I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. -John O’Donohue
Towards end of July, Ryan Kate and I took a trip to visit family in San Antonio, TX. Anytime we travel, I like to get shots of Ryan Kate… mainly for memories, but mostly because I love a new setting. I like the challenge it gives me to not know the exact lighting of the area, etc. It’s like a pop quiz. I need that to grow as photographer. I always learn something on Ryan Kate’s shoots no matter where we are though.
I don’t know if you have seen the Guadalupe River, but I seriously doubt there has ever been a bad picture taken there. It is so beautiful. The bald cypress trees and the gorgeous clear yellow-green waters… It is truly like something out of a story book. Just the roots of the trees on the banks of the river are amazing. I knew this would be a great place to bring Ryan Kate.
Once we got to the river, I immediately started to get a little anxious. This may have been the most dangerous situation I have ever put her in. And that says A LOT. We pretty much just let Ryan Kate run wild. The picture I had in my head of what I wanted her to do meant that she would have to be in the water sitting or standing on one of the huge rocks that are scattered throughout the river. This meant that my mom (God bless her soul) would have to carry Ryan Kate to the middle of the river while I stood on the bank and then she would have to back far enough downstream to either be out of the picture or far enough back that I could photoshop her out. I opted to photoshop her out. I was way to nervous to let her get too far away from her. <–Please note that my mother was only about two feet away from Ryan Kate the whole time…
They were only in the water for about 3 minutes before my anxiety got the best of me and I asked mom to bring her back to the bank. I honestly could have done without the shots on the rocks. They ended up okay, but my favorite ones are of her on the banks climbing on the tree roots.
I wanted this session to just be of her playing. Just real life. I can’t help the fact that she ended up looking like a river fairy (minus the wings)! I had originally planned to find a vintage bathing suit to put her in, but I planned that way too late. I didn’t have enough time to get it shipped to us before I had to leave. Fortunately, I had this little, $6.99, white dress find from Burke’s in Ruston, LA. Obviously no shoes were required and I just let her hair air dry. Her little highlights are so pretty right now with her hair down. So I really wanted to capture that before her hair changes colors AGAIN. Fun fact for you… RK was born with jet black hair. Around 7 months it started to change to really light blonde and it is now starting to darken up again.
I absolutely love the way she looks so FREE. This girl is the definition of a free spirit. It would be a shame to not capture that. I think it’s so beautiful, but I may be a little bias.
If you’re wondering what she’s holding in the picture above. That’s rocks. The whole place is covered in pebbles. And she had a freaking field day throwing handfuls of them at me and my mom. It was ok at first.. nobody was getting hurt. 
The session only lasted about 15 minutes. After mom brought her back to the bank I had planned to get several more of her playing around on the trunks of the trees, but as soon as she got back she pick up another handful of rocks and threw it right in between my eyes. I had about a dime sized knot pop up immediately. That was IT for me. Like I said earlier, I always learn something at Ryan Kate’s sessions. I guess on this one I learned that even this photographer has her limits!
This entire session took about 4 hours to edit. The before/after picture below took about an hour and a half. Most of this time was deciding what to put in the water. I just luckily got this shot of her with her holding out her hand. More thank likely she is throwing rocks in the water. I had contemplated putting a gold-fish. I thought that the gold with the yellow-green water would look pretty. After playing around with that for a while I finally decided that wasn’t going to work. I just happened to be on the phone with my best friend, Casey, and asked her what else swims in the river that would look ok for RK to be feeding. She came up with the turtle. I’ve got two actions on this picture. One from Greater Than Gatsby and the other from Amanda Diaz Photography. I didn’t touch up Ryan Kate’s skin at all in these. Luckily she didn’t have any blemishes or bruises to really focus on so I didn’t have to worry about those. But honestly, if she had or had gotten dirty, I would have left it. She is a kid and playing… that’s just what happens.
Please watch the video of her whole session! 🙂
Everything was set. I had the location, the outfit, the motorcycle, but I didn’t have a clue what to do with her hair. This has just recently become a problem for me. Her hair has grown 5 inches in the past 6 months. Before I just threw a headband on her and hoped for the best. Apparently I’m going to have to go to beauty school if I continue with these types of shoots with her, because I’m only ok at like 4 styles. All the way down – it just air dries, a pony tail, halfway up, and pigtails. I mean I wear my hair the same 99% of the time… in a bun, on top of my head! Which I guess helped me pick this “style” out for her. Piggies in a bun!
This kid cooperated so good on this shoot. Mind you, it was only like 10 minutes long, but she had also just shot the 
Like really happy…!
Of course, we never get away from a shoot without a mean mug… but her mean eyes were hidden behind those shades. This one was most definitely towards her daddy though.
She gave me way more than I needed to work with to promote the mini session and I was proud of her.
This shoot is 100% proof that the cost of the session doesn’t end AT the session. Like I mentioned before… only 10 minutes were actually spent shooting. In total, I have probably spent 8 hours editing just this one shoot. The picture below took a total of 5 hours. Yep. That’s one picture < 5 hours!!!
It’s a pretty dramatic change though. The picture was darkened dramatically. I added a little light to the headlight and some exhaust. Several things were removed. Notice the red and white trash in the top left corner, the green water hose, and the black hoses on the bottom right. There is a total of 4 
Raising Ryan Kate 