Big Family Ages 2-10 On the Beach

April found my photo work before we even met. Inside I freaked out. WHAT?! Are you kidding me?! I still can’t believe it 18 months later (or is it longer??)

We were almost neighbors in Oki and we ended up in the same Classical Conversation campus (a God thing) annnnd at the same church. Our boys loved each other, and she’s so cool she took on our hamster before our big move to Quantico, VA. (We were beginning to get a little desperate!)

The weather was so bad the last two weeks in Okinawa we couldn’t make plans for anything. I think we had it on the back burner “just in case” for 2 weeks. We found a last minute date in the forecast and went for it! We’re talking just a few days to plan – more than 2 but less than 5! (My memory fails me just two months after the fact. ha!)

This was also my very. last. session in Okinawa. I was reluctant to call it the last, even after it happened. I captioned my IG story “possibly my last session…”

I was willing to take sessions as long as the weather was nice and I had a car! Thanks to some friends we did have two cars until the last 3 days. But the weather was wretched.

Okinawa was huge for me. It was a massive change in location and in lighting from Alabama. It took me over a year to ‘master’ the open lighting and find my groove. I mourned our PCS the entire year, especially the the last 4 months.

I don’t think anything will compare to my work there. (I say that now, but I’ve seen two other photog friends leave Oki and do just as amazing work in the PNW and Colorado as Oki. If you’re in either place look up Lauren Casino and Mindy Arnolt!)

Without further adieu, here’s a family of 6 with four kids ages 2-8!