This past Friday I started off my weekend with a lifestyle shoot with IG blogger Shay aka @theprinceandthep at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, TX.

Sounds great, right? The truth is, it was a really hard day for me. Friday morning I woke up to a call from my sister that we had to put our family dog to sleep. I was heartbroken.

Nemo was a humorous, loveably-lazy, doughnut enthusiast pup. He was a best friend, a reason to get out of the house to take a simple walk and the laughter behind the sentence I’ve heard/said hundreds of times, “Guess what Nemo did!”

I knew we had done the right thing ending his pain, but I still feel like a member of my family is gone.

But when the time came for me to pull it together I was so glad to meet this adorable family. They were real, they were sweet and although these kiddos were tired from traveling and way more into all the activities to come during their weekend getaway, we had a great time creating laughing, playing and capturing some really sweet moments.

One of the largest challenges of being in the creative field is that everything is so personal. There is no hiding. When I show up to shoot I have to be present not just physically but mentally and emotionally.

So in this case, I was so grateful to be able to put my troubles down for a couple hours. I was thankful to know my love for people and photography were able to bring moments of laughter and creativity into otherwise a really, really shitty day. Simply put, I was excited to meet such a lovely family that I got to spend the afternoon with simply enjoying life.

P drawing me a picture of toast while eating apples.

Mom + P.

Work + play.

P asked if this pumpkin was white because there were frozen princesses inside.
“Hello, Elsa? Cinderella?”

Mom + Dad.

Around.

Happy all the way.

Love you little Nemo.