Back before WA’s mandatory stay-home order was put in place, we were in full party-planning mode for Mieke’s first birthday. We had it all figured out; a bee theme, adults’ and kids’ grazing boards, the grill fired up and at the ready, plenty of family friends surrounding our little lady with love and fun and togetherness. Well, we all know how that turned out. Mieke celebrated her first birthday live on my instagram instead, and we showered her as we stayed home. Before everything happened, however, our amazing family friend, Lynsey from Lynsey Strader Photography, offered her services for cake smash photos of Mieke. As the world fell to pieces around us though, we decided to switch gears and, instead, did a blend of cake smash and socially-distant family photos at Solo Point.
Just minutes from JBLM North, Solo Point is a favorite for Army PT, little picnics, and trainspotting, as it’s just beyond the shooting range out of the East Gate. Since social distancing was in full swing, and most soldiers were ordered to stay within a strict 50-mile radius, we knew we’d need to embrace socially-distant family photos, and we decided Solo Point was the perfect place.
If you’ve been following this blog for some time, you’ve probably seen by now that Lynsey is our go-to family photographer in the JBLM area. I stumbled Facebook when we first got here, searching for a family photographer since we left our amazing Julie back at Fort Drum (who took all these gems). I happened upon Lynsey, and we had the honor of being her first family photos here at JBLM! We had just found out we were pregnant with Mieke at the time, and we developed a great rapport and relationship with Lynsey, enlisting her amazing talents time and again. She took my maternity photos at Saltar’s Point, and she even did our JBLM homecoming photos!
These socially-distant family photos, however, were something extra special. There’s something about the fact that we’ll be able to look at these for years to come when this is a distant memory and fully remember this time together. We’ll remember hiding in our car till she showed up, not being able to hug or embrace Lynsey. We’ll remember coaching the boys, telling them we couldn’t play with any of the other kids on the beach. We’ll remember how our elaborate cake smash for our final baby turned into something sweeter and more intimate – something we’ll truly never forget.
I haven’t shared these yet because, to be honest, it felt weird sharing something that brings us such joy in this time. I decided, however, that the internet needs more positivity and light though, and if there’s one thing that Lynsey delivers, it’s light in all she does. I’ll forever treasure our socially-distant family and first birthday photos.
Tell me, do you have a photographer in your area that you know and love? Have you done any of those “front porch project” shoots I’ve seen around?
