The Kroegers. {Fort De Soto Beach}

Two years in casual discussion, plus a year post booking, I finally made it to the Kroeger’s new house in Tampa!

Hurricane Ian headed towards Florida handful of days before my departure from Cincy. As days passed, we watched it slightly change routes from Tampa originally being slammed, to it only getting the edge of the storm. While so so many were affected, their neighborhood went unscathed. The strong winds still lingered a few days, which was annoying for their hair whipping their faces, but no big deal.

Having a big age gap between the kids makes the dynamic pretty fun!

😍

The winds were def good for kite flying!!

Mya has such good range. 😍 She could be whoever I wanted her to be so effortlessly and beautifully.

Ava is a completely new human since 2019. She grew like 8 or so inches since I saw her last annnd no more long blonde hair!😳 Now standing 6ft tall, she’s hardly a little girl anymore! So pretty.

TJ was such a good sport. The day I got there, he was fighting a stomach bug. The next night we did these pics while he was still a bit fatigued but he didn’t complain, just did his best for me!

Luke is a goofy guy and I love him for it. 😍

At first they didn’t love the wet pants but they thankfully overcame it pretty quickly.

So excited!

These two are hilarious together. 😍

When the boys wanted breaks, the girls played!

I’d never seen so many fully intact, pretty shells together! We had to walk over all of them to get to the walkway, one of which cut TJ’s toe. 🥺

Luke with some jokes. 😆

So pretty!

The slowly sinking Amy. 😆

I decided just in the knick of time to have them go all the way out on the Fort ruins. I noticed the tide rising and was like, oh crap, you wont be able to get out there soon. 😬 Getting back to beach was only a *slight* wet struggle. 😆 BUT!😍

The struggle is real when deciding how to use light on beautiful humans. It was low enough that I could filter it through the pier but also..

I could pull the hard light into my lens, which is beautiful in a different way! 😍

I  was shooting Amy and Tim and turn around to see Ava basking on the railing. 😆 Ya gorgeous.

Album cover vibes. 😍

Me to myself…out loud. “UGHHHH I just want to use the light in alllll the waysss.”

Subjects chillin while I continue to fight with myself knowing I could spend all 10min of the dropping sun on just these two on the boardwalk buuuut I want to do so many other things with it too! 😩🤣

Love love love.

We’d been at it awhile but I knew with the clouds, the full sunset would be be worth waiting for. More patience from the boys was so helpful as we played around another handful of minutes to see what the sky would do!

It didn’t disappoint. And the flocks of seagulls were passing over us like, ohhhh we know what you want!

The coolest part about silhouettes on the beach vs everywhere else, is the reflective water. 😍

Ava showing off her outside hitter hops. 🥰

We were washing our feet to leave and I noticed the wall that could give a different perspective and the sunset still lingering. I couldn’t ignore it, so I got them to hop back up for a couple more. 🤣

And again, I.just.want.to.play.with.light. Me yelling to them, “I don’t care what you do! I’m just having fun playing!” I haven’t pulled my focus in such a long time with a silo! 😍 Switching from portrait to fine art like woah. 😭

Besides the wind, the night was absolutely perfect!! It couldn’t have gone better. You guys were chill 🙌🏼 and up for all the things I threw at you, which is all I can ask for! Now onto culling your home session! Heart, Melanie