The F Family {Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens} | Boothbay Maine Family Photographer

I love working with Alisa, Dick, and James. Not only are they super fun to spend time with, but Alisa spends months thinking about and planning our photo sessions, which year after year means they take me on a very cool adventure to someplace new in the Boothbay area. For years now, Alisa has wanted to do their session at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. However, with a 5pm close time, this really was never an option, as the summer light would be too bright to really enjoy any part of the park. Weeks after we picked our date for this year’s session, the gardens announced their member nights, keeping the property open late on certain evenings for members only. As luck would have it, one of the nights landed on our scheduled date. I was a little nervous that it would still be a bit bright, but these guys were willing to work with the light, and so I was willing to give it a shot. We 100% got double lucky this year, because on our date, storms threatened our time together, but we decided to go for it and not risk losing this opportunity. The storms held off, and so did the sun, giving us nice even light that allowed us to explore all our favorite parts of the gardens. AND because of the risk of storms, there were only a handful of members visiting, meaning we basically had the place to ourselves. It all came together so perfectly, and I’m so thrilled that we were finally able to have the botanical garden session that Alisa has been dreaming about.

This was my sixth year with this family. When I work with families for a long time, there comes a point where I really notice a big jump in growth (physically and mentally) in the kiddos, and this was James’ year. It seems he has gone from little to big kid overnight, and I loved capturing his growing features, and also hearing his witty commentary as we explored the park. He is such a cool kid, coming out of his shell and into his own – a lover of nature and science, and with a big heart full of love for his parents and world around him. I’m so grateful for another year with this beautiful family and am excited to share favorites from our botanical garden session.