Fight for the Light

There are times, as a photographer, when I'll come across a beam of light that's just so delicious and beautiful that I can't pass it up. This happened at Nora's 2 year session the other night. John, Katie, Nora and I were walking toward what we thought would be our next destination within the park where we were shooting, and suddenly I saw this lovely warm lilting light, drifting through the trees as the sun was setting. I said to John and Katie, "Let's see if we can get Nora to pose right in this spot, I think you're going to like it and I know I want to use it if we can.". So we tried to pose Nora where we wanted her. If you've ever tried to get a two year old to comply with whatever whim you had in mind when she already has a goal of her own, you know how that can be. At first she was like, meh, I want to keep walking, and after a few tries at getting her to go where we wanted her, it was written off as "She wants to keep going toward the lake, I don't think it's going to happen." As she began walking away on her resolute, sturdy little two-year old legs, bound for our next adventure, I stood there hesitating. And probably frowning. Katie and John must have seen the pained expression I had at the thought of letting this one go (they know me well enough by now, plus I have zero poker face in these situations, ha), so they playfully snatched Nora up and we gave it another shot, and through our combined efforts, we got Nora to play along. The end result? I'm not one to toot my own horn, but it's amazing. I'm so glad we fought for this. Zero has been done to this photo; this isn't a Photoshop job or a filter. This is 100% unadulterated straight-out-of-camera goodness, just a perfect little girl in the perfect golden hour lighting. Because sometimes, you just get lucky.

To Nora, you continue to take my breath away. I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be a part of the adventure that is your wonderful life and that I get to watch you grow. You and your parents make my world a happier place to be.

And to my fellow photographers: when you see a beautiful delicious beam of light playing gently with you and and it is completely perfect, dig in your heels and make it work whenever humanly possible. Fight for the light. It's worth it. I promise you.