Meet the Petteys

Time for true confessions. I mean, I like to keep it real. Mostly, anyway. :) Here’s how it goes in my brain before pretty much every session I do:

Oh crap. We’re starting in two hours. TWO HOURS. I might throw up. I just know it… This is going to be the one. The one where I forget all my memory cards and fresh batteries. The one where I forget how to even use my camera. What if I’m not funny enough? What if they don’t like me? What if I can’t make them smile? What if I can’t think of any poses? Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh I QUIT PHOTOGRAPHY! Foreeeevvveeerrrrrr! Why am I doing this? This is crazy! AHHHHH!

And then Jamie has to be all, Morgan, shut up and calm down. You’ll be fine. It always works out. You know what you’re doing. And then I take deep breaths, go to Starbucks, and put on Dolly Parton in my car on the way over. No, really. It’s like a warm-up routine. I have to play “9 to 5.” REALLY loud. And sing along in a really embarrassing sort of way. And why? Well, besides just loving Dolly (as if you didn’t know! psh!), what I find so comforting about this song is that it’s such a reminder of how thankful I am that I don’t have to work a 9 to 5 job. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But listening to the lyrics, it’s just so hard to fathom that even 30-40 years ago, women didn’t really have many options in the workplace. And thanks to all the women who paid the price for girls like me to be able to do what I’m doing today, I don’t have to worry about being stuck for the rest of my life in a career path I hate, merely because I was born the wrong sex. Because of strong, opinionated, fearless, talented, and determined women like Dolly, and because of all those crazy bra-burning feminists everyone loves to hate, I have the chance to be doing something that simultaneously is so freeing and terrifying and fulfilling and challenging. So I need a reminder of this, every time I nearly have a meltdown over every possible thing that could go wrong with this little business of mine.

I say all this to say that Sunday was no exception. I made plans with Gretchen Pettey awhile back to shoot a family session for her, and because she was the sister-in-law of Emily Pettey, whose family I shot back in October, and because Emily has always been such an amazing cheerleader for me, I was nervous as CRAP. But after my little warm-up routine, by the time I pulled into their driveway, I felt so much more at ease. And when they opened the door and let me in, I felt 100% comfortable and prepared to do this. Because you know what I love? People who are real. And from the moment I walked in, things were a little chaotic with Gretchen trying to get their three gorgeous children ready to go, and kind of freaking out because Jeff had been called in to check on a patient at the last minute and there was a chance he might be a little late meeting us, etc. etc. etc. And I LOVED it! It sort of reminded me of my days growing up babysitting all the time. There’s always complete chaos before the parents leave the house, but it always makes me feel like I’m just a part of all, and I kind of thrive on it.

So anyway, LONG story short (or not so short?), we all made it in one piece to Tanner Park, and Jeff was able to make it right on time, and we had a pretty amazing family session in the most gorgeous light possible on a fantastic Sunday afternoon. And it was a blast! Once again, I got myself all worked up for nothing, and when I began to look through these when I got home, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, because again- I was reminded why I do this. I love capturing these moments. Real people, real families, real laughter, real facial expressions, real love. So thank you Jeff, Gretchen, Savannah, Taylor, and Sophia for inviting me to be a part of it all. You guys were great!

Are these great outfits or what? Gretchen, you did a great job of coordinating without being too matchy. So classy! Here we have the nice family portrait….

…. and the kinda crazy and fun one!

I can’t get over how good-looking this family is. And what’s so funny is that, comparing them to the other Petteys, they’re all blonde and blue-eyed (Gretchen’s blonde naturally), while Sean and Emily’s family is all brunette and brown-eyed. Hard to believe they’re all related! How funny.

Love, love, love this one.

And I DEFINITELY love this one. The smiles, the movement, the light…. just perfect.

But really…. I would NEVER guess these two have three kids between the ages of 1 and 7. They’re quite the lookers!

One of my favorites.

Thanks for enduring all of my blabbering on, for those of you who read it! I feel like I should always be trying to convince other people that this is not as much of a glamorous job as they think it is…. but then I look through these images, and I think, oh who am I kidding…. this job ROCKS.

And here’s the slideshow!