Turning 7 {Our Everyday|Los Gatos, California | Family Photographer}

Early Bird (EB) officially turned 7 at the end of January. Yes, that makes me almost 3 months late posting her 7-year pictures. No, I didn’t procrastinate. Here’s the lengthy back story (settle in).

Every year AROUND her birthday (some a couple of weeks before, other times several weeks after!) I like to take EB out for a special photo shoot just for her. Usually we incorporate what her interests and “style” is at the time. Since she’s a die hard beach girl I knew we had to do it at a beach… and with props… lots and lots of cute props and a girly skirt!

Now, I’m not normally a prop person. Maybe I’m lazy but usually I like the person to be the focus. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to look at full-on styled shoots with tons of super fun props but for me, I just can’t pull it together. However, for this year’s birthday shoot I thought it would be fun to do a styled shoot with tons of props. I had grand plans! We would go to the beach at sunset, set up a cute table with a cute cake and cute props and cute cute cute! However, as the day that I had planned came closer I just lost steam and excitement for all the props. I think I lost my mojo for the extravagance of it. And, it was going to rain that day, so no photo session. I was a little bummed but kept thinking maybe it was meant to be.

Fast forward several weeks and we had a Spring Break trip planned to San Diego. I knew we’d be going to the beach and that’s when it hit me, “We’ll do it there… with no props, just EB and we’ll bring the girly skirt!” And, you know what, I got excited again. I wasn’t sure why I got it excited but I just knew this was the direction I needed to go. Later on I realized that before, I wasn’t staying true to myself, my style, or to EB. She didn’t need fancy props, she just needed a beach, an ocean, and a fancy skirt. Just the moments of playing in and around the ocean and being unrestrained… but still in a girly skirt

As the session started we just had fun, she had fun and it unfolded like the process was suppose to. I focused on her and her 7 years of energy and happiness and innocence… not the props. I look back at this session and it’s by far one of my favorite to date. Not because it’s EB (I mean, I DO love that) but because it was about her and me and my style and what I wanted for us to get out of it! So, I think the 3 months was definitely worth the wait!