Walt and Dixie

and
Trey and Tonya

I think Walt and Dixie just became the family that traveled farthest to have me make their portraits. Of course, they didn't travel all this way JUST to have me create their family heirloom but still, they traveled all the way from the middle of Colorado. They were visiting their friends Trey and Tonya, who were spending a week at their family's condo at Pinnacle Port, on the beach near Panama City, FL. My relationship with Trey and his family goes back nearly thirty years, when Trey was around four or five years old and I was a teenager. Wow.

I've done portraits for Trey and Tonya several times over the last few years. In fact, they're one of my most loyal customers and it's always a pleasure to work with them. Their kids, Coleman and Cassidy, have literally grown up in front of my camera. They're lots of fun and SO easy to work with. (Trey and Tonya, you should be proud of those kids. I think they're GREAT!) Trey is one of the funniest guys you'll ever meet, and Tonya is a true sweetheart. They make a good couple.

This was the first time I had met Walt and Dixie. As I mentioned they had come all the way from "the middle of the mountains in Colorado," as Walt so eloquently stated. He told me the name of their hometown and when I looked it up on a map, sure enough, it was in the middle of the mountains in Colorado. Maybe I can get an invite sometime...I love the Rocky Mountains. Walt's wife Dixie is a longtime friend of Tonya. In fact, Dixie used to live in the Dothan area many years ago and that's where they met.

When Tonya told Dixie that I would be coming down to the beach to create some family portraits for them, Dixie wanted to schedule a session for her family too. So, I made it to Pinnacle Port around 6 p.m. and we got straight to work with Walt and Dixie and their three beautiful children. We went up among the sand dunes and sea oats, we moved to the water's edge, we went back to the dunes and then finished up on the wide, flat section of the beach. Walt even pitched in to help by holding my reflector while I was getting some images of the kids. Thanks, Walt! I only wish you could have helped with those irritating sand flies (or whatever they're called)!

We took some cool photos of Walt and Dixie's youngest child, Trent. Trent got a little fussy one time and Walt was gently tossing him into the air and gently catching him and it seemed to do just the trick for Trent because he had the biggest smile on his face. I asked Walt if he thought Trent would like a couple more tosses--I wanted to get some photos that would make it look like Trent was flying high. Check it out!

We also got a few really nice images of Walt and Dixie together. So many times, parents want to get portraits of their kids but they forget to get images of themselves at the different stages in their lives as well. I was glad to get these photographs and hope they'll cherish them as much as the family portraits.

We finished up with Walt and Dixie and it was time to get to work with Trey and Tonya and their kids. Tonya teaches middle school and she knows how to organize things. She had a couple of poses that she especially wanted and we got right to work on that. She had seen an image we created for Trey's stepsister at this same location and was curious about how and where we had done the photograph, so I showed her where it was. Of course, she wanted to use that location too.


After that, went went down to the water's edge for a few more family photos. We finished the session a few minutes after the sun disappeared below the horizon. Just before we stopped for the day (and just before the sun completely set) I grabbed this photo.

One last note about today's session: It was great to have my dad along with me for the session. He found out earlier in the week that I was going to the beach and asked if he could come along. I said, "Sure, it would be great to have you." He bought a Canon EOS 30D last year and wanted to try it out at the beach. So while I was working on the portraits, he was working shots of the sea oats, the clouds and whatever else grabbed his attention. We had lots of good conversation during the drive time to and from the beach and I'm glad we share a common interest in photography.

After finishing the photography session, Tonya suggested that we (Dad & I) try the new Five Guys Burgers, located in a new shopping development nearby. So we headed over toward Five Guys and when we got there, the crowds were unbelieveable. I mean, there were people EVERYWHERE and it was a Thursday night. Since we had an hour and a half of driving ahead of us, we decided to try Five Guys on another, less crowded day. Instead, we stopped at Burger King and hit the road pretty quickly. But I'm really looking forward to checking out that Five Guys Burgers joint, I hear they have some awesome hamburgers.......