Ford Family :: Homecoming

I was so glad that I was able to photograph this homecoming. Last fall, I did a newborn shoot for the Ford family just after their daughter Scarlett was born, and then her dad deployed shortly after that. Carly did an amazing job raising Scarlett alone for the first 7 months or so of her life, but they were both just so ready to have Seth back home.

Here's one of the newborn images of baby Scarlett and her dad back in October.



And a long 7 months later, it was time to welcome Dad back home!



We took a few photos at their house before we headed up to base.



Carly took pictures of Scarlett throughout the deployment with her "I love Dad" sign at home and during visits with family around the country, so we had to get one more.



And then that was the end of the sign!



We headed up to Pendleton, and the wait was on for those buses to show up!



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Finally, the buses started driving towards us!







We weren't sure what bus Seth was on, and he didn't have a cell phone - so with 6 buses of Marines rapidly emptying off, it was a race to find him. It seemed like it took an eternity to find Seth, although when I looked at the timestamps of the photos while editing, it was just under 5 minutes. However, when you haven't seen your husband in 7 months, those 5 extra minutes are just torture.

Carly finally caught sight of him and took off running!









I love this one of Scarlett looking back at her mom!

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Welcome home, Capt. Ford! So glad your family is back together.

R. Family Session

A few weeks ago, I met up with the R. family in Encinitas. They are leaving Southern California soon to head back to the East Coast, so I was glad to get the chance to photograph them before they move! One of my favorite things about photographing many military families is getting to meet people who have lived in so many places. Hearing all their different stories is so interesting. Their son Evan was also adorable!

Here's a few of my favorites from their session.

















Lianne, it was so nice to meet you and your family! Best of luck on your move and the transition back to life in SC!

Megan & Eric :: Pre-Deployment Couples Session

I was so glad to have the opportunity to photograph Megan and her husband, Eric before he deployed only 3 days after our session. We decided to meet in La Jolla, and due to the gorgeous weather, parking was as abysmal as ever ;) But we had a wonderful sunset session and captured some images that will hopefully help ease the pain of the separation.

I should also mention that Eric wasn't keen on getting wet, and is not a big fan of the water. In the first 5 minutes of the session, he was on the receiving end of seagull droppings, and got splashed by a huge wave that came out of nowhere. Thanks to Photoshop, the seagull droppings were no more - but he gets serious kudos for grinning and bearing it during the shoot, since it is a little gross!

Here is the super-cute couple!





I ended up doing a lot of B&W conversions with this session - I loved it with their dark hair and black shirts.





But you can't ignore the gorgeous colors on the beach.







Love that light just after sunset!







It was so nice to meet you, Megan and Eric! Eric, stay safe during the deployment, and I hope that the time passes quickly for you both!

Ashley & Dave's Homecoming

I was so excited when Ashley contacted me to shoot her homecoming because it was going to be the very first time her husband Dave was going to see her baby bump! She found out she was pregnant after he had already deployed, and hadn't shown him her belly in photos or on Skype - so he REALLY had never seen her.

It's always interesting to see how every homecoming ends up going - some are on time, most are late...Ashley's ended up being so early that a few wives from the unit missed it!

Luckily there was still enough time to hang signs before the buses arrived.



Ashley had that gorgeous pregnancy glow going on :) And the perfect dress for the occasion!



Unfortunately, Dave ended up being on the second bus, which came up about 5 minutes after the first one. But finally, he was off that bus and back in her arms.









LOVE Ashley's face here - so happy!







One of my favorite feelings to capture from each homecoming is that look of pure relief on the wife's face.



Dave also had someone else to say hello to - their puppy, Ajax.



Kisses for Dad!




Their whole family is back together (and soon to be four)!


Welcome home Dave, and the rest of 2/5's Advon! Thank you for your service!