven't booked a session with me yet, be prepared. I will probably be running at you like this to get your children to smile. And yes, I'll do it couples too. But you laugh, and it's natural. I lost my pride months ago and I'm proud of that. :) Thanks Linds for getting this!

 After 10 mini sessions on day one I was looking rough and ready for a glass of wine and my bed!

 We survived day one!

A few things I learned on the first day of minis this year:

1. Do not schedule back to back minis from 3:40 to 7:20 in a large field with no bathroom near you. One, you don't have time to drive to the bathroom. Two, there is no bathroom.

2.  DRINK WATER. Holy goodness am I thankful for the water bottles we brought!

3.  I would never attempt mini sessions without an assistant. I could not have survived the day without Emily, even if I could just look over at her and know she was there to support me!

4. I am SNAP HAPPY.

5. One can of Monster only lasts for the first hour.


Day TWO
-------------------
 Whew, okay, that was day one. Day two... here I am....7am! {Excuse the shaky iphone pictures} Looking quite crazy sexy, if I do say so myself. Only a few sessions in the morning and boy did we have some awesome clients! It was pretty cloudy and even started sprinkling a little- but that didn't deter us!

After spending the morning worrying about having to cancel afternoon session- we decided to risk it and are SO glad! It ended up being a BEAUTIFUL evening!

Here's a few more behind the scenes shots of us from day 2:

 Emily's husband even met her out at the field so she could take a break from assisting & they could do a mini session! :)


I had a few more on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, but the weekend is when the craziness took place! A note to all my clients: thank you SO much for coming out! I had so much fun and am so thankful that you chose me to capture your bluebonnet memories! Thank you for being patient with me as I edited- I took tons of photos and always try to work hard to bring you the best images I can!

Lessons learned on Day 2:

1. Don't trust what iPhone weather says.
2. Wear jeans & closed toe shoes when shooting in an unknown field. Even with socks, shoes & jeans, I still had ant bites.
3. Fire ant bites hurt.

[Me with my sweet model Lily (you'll see her in lots of my portfolio work!)]

Stay tuned for Part 3: Bluebonnets- Best of!