Kevin & Jen : Sunrise & Sunshine Engagement

{Ash-a-ley}

"May every sunrise hold more promise, and every sunset hold more peace. "

Sunrises have quite the love hate relationship.   As much as you hate pulling yourself out of your warm, inviting, cozy bed.....you can not help but love marveling at the way the sun begins to peek over the horizon and say, "Good Morning."   It is one of those things in life that no matter how many times I am able to witness it, it still manages to humble me and remind myself of each and every blessing that has been brought to my life.   The grumpy, want to stay in bed Ashley is suddenly nothing more than a memory as I gaze at the beauty in front of my eyes.   I have mentioned sunrise shoots to several clients before, and when Jen said  that her and Kevin would love to do one and not just anywhere, but at her grandparents farm.   It was a bit of a destination engagement.   We drove out to the farm the night before, and thank goodness I was following them, because this is a little piece of heaven on Earth that I would have never been able to find without their tail lights guiding me.   We pulled up to her grandparent's cozy and quaint little house around 1:30am.  Let me remind you that our alarms were set for 4:30, because the sun was scheduled to peek out around 6am.   You would have thought I would have been super groggy, but as soon as I had that camera in my hand, the adrenaline and excitement to capture what was in front of my eyes had me wide awake.

Kevin and Jenn - Thank you for being so sweet, kind, and hospitable.   Me and Zoey had a blast and fell in love with you two and your sweet, sweet grandparents.   It is hard for me to imagine how much I am going to love your wedding day when I loved your engagement session so very much.   :)

 We would have never ended up in this tool shed if Jenn's Grandpa would not have told us to follow him.  As we followed him into this shed, he shared stories of growing up, the history of the farm.   As I listened to him speak, I looked into his eyes and saw the love not only for his granddaughter which he cherished, but also for the respectful, good-hearted man that she found.   I also could not help but notice the gorgeous backlight......HELLO Backlight!!  Yum Yum.

I knew right then that I had to capture a few shots of Jenn and her grandpa.  I could not help but think to myself how lucky she was to still have him in her life.  After I snapped the first couple pics, I could see the tears welling up in her, and I could pin point that moment as one of the reasons I do what I do.   These are moments she will documented forever, and each and every time she looks at them she will not just see something, but she will feel something.   She will feel how she felt that particular day at her grandparent's farm, as her grandfather proudly stood next to her.

We finished up the photo session where they had their first date, a drive in movie theatre.   Going to a drive-in is still on my bucket list....one day!

And a few behind the lens shots (mostly from my iPhone).    Zoey was zonked by the time we left!!  We live in the city, so after she ran around non-stop in the country, she was sleeping before we even pulled out of the driveway!