Mia & Sam: Iowa City Home Lifestyle Portraits
Mia found me on Instagram (yay for hashtags!) and reached out to me through my website for headshots back in October. From there, a new friendship bloomed and so did more snapshots of their life!
I love taking portraits because I can show people how unique they really are, but I’ve found a new love for lifestyle sessions! Mia and Sam have been married for almost two years and have since bought a house together here in Iowa City. While Sam was in law school, Mia was still in the Marines, serving diligently for our country. She has since put her uniform away so she can see her loved ones more often and now lives in New York with a great job that takes her to several different cities! I’ve always thought jobs where you can travel were cool :) Sam is actually graduating from law school this year so he’s joining Mia in New York permanently! After years of long-distance and traveling back and forth, they finally get to be together in one place!! It’s like out of the movies where they triumph over distance and the hurdles that come with LDRs to eventually be reunited forever except they’re already married so I don’t know how much of that is applicable hahaha But the sentiment is still the same: they are reunited forever!
For this session, Mia wanted photos of them with the first home they bought together (photos are a great way to remember life’s details!); she also said they haven’t taken any photos of them in their uniforms now that their tags are the same. I was so excited to have something different like this to photograph! Being able to capture people’s lives like this, it reminded me why I do and love photography!
Iowa weather, being fickle as always, was playing tricks with us. On the morning of their session, it was darky and stormy with chances of rain to be 40% all day. Just the day before when I checked, they forecasted 20% chance until 4pm! We scheduled a rain-out date for the next day, but the weather wasn’t looking too good for the rest of the week. Thankfully, the rain held off for a bit and we were back on for their session! It only sprinkled an hour before, but it stopped before 5pm so we had no rain!
Mia and Sam busted out their uniforms for our first location at their home. The corgi pups, like kids, were distracted and wanted to play, but I managed to sneak a few with them looking! Neely and Cora are so cute, I didn’t mind them not looking at all; how can you be mad at those adorable puppy faces?! We did a few shots in their backyard (and the neighbor’s; thanks, neighbor!), moved to the park close to their home where they would take the dogs out for a walk, and ended with shots under a pergola and a beautiful blooming tree to which I don’t know the name of. These two are awesome. Having already taken their holiday photos back in November, they knew the flow. I didn’t have to give much direction because they already knew what to do! I honestly could not have asked for better clients that aren’t friends or friends of friends :)
For security purposes, I won’t post any photos of Mia and Sam’s house, but here are a few of my favorites from their session!
Mia & Sam, thanks for trusting me to capture these life moments for you! I’ll be sad knowing both of you won’t be in Iowa anymore, but I hope to see you all in New York the next time I visit!