Boho Beauties; a “ME” session dream come true

Welcome back to the Julia Young Photography Journal!

As a photographer, the wheels in my mind are always spinning as I look for inspiration for a great photo. I love getting opportunities to use my creativity and I am thankful that I was able to find a perfect career for me that allowed me to connect my natural skills, my love for beautiful pictures and my passion for working with children (and families).

Typically, I work with families and young children to capture the simple joys and moments of life in order to allow families to freeze those moments in time with priceless memories to hang on the wall. This past weekend, I fulfilled a dream of mine; planning out and shooting a “ME” session with some of the most adorable children around.

A few weeks prior, I posted a call to find the perfect models for this shoot and received so many amazing applications, it was definitely hard to choose! I was looking for specific littles who would fit the image I had created in my head of this shoot and also who would fit in the perfect outfits I had already chosen! It was such a great experience getting to meet these littles and their families as we prepared for the official photo shoot!

As with anything in life, I started out with a vision that included words such as; whimsy, vintage, lace, linen, soft, sweet, natural, and boho…and the idea just continued to develop from there. These words capture my entire photography style so it felt really natural to go this direction for the shoot. 😉

A good plan makes for a great session in the photography world. From the first moment I stepped into the Paris Market Vintage shop here in Colorado Springs at the Briargate Shops quite some time ago, I knew that I wanted to plan a shoot around these sweet, whimsical outfits and could picture exactly what I wanted this shoot to look like.

I wanted to capture the essence of my own childhood; free spirits connecting with nature. This boutique has it all and I could not wait to continue the planning. I love browsing around this adorable boutique and I cannot help purchasing a few pieces each time I visit. My excuse for spending way too much money there is that I use them as part of my “client closet”. 🙂 From shopping and choosing the outfits, to finding the perfect models to arranging schedules and coordinating fittings, this was a long but extraordinarily gratifying experience.

My head was spinning with fun ideas that we would incorporate and I finally landed on an idea I was inspired by when I was browsing around the Paris Market Vintage boutique. Every little girl dreams of getting “glammed up” like a princess and from the hair to the makeup to the beautiful bohemian outfits, I would say their little girl dreams (and my dreams too!) came true!

Of course no outfit is complete without some accessories and so I got to work. I spent a very fun afternoon (while my little ones were unfortunately home sick and slept basically all day) cutting, hot gluing, and designing the tiaras and headpieces for this shoot and I am so happy with how they turned out; a sparkly, feather filled dream come true!

In my business, Julia Young Photography, I truly value making genuine connections, focusing on the little details and making each client feel extremely special. I prepared little goodie bags for the girls (and my own little ones too) and brought along some delicious cupcakes from Cupcake Girls Bakery here in Colorado Springs as a special treat…the day just continued getting better!

Another fun turn of events included my 8 year old son Lukas who was so excited watching us prepare for the shoot, that HE wanted to join us too! So while curling hair and putting on blush I sent him upstairs with 3 instructions; shorts, shirt & suspenders. He came downstairs all dressed and ready to roll with the girls!

We began our photo shoot in the foothills of the mountains right near the incredible Cheyenne Mountain State Park right here in Colorado Springs. It was a gorgeous early February afternoon as the girls, their moms, my oldest boy Lukas and I headed out (all glammed up), to the location for our shoot.

We played, we giggled, we posed and we had the best time throughout the entire photo shoot! The littles were all so cooperative and excited and were such naturals at modeling! Even Lukas had so much fun & really got into the shoot… I think modeling could turn into a career for him one day! 🙂

I am certain I have a lot more to learn and am hoping to work out the little kinks in future projects. However, between the late afternoon lighting, my adorable models, wonderful families and seeing the final product, it was such a great experience to have my vision come together.

I am so excited to be able to share some of my favorite photos from this shoot with you. If you live in Colorado Spring or are visiting the area, I would love to work with you as well and help make YOUR visions become realities and provide you with some wonderful memories to take home!

Special thanks to all the fantastic Colorado Springs moms and their daughters who really made this shoot come alive and were amazing to work with! Thank you Liz (daughter Lucy), Marisa (daughter Avery), Veronica (daughter Savanna), Katie (daughter Payton), and Meagan (daughter Coco)

Extra thank you to all the wonderful Colorado Springs businesses that helped this vision become a reality! Huge shout out to Paris Market Vintage & The Cupcake Girls

Thanks for coming along for the adventure! Let’s connect and create some childhood magic!

Love,

Julia