As the warm August sun dipped behind the trees at St. James Farm, Shelby gathered her clothes out of the car, and she debated which outfits she wanted to wear. She had just returned from LA, her first trip out to California alone, and she was excited to spend some time with her parents and to document this exciting time in her life.

At first glance, you notice her beauty. Her striking blue eyes are memorizing, but beneath all of her physical beauty is a true artist and and a gorgeous soul. Shelby is a songwriter. She oozes creativity and love for what she does. In between her first year of college classes this fall, she will be juggling her songwriting career traveling back and forth between Chicago, LA and New York. She is a true believer in going after what she wants, and she knows that songwriting is what she loves.

Shelby grew up close to St. James Farm, but she had never really been there until our photo shoot. We practically had the whole place to ourselves … which I loved.

 

Shelby has a free-spirited nature, so the open fields were a perfect compliment to her personality.

In addition to being a songwriter, Shelby plays the piano and the guitar. Oh, and she also sings.

This might be my FAVORITE shot from our shoot.

Shelby really wanted some photos taken with her parents, so we used a part of our time together to document their relationships as well.

I love when natural smiles happen in front of my camera.

And I’ll end with this photo of Shelby’s parents. They were so sweet, and if it weren’t for their beautiful 30+ years of marriage, I wouldn’t have had the privilege of documenting their love, their family, and their beautiful daughter.