BY JADE
THE NEWTONS
Five years into marriage, life looks a little different than it did the last time they stood in front of a camera together. Since their wedding, Zac has moved away from Australia, they’ve built a life together here, and in December they welcomed the sweetest new addition to the family, Archer. Or Archie, as everyone lovingly calls him. And this season became even more meaningful because Zac’s parents, Benita and Phil, were visiting from Australia to meet their first grandbaby for the very first time. So this session became a little bit of everything. First family photos. First professional photos of Archie. A reunion. And a chance for me to meet the Australian side of the family too.
We met at Gray’s Lake in Des Moines on what felt like a very typical Iowa summer morning: around 80 degrees, full sun, and enough heat to make everyone a little sweaty before we were even halfway through. Not exactly soft, dreamy golden-hour weather. But honestly, that made it feel even more like real life. Bright sun, busy schedules, a baby who was not interested in smiling for the camera, and everyone doing their best to stay cool. And it all worked. Archie was definitely a little camera shy. Mikaya had warned me beforehand that he could be shy, especially around loud noises, and she was right. He wasn’t handing out smiles just because there happened to be a camera nearby. And that is completely okay. We let him warm up slowly. We made noises. We tried the snorting trick he normally thinks is hilarious. Some babies grin instantly.
Some study you like you’ve just arrived for a very serious job interview. Archie leaned a little more toward the second option that morning. But those quieter expressions are part of his story too. He’s at that wonderfully busy stage where sitting up independently is a major accomplishment and crawling feels like it could happen at any second. Mikaya specifically wanted photographs of him sitting on his own because this version of him is already changing so quickly. Those little milestones are easy to overlook while you’re living them. Until suddenly they’re gone.There was also one very important timeline running quietly in the background: Zac had a soccer game to get to and eventually had to board the team bus. So we photographed family life exactly as it was in that moment. A baby who wasn’t quite sure about the camera. Grandparents visiting from across the world. And a dad needing to catch the bus for soccer. Honestly, it felt pretty fitting for this chapter of their lives.
Mikaya had told me beforehand that life has been chaotic lately. Free time usually looks like soccer, finding a good restaurant or coffee shop, traveling, or settling in to binge a new show. Their two Great Danes are part of the crew too, although they stayed home for this particular adventure, probably sparing us all from a little extra slobber. Their hope for the session was simple: a mixture of classic family portraits and the candid moments in between. The grandparents loving on their first grandbaby. The looks between Mikaya and Zac. And all the tiny expressions Archie made while deciding whether or not I could be trusted with a camera.
Those little details are exactly why I love photographing families during these in-between seasons.One day he’ll be running instead of almost crawling.
One day sitting independently won’t feel like such a milestone. One day grandparents traveling across the world to meet the first grandbaby will become a story the family tells instead of something they’re currently living. Photos give us a way to keep a piece of it. There was another layer to this session that meant a lot to me personally. I had previously filmed Mikaya and Zac’s wedding. Years later, they trusted me again to document the next version of their story. Not the wedding day this time. The marriage after it. And years later, on a sunny morning at Gray’s Lake with a baby who is almost crawling, grandparents visiting from Australia, and a dad who has to catch a soccer bus, you get to see exactly where that story has gone next.
