This adorable mom and her son were in town this week on vacation and I met them in Celebration for some photos.  How cute are they?  I quickly learned the trick to get big smiles … just mention his girlfriend.  So cute!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this family was in town from different parts of the United States to celebrate their parent’s 50th wedding anniversary.  After we finished with the family, they changed and we walked around the waterfront in Celebration to capture some of the magic that has made them so strong for the last 50 years.

I’m going to take a break from the week-long photography series to bring you a preview from one of my latest sessions.  I met this beautiful family in Celebration to do some fun family portraits.  The Grandparents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and everyone was in town from different parts of the country to help celebrate.  We did a special session just for the anniversary couple and that preview will be tomorrow.

This session actually came to be as a “happy accident.”  The family you’re about to meet is the family of another local Central Florida photographer, Angela Little.  I met her a few months back at a photographer’s workshop.  She said some of the sweetest, nicest things to me when we met and at that moment I just *knew* that something good was going to come out of our friendship.  Fast forward a few weeks when she made a comment on  her Facebook page that a quick snapshot taken by a kind stranger was one of the only family pictures she had (see, here’s the thing about us photographers … we’re really BAD about having our own family pictures done.)  That was it!  I emailed her and offered to do her family portraits.  Fast forward another month or two and our session took place on a Saturday morning (after getting rained out the week before!) in downtown Sanford.  I have to say that Angela has one of the loveliest, most loving families I have met.  Their happiness, even through some of the obvious challenges they are faced with, just shines from them.  Seriously.  It was such an honor to photograph this family.

Because I couldn’t narrow down any of the photos to show you a “quick” preview, I’ve embedded their entire slideshow in this post.  This also will give you a good example of the range of photos you might get out of a family session with KarenLeslie Photography.  Click on the arrow key at the bottom left of the slideshow so you can watch the entire thing.  Also, there’s music, so be sure your computer speakers are on.

I know I’ve shared images from this same location a lot lately, but I have to say that it is one of my favorite locations in town.  As soon as a client asks for an urban-type location, I know exactly where we are going.  This session had actually been planned for a while: Mom bought the session for the family last Christmas and – due to a variety of circumstances I like to call “life” – we were just now able to get it scheduled.  No matter, the session was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting this family.  I’m excited to share these images with them, as I know they are excited to see them.

About a month ago I received a call from a family in Chicago who was planning a trip to Disney with his extended family.  They were interested in booking a session with me while they were here in town.  I had them meet me early in the morning (to avoid our notorious Florida afternoon thunderstorms) and maybe even to avoid some of the heat (even thought you can’t possibly avoid the humidity this time of year) at one of my favorite spots on Disney property. I have to tell you that these were some of the nicest people with such well-behaved kids.  The oldest boy came up to me at the beginning and introduced his little cousin to me.  How cute! (And polite!)  Kudos to mom and dad on raising him right!

I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Orlando vacation!