Fourteen years.
That’s how long I’ve been photographing Kelsey and Greg’s family.
I first met them via ultimate frisbee when Greg played with my husband in the Des Moines League which led to Trivia Nights. Then, they asked me to pick up my camera when Natalie was a newborn, and somehow that tiny baby is now a freshman in high school. Kelsey is already looking ahead and imagining Natalie’s senior pictures three summers from now, and I’m over here wondering how we got here so quickly!
Natalie has always been the leader of this crew, and now she’s leading a pack of boys behind her with a sureness that is pretty fun to watch. She’s a gifted singer and a swimmer, too, which means her calendar is FULL between club swim meets and high school swim season and show choir!
Then there’s Tommy—the dutiful, laid-back middle child who just rolls with things.
And Will?
Well, Will did his own hair for this photo shoot.
Mr. Slickback Handsome himself. 😂
These three have such distinct personalities, and I love that I get to photograph them at each stage as they grow into who they’re becoming.
For this mini session, we kept things close to home and chose the area between the West Des Moines Library and City Hall. Greg is a City Councilman, so these are places that are a meaningful part of his life and where he spends plenty of time in meetings working on behalf of the city.
It felt fitting to photograph this season of their family’s life in a place that’s also part of Greg’s story.
And then there is one of my favorite little perks of photographing a family for this long: the friendship that grows along the way.
Kelsey is a year ahead of me in the parenting journey, so she’s also my go-to resource for where to find modest clothing as our girls grow. Sometimes you just need a friend you can text with, “Where did you find that?” and have a link sent back that gets you pointed in the right direction. 😂
That’s the kind of relationship I love about being a family photographer. It becomes more than showing up with a camera. You get to know the people, watch their kids grow, celebrate their milestones, and sometimes even ask for a clothing link.
And after ALL the rain Iowa has given us over the last month, this session was a long time coming. It was a reschedule of a rescheduled mini session, squeezed in between swim meets and high school swimming—and it finally happened!
And it was worth the wait. Fourteen years of photographs. Three kids growing up. Two busy parents. A whole lot of life in between. What a gift it is to keep photographing this family.
