The I/D Family {Acadia National Park} | Maine Family Photographer

A few years ago, I made the decision to stop offering Acadia sessions with the exception of special circumstances. One of the biggest reasons for this decision was the stress involved with living 3.5 hours from a location and the potential for poor weather. Aside from the ever-changing forecast in Maine in general, the island also has it’s own ecosystem at times, and making decisions there can be quite difficult. However, when Betsy, Judah, Graham, and Eve asked if I’d be willing to come to Acadia this year for our fifth session, with no option for a rain date up there, I thought “heyyyyyyy let’s throw all caution to the wind and go for it. Rain? What rain?” My family lives about an hour and a half from the island – heck, we’d make a day of it.

Spoiler alert, it rained.

It was one of those days that stress me out the most. Rain that promises to come but then looks like it won’t be coming. Then 20 minutes later the radar shows incoming downpours. When it was time to finally make a decision, the forecast called for a 99% chance of rain with heavy thunderstorms. Typically this would be a no-brainer – we’d cancel. But there was something in Betsy’s voice when we talked on the phone that told me that this session, this one in particular, REALLY mattered to her. (For what it’s worth – this is a lesson in creating a relationship with your photographer! If I didn’t know her from several years of working together, I wouldn’t have picked up on this). And so we decided to go for it. If we showed up and it was too dangerous, we’d cancel. And if it was just lightly raining, a rain session it would be.

Lucky for us, the rain was minimal upon arrival, so we hopped out of the cars, and made a go for it. Everyone had smiles on their faces, and even as the rain began really coming down about halfway through the session, everyone embraced it, laughed, and soaked up the moment as we made our way back to the cars.

Sometimes it’s ok when things don’t go as planned. It’s ok if the day isn’t sunny. It’s ok if the skies aren’t clear. Its ok if you can’t wear the summer clothes because it’s 65 and raining. It’s ok. Because these are the sessions you won’t forget – the ridiculous ones. The ones where things went a little wonky and you decide to just roll with it. I don’t think Betsy will mind if I share that she loves these photos. And I love them too, and I love this family. I’m so grateful we were able to make their Acadia session dreams come true – rain or shine.