This year my parents, after living for almost 40 years in Chugiak, Alaska – finally decided it was time to do the snow-bird thing. My mom retired in 2015 from the Anchorage School District, where she worked as a speech therapist for years, and rather than hang out in Alaska to enjoy our beautiful summers, they decided to find some farmland in the middle of Oregon and spend their summer getting settled in.

And when I discovered that their place is in the middle of the best Oregon wine country, OBVIOUSLY we needed to visit! And what kind of photographer would I be if I didn’t pack a few dresses for my littles with the express purpose of capturing the incredible golden sunsets that actually occur at bedtime (rather than midnight, like they do in Anchorage…)

What I loved about this was that we spent no time getting ready – I don’t even think I brushed the kids hair – we tossed their dresses on, ran out into the backyard and photographed for maybe 15 minutes.

They were relaxed – and I just let them be free to play and explore. Portraits don’t have to be painful. Photography truly can be fun and wild and free. Kids bring the magic, I just capture them doing their thing.

This is my absolute favorite way to do children’s photography. Let the kids be kids.

Luckily, we do have a magical time of year in Anchorage when we have this light available. It’s usually September/fall. The sun set is early enough that we have golden light right before bedtime, and often, we get some beautiful sunny (albeit cold/crips!) days to send us into winter.

But also – I travel 🙂