Welcome

Schwarz Family

Meet the Schwarz family! Oregon natives who moved away to Tennessee a year ago. They came back to visit and wanted to celebrate with amazing family images in the beautiful Central Oregon landscape.

I so love the sweet little wild flowers that we found by the river! They only come out for a few weeks each year in this location and they were just perfect for this thunderstorm session, giving it a very spring-in-Oregon feeling.

I often have people ask, “What happens if there is a thunderstorm when we are scheduled to shoot?”. I totally understand the concern! Thunderstorms are often unpredictable and come in to Central Oregon on a regular basis. So what do I do? I keep an eye on the weather and change when we shoot as needed.

So… I met up with the Schwarz family in Sunriver on Saturday evening when the skies where slightly cloudy. I had checked the weather all day because it just had the smell of a thunderstorm, but it did not say there was a chance of thunderstorms. As I was leaving my house, my smart husband asked if I was going to take our clear umbrellas with me. I said, “No, it’s not going to rain”. Oh how God laughs when we make plans!

Right as I parked my car I started hearing thunder and seeing bolts of lightning crashing down. Luckily there was no rain, but that lightning was intense… and we were going to be shooting in a field. Even with a lightning rod on a pole above my head, I still wasn’t sure this was going to work. I even called my hubby to see if he thought it was safe to be in a field with a metal camera in a lightning storm. He wasn’t sure, but I heard my 7 old in the background saying that if I feel tingling I should put my feet together and drop to the ground, with an added, “I love you mom!” which made me think that he was sure I would get struck! That’s when the Schwarz family pulled in and the rain started pouring.

I quickly ran through the rain to meet them and ended up snuggling with Laura in the front seat of their care. Luckily we are both small! It was definitely a different way to get to know new clients and now I feel like we are true friends :).

As the rain poured down and then turned to hail, Olivia watched the storm on a weather app to see when it would pass. Thank goodness this teen loves weather because she could tell exactly when we needed to get out and start shooting before the next set of showers rolled in. So, when she said to, we ran to the field and had 10 minutes before the rain started coming down again. Then we shot for another 5 before it was just too wet and stormy to continue. I would have loved to keep shooting in the rain, but I’m so glad we stopped because the lightning came back and was so crazy! I’m so glad we all avoided getting struck by lighting!!

This entire shoot was photographed in about 12 minutes in the rain with lightning a short distance away. It may have been a bit crazy with a lot of rushing around, but I think we got some pretty amazing images with a fun story to go with them!

Isn’t she so gorgeous?! I wish we could have kept shooting in the rain. If it wasn’t for the lightning, I would have suggested we keep going just for Olivia!