The Baldwin family + 1

I met Stephanie paddle boarding a few years ago and we connected almost instantly. Set free on the lake, with our paddles and boards we got to know a little about each other as we headed out across Jenkinson Lake. While our lives tug us in different directions, we connect. And, while a beautiful lady, it is that part of her beauty that radiates pure kindness and self reflecting honesty that intrigues me. It’s a part of me I am always looking to foster. She seems to be always searching and exploring both internally in her heart and externally in the world. An Adventurer… and Sawyer and Wyatt, Stephanie and Jake’s children are clearly benefactors in that exploration. Here, there, it doesn’t seem to matter as long as she is making memories with her family, living…and loving and growing.

When Steph called me about a maternity session, I was ALL IN! She said she had never had a maternity session and since Elowyn is due around Thanksgiving, “we better hurry or the dress I have in mind won’t still fit.”

Steph chose up country for the backdrop and it seemed perfect. We ended up at a spot that had been burned by the King Fire a few years back but which was regenerating itself after a few very wet winters and springs. Sun burnt grass spread out over the charred landscape, turning a once thick forest into a dry, but beautiful meadow.  How wonderfully nature reinvents itself in the presence of change and pressure.

We rode together from Pollock Pines and caught up with each other while we headed up the hill. Jake is super kind guy, smart and personable and it’s no wonder they are high school sweethearts.

While mostly a maternity session, we spent some time capturing a multitude of snapshots of the Baldwin family, as a family of 4.

Miss Elowyn, I can’t wait to meet you this November. Many thanks to Stephanie, Jake, Sawyer and Wyatt for sharing yourselves with me.
It was truly an honor to make these photographs for you.