A FAMILY SESSION – AUSTIN, TX – BLUEBONNETS & FOOD TRUCKS

tarawhitney15_0584tarawhitney15_0585tarawhitney15_0586tarawhitney15_0587tarawhitney15_0588tarawhitney15_0589tarawhitney15_0590tarawhitney15_0591tarawhitney15_0592tarawhitney15_0593tarawhitney15_0594tarawhitney15_0595tarawhitney15_0596tarawhitney15_0597tarawhitney15_0598tarawhitney15_0599tarawhitney15_0600tarawhitney15_0601tarawhitney15_0602tarawhitney15_0603tarawhitney15_0604tarawhitney15_0605tarawhitney15_0606tarawhitney15_0607tarawhitney15_0608tarawhitney15_0609tarawhitney15_0610tarawhitney15_0611tarawhitney15_0612tarawhitney15_0614tarawhitney15_0615tarawhitney15_0616tarawhitney15_0617tarawhitney15_0618tarawhitney15_0619tarawhitney15_0620tarawhitney15_0621tarawhitney15_0622tarawhitney15_0623tarawhitney15_0624tarawhitney15_0625tarawhitney15_0626tarawhitney15_0627tarawhitney15_0628

Super quintessential Austin with a family from Indiana. I was soooo lucky that their vacation overlapped my trip, because they were my last session and the cherry on top of a fantastic week.

After meeting and hugging in the parking lot, Mom said, “Just photograph whatever happens. Tears and all, because that is who we are right now,” in a joyful, soft Australian accent.

I waited a millisecond for my heart to feel so happy that she wanted me to do exactly what I love to do the most, and then proceeded to fall in love with them, as I tend to do.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

tarawhitney15_0353

I am traveling to Portland in July, if interested shoot me an email!

MY BABY SISTER GOT ENGAGED THIS WEEKEND

tarawhitney15_0551tarawhitney15_0552tarawhitney15_0553tarawhitney15_0554tarawhitney15_0555tarawhitney15_0556tarawhitney15_0557tarawhitney15_0558tarawhitney15_0559tarawhitney15_0560tarawhitney15_0561tarawhitney15_0562tarawhitney15_0563tarawhitney15_0564tarawhitney15_0565tarawhitney15_0566tarawhitney15_0567tarawhitney15_0568tarawhitney15_0569tarawhitney15_0570tarawhitney15_0571tarawhitney15_0572tarawhitney15_0573tarawhitney15_0574tarawhitney15_0575tarawhitney15_0576

We are all out celebrating my brother’s birthday, and Spencer and Alisha are sitting across the table from us. Alisha gets up to get a drink of water, and Spencer leans in and quietly asks me, “Are you busy in May?” I narrow my eyes at him and ask, “WHY.” Scratching his beard, smiling, he whispers, “I might need some photos.”

I squealed because I immediately caught what he was throwing down and plans were put into place.

Then this happened, we all laughed and cried through a little photo shoot. The most fun ever to be there for this. Then I left them to meet both of our families at his Mom’s house. While we all sat around, his mom told a cute story about Spencer and asked everyone to share stories about the newly engaged couple. I racked my brain for the perfect story, and couldn’t come up with one I thought was good enough to share. Also, social anxiety. When there was a lull I jokingly said something like, “Alisha was kind of a brat.” And everyone giggled but I immediately felt bad for saying it. For teasing her instead of saying something heartfelt.

What I should have said was that I was only 12 when she was born but that I became her second mother and she was my first daughter. That I fell so hard for her, so, so fast. That she followed me around everywhere and loved hanging out in my room when I was a teenager and she was a toddler. How we used to jump on my bed and dance to music. How I loved getting her dressed. How she was a little bit of a brat but that she had the funniest little ponytail that sprouted from the top of her head like a whale spout and the sweetest dimples that came out when she smiled at me mischeviously. And that as we have both grown up and become who we are, I am so glad our relationship grew from “daughter” and sister, to fashion icon, peer, and friend.

I am so happy for you, Alisha. My baby sister.

Spencer, I’m so excited to have you in our family. We are slightly sappy and emotional, welcome. xo

PS – There is a slideshow sharing the entire proposal “story”, with the most beautiful perfect song that Alisha picked out. If you’d like to see it, click here.

Photos & Stories – Leaning out for Love

tarawhitney15_0580

A few weeks ago I was working on a photo project with my brother Kris, and he convinced Jeff and I to stand for a few photos of our own. Here we are. Older, fatter, and happier than I ever could have imagined we would be when I daydreamed about our future together, way back in 1993.

He made me a playlist that I can’t stop swooning over. Classic rock and not so obvious love songs. One of the songs was a total surprise, one I had never heard before. This:

“And you want to travel with him,
And you want to travel blind,
And you think maybe you’ll trust him,
For he’s touched your perfect body with his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river,
She is wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters,
And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor,
And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers,
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.

And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know that you can trust her,
For she’s touched your perfect body with her mind.”

-Suzanne by Leonard Cohen

It’s bewildering at times to realize how long we have known each other, and how many things we have been through in all those years, and how much I still just love the way he smells. He’s going bald, I have age spots and a bad hip, and that’s SO WEIRD because my favorite place is still right there in his neck. There have been bad years, of course, as there will be over the span of a lifetime. Years we went into therapy and years we could hardly communicate. Years raising our children almost killed us and years we almost killed each other. Fighting our way back together through those years, learning about what we needed to change about ourselves in therapy, taught us how to give each other what we have now.

After high school, I took his hand and traveled blind right into marriage and parenthood, and I am not that same person and he is not that same person but here we are. Here we are.

“They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever.”