Wonderful Experience

Submitted by Laura on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 11:40pm

If you read my last post, you may remember that I mentioned Joe and I were going to have a portrait session done last Friday.  We won a dream portrait by photographer and artist Audrey Wancket (you can read our dream wish submission here).  I was really excited and Joe and I worked hard to consider outfit choices and how we wanted our portrait to look using the guidelines Audrey mailed to us when we won. If you check out her website, I think you'll understand why we felt it was a key decision, based on the portraits she does. Joe and I both had 4 outfits that we made sure were dry cleaned and pressed, loaded carefully into the car, along with the beautifully groomed pups (thanks Shear Paradise Pet Salon!).  I expected our session would be maybe 1.5 hours with 1 outfit change.

Audrey's property is beautiful!  Her studio is in a remodeled barn, she has horses on the property, and many outdoor spots that can be used in the photo (we didn't do outdoor because of 1. the dogs attention span and 2. Audrey said outdoors are better in the morning based on sun position - and you know me - I am NOT a morning girl).  Chloe and Butters were immediately in love with Audrey and Kate, her assistant.  The warmness I felt from the two ladies helped ease my anxiety about working with my special needs.

Audrey chose all of the background and props, so it was great that I didn't have to try to tell her what we envisioned, because I actually wasn't really sure!  This is where her great artistry skill comes in.  For the last shoot, Joe and I got to play around a bit with our last outfit choice and our vision.  We got some REALLLLLY cute snapshots of the dogs alone on pedestals.  I cannot wait to see them!

We were there for about 3 hours!  It wasn't all photo taking - there were many breaks where we just sat around and chit-chatted a bit.  Today, I didn't feel sick. I felt normal - this is a testament to how great Audrey and Kate are.  Kate was super helpful hiding my oxygen and bringing it to me for "oxygen breaks", because I didn't want to wear it during the photo.  They were so patient with the dogs and really good at getting their attention for the camera (thanks burp, fart, bird noise, etc. maker machine!).

I feel like I found 2 new friends during this process.  I look forward to returning on July 3 to see our photos and pick which one will be transformed into our dream portrait.  I know we'll never be able to walk away with just 1 picture.....thanks for a unique, personal, and memorable experience, Audrey and Kate!