It was such a joy to capture Alex’s maternity session with her husband, Dan, at Airlie Center in Warrenton, VA. These two are expecting a little boy early next year and wanted to document this milestone before his arrival! But that’s not the only thing these two have in store for the coming months; they are also in the process of a complete home renovation! They live on a gorgeous plot of land in Northern, VA, but if you’re from the area you know that many of the homes there are quite old. So to modernize, they are knocking down the old structure to build a completely custom model on their land. And while it won’t be quite ready before baby boy’s arrival, I can just imagine how excited they are to move back in with him, and their adorable yellow lab, Lilly, later next year. Don’t worry, though, this sweet family has FOUR sets of amazing grandparents nearby who will be able to help when needed — how lucky are they!?

Life has a funny way of connecting people and I feel like I find that as a photographer in the Washington, DC area more than ever. Take Alex, for example. When I received her inquiry for a maternity session in the Northern, VA area, we had no known connections; she simply found my work through a past session maternity session I had captured at Goodstone Inn a few years back. After finding each other on social media, we saw that we both attended JMU — which isn’t uncommon around here! — but we were also both in the College of Business at nearly the exact same time. It’s very likely we had a class or two together over the years! And we also have a mutual friend that I know through the photography community! I feel like I said “it’s such a small world!” no less than five times during their session, but it truly is!

In another “small world” connection, Alex had recently broken her foot, so we were “boot buddies” during the session! Well, she opted to temporarily forgo the boot so it wasn’t showing in photos (I think I’ve done that no less than three times this month, so I can relate! ha!) and was such a champ the entire time. Airlie is definitely NOT a small property by any means and she didn’t complain once! I had such a blast working with Alex and Dan and cannot wait to see when their baby boy arrives!