I love when a plan comes together, especially when it’s an exciting, spontaneous one! As most of you know, photography has taken a back seat for me over the past few months. As sad as it makes me to temporarily put it aside, considering it’s been a driving force in my life the past three years, my (literally) growing family has to take precedence for a while. I’ll be honest, my camera has been collecting dust since this summer and I was starting to get a little discouraged (er, jealous) of all the amazing images popping up on my newsfeed daily from fellow photog buds. You can’t help but wish you were still part of the action, even if you know that realistically you have no time to play! So when the opportunity came up to tag along for a low-key photo shoot at an AMAZING and super unique location, I was not about to turn it down!
My Sunday morning started with my alarm going off at 4:30 am. After hitting the snooze a respectable two… ok, maybe three… times, I forced myself out of bed and into the shower. By the time I got on the road at 5:15 for our 6:15 am call time, I was wide awake and feeling excited. I knew there would be cranberry bogs involved in the day’s plan but had no idea what to expect. I’d never even seen a cranberry bog before, let alone had the chance to actually go wading in one! We were stripping off our shoes and ready to shoot by around 7 am, which was perfect as the dawn was turning into a nice overcast morning light. Even though I was slightly worried my eight month pregnant belly would compromise my balance and my camera could end up in the water, I threw caution to the wind and slowly made my way in. I wasn’t about to settle for mediocre snapshots from the shoreline. Luck was on our side as the cranberries were all gathered perfectly, the surrounding foliage had started to turn and the water wasn’t too numbingly cold. The three of us had a great time shooting for about an hour, with Kristina being the most hardcore of us all and submerging herself nearly up to her shoulders. Brittany was our beautiful and hilarious model for the day (no really, she does a great impression of Kristina. And the Loch Ness Monster. Trust me, I have proof). I really enjoyed getting to know her.
Long story short, it was a fun and inspiring morning that got my creative mojo working again! I spent the afternoon editing for the first time in ages and it felt oh so good. So very grateful to Kristina, not only for her awesome idea but her willingness to share and invite me along for the ride! Special thanks to her boyfriend, who not only got us special access and helped make it happen but sent me home with some of the freshest cranberries I’ve ever eaten; they were promptly made into delicious cranberry nut bread. Yum!! Oh and most important, I’m extremely thankful he waited until AFTER we were back on shore to mention the spiders, frogs and snakes… *shudder*
I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them!
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