Here in Massachusetts, I had hoped that our relatively mild winter would lead to an early Spring like I’m used to in Arkansas. This has rather devastatingly (for me) not been the case. In fact, I almost feel like I have had the following conversation with the weather on a daily basis for the last month or so:
Me: “Oooh! Look at the sun and the daffodils blooming! When I get home, I’m going to pull out ALL my sundresses & wedge sandals and finally tackle our disaster of a garden!”
Weather: “Negative. I’m putting a ban on all such activities until mid-May. I’ve got 30mph icy gusts and snow storms scheduled for sporadic delivery throughout the next month. You’re frolicking in the sunshine will have to wait.”
Me: “But it’s April! The season of flowers, singing birds, and long walks through the woods! Not 6 am pre-work snow shoveling, space heaters, and ridiculously poofy outerwear!”
Weather: “Eh, I’m just the messenger. Take it up with Global Warming.”
Needless to say, my pleas for warmer weather have fallen on deaf ears, and so I am forced to resort to other measures to get in the spirit of all things happy and Spring-y, such as looking through some of my favorite Spring-time photos (the real Spring-time, not Boston’s interpretation thereof):
My younger sister and I graduated the same year, her from high school and myself from university. The great thing about having a photographer in the family is you never have to pay anyone for senior portraits, so when I returned home after completing my undergraduate degree, I took McKenna out for some portraits. We took some fun shots around our downtown square, but my favorite images would are the ones we took on our grandparents property, with my grandpa’s 1945 Piper Cub.
I think every Sitton grandchild has fond memories flying around Beaver Lake with grandpa in the pilot’s seat, myself included. When my grandpa retired from being a pilot, the only thing he wanted was property where he could have a log cabin and a landing strip on a lake. Needless to say, we all call this little (air)strip of land on Beaver Lake “Paradise”.
Although it was still early spring and relatively brown outside when we did this Bridal session, I love the hint of life in these images: the green poking through the banks of the streams and the beauty of the Crystal Bridges Museum in the background. And what else, besides Spring, could symbolize the beginning of a new life than a bride dressed in white?
My very favorite spring session is kind of ironic, because in the end it took less than 20 minutes to shoot! With a background of freshly blooming peach blossoms and my favorite little muse to work with, it almost felt like the photos were taking themselves, it all worked so beautifully together.
On the way to my grandparent’s house is a farm stand called Vanzant’s. For as long as I can remember, my family has stopped here every summer for a brown paper bag large enough to take up a seat in the car on its own, filled to the brim with fresh peaches. One of my favorite things about Arkansas is driving by Vanzant’s peach orchards in the spring and seeing the forest of pale pink blossoms promising a summer of delicious peaches.
Last Spring, on a quiet Sunday, I was able to take my youngest sister Chloe for a quick twenty minute shoot in the orchard. The shoot didn’t take long, partly because I was worried we weren’t allowed to be there, despite the lack of No Trespassing signs, and partly because it all just came together so beautifully.
If your spring has been filled with lousy weather like mine has, I hope these help you hang in there with wintry messes for just a little bit longer. If you’re lucky enough to already be enjoying the blossoms and the sunshine, I hope this inspires you to get outside and enjoy this wonderful season!
Yours,
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I really love all your pictures….I would like to paint them all but your photo’s are so well done my paints would not do them justice.
I can totally relate to crappy spring weather!! UGH!!! Even last weekend when I went out to do a couple of photoshoots, it was chilly by late afternoon with 30 MPH gusts out of the north. Blazing sunshine without a single cloud to be found, so I had to use modifiers to soften light. Not easy to do in windy conditions. All the high winds blew the delicate blossoms out of the trees so none of that even happened here this year. It’s starting to look up here now, and I hope it is where you are as well.
Lovely photos! I bet riding around in the airplane is a blast!
That’s such a bummer about all the blossoms! I’ve been brainstorming a lot of photo ideas for when we finally start to get blossoms, so hopefully they will stick around for us once they finally arrive up here. We’re starting to see buds on the trees, so I have high hopes!
The airplane is a blast! It’s so fun to see a place that you see everyday from a completely new perspective. 🙂