Kaitlyn's Birthday

Every time I look at these photos, they remind me of a fairytale, like I'm looking through a story book....

...and I love that!

I knew Kaitlyn because she is considered part of the family as my brother-in-law's girlfriend. She reached out to me to do a photoshoot for her birthday, and her vision centered around having a baby cow in the photos! I was down for anything. When I tried looking up inspiration on Pinterest on "baby cow birthday shoot", all that popped up was one year smash cakes and the occasional cow. Not at all helpful. I had to improvise a lot, and I think the final product turned out SO dreamy!

Kaitlyn's loves are cows and sunflowers (and cats!). She has tattoos of both and dressed in such a pretty sunflower dress with sunflower boots. I absolutely loved that she got to incorporate her favorite things! One of her must-have shots was to have the cow pictured with her beautiful tattooed cow on her thigh.

The baby cow's name is Stanley, and he was such a trooper! He's probably used to having people pet him and love on him since he is part of Kelsey's (the owner) mobile petting zoo. Kelsey was so sweet and accommodating for Kaitlyn since having a baby cow was a must, we ended up going on Kelsey's property to have the shoot.

As I was walking around, there was nothing but a canopy of trees overtop all of our heads since we were in a wooded area. Usually, it would be so beautiful and serene, but as far as taking pictures with natural light, the trees overtop actually blocks a lot of the available light we have. And my style is to have the sun slightly behind my client. I had to really think on the spot as to where we should go, and what would be the best spot that wouldn't be too dark and heavy behind Kaitlyn, or in front. As I was walking around, I noticed this little, tiny spot where the sun peeked through the trees. There was an older car parked there that could not be moved to take pictures. So, I had to get super creative. In majority of the pictures, I'm hiding the car behind Kaitlyn and Stanley. And to the left of them were our cars parked in the driveway. I had such a small window to move without exposing what I was trying to hide! I think it ended up working out well, because when I look back at the pictures, it looks like we were able to photograph her in an open area.

When I placed Kaitlyn exactly where I wanted her and Stanley, where the sun glowed right behind her, I couldn't contain my excitement! I think I probably stayed in that one spot for 20 min not wanting to miss any of the magic, until the sun moved and wasn't glowing behind her anymore. I was SWEATING! It was so hot and humid, and I was so utterly excited! It literally felt so magical and mystical. Truly like a story book fairytale type of vibe.

Kaitlyn did fantastic! I told her in the beginning, my goal was just to capture the interaction between her and the sweet baby cow-and of course I gave my direction on posing here and there. I especially love the ones of their faces close together! And the ones where Stanley is posing so perfectly with Kaitlyn's sunflower boots. I could not ask for a better duo! It took a lot (a lot!) of treats for Stanley towards the end, but we ended up getting so many memorable shots, even with him being done with pictures. We ended with Kaitlyn posing by herself, and I think she looks so beautiful.

Would I ever have expected to have done a session with a calf? Absolutely would not have expected, haha. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to! And I'm so glad I was able to make Kaitlyn's dreams come to life with this shoot!