When they walked over to meet us at Tom Lasseter Park for sunrise, the sun was making its first appearance in weeks. The days of rain in Austin have been endless, so much so that we had to reschedule the Harris Family’s original shoot, hoping for better weather. We were so thankful the weather obliged.

The Harris’ were looking for some new photos of their family and to celebrate their daughter’s upcoming 2nd birthday. Little girl E is not only incredibly smart and loving (you should hear this girl count), she’s also shaping up to be my favorite kind of woman: fearless, opinionated, and independent.

My goal with family sessions has been to let the session unfold with less resistance and more openness from all of us present. Let’s be honest, the kid(s) tend to run the show at these things and have their own ideas of how the session should go. Sometimes our initial ideas of what we were wanting or hoping for don’t always take shape in the same way, but that can allow for the session to feel uniquely honest to the family, which is a rather beautiful thing.

Little girl E is her own compelling force of nature and quickly became the captain of our adventure, so her parents gracefully allowed the space for her to be and we worked to capture the magic of who she is at this moment. What we all tend to appreciate about childhood is the way kids look at the world with curiosity and wonder, even the occasional defiance, and I think the Harris Family rolled with the punches at our session in such an effortless way that these photos offer a gorgeous glimpse into who they are and the amazing person E is quickly becoming.