Simmons Family Portraits- Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow

I met Sarah at the playground last spring. My daughter was running around playing on the equipment as was her son, while she tended to her baby girl and chatted with another parent. I couldn't help but overhear that she was new to Glasgow, but it was the non-British accent that I honed in on first. I'm not ashamed to admit that I gravitate towards North American voices as I (usually correctly) guess that they are like me and an ex-pat. I jumped into the friendly conversation about being new and basically told her that I had been in her place the year before and completely understood what it was like to have landed in a new place with your family and not know how to get involved and meet people.

I didn't hear from her for a little while, but when we connected again we ended up really getting to know each other and her son and my daughter soon became really good friends. It didn't hurt that they lived next to the park and Kiona got to go play with all of Oliver's different toys!

They moved back to the States in the fall and while it was only a short time they were in Glasgow, I know they really came to it enjoy it here as I have. When she asked me to take some portraits of them so they could remember their time here I was really excited! I just knew that we had to take them at Kelvingrove Park, which had figured into their lives so much while they were here.

We did the session in the morning and boy was it chilly! It was October and I was worried we'd all freeze, but it turned out to be a bright and sunny day and we were glad for the warmth of the sun.

I arrived early at their flat while they were finishing getting ready and then we headed out. One of the special things they wanted was a picture in front of the door of their building. They lived in these gorgeous Victorian tenement flats and the oversized black door was such a lovely back drop!

We basically wandered the park, stopping at favourite places and it was a very relaxed session, even with little Oliver running excitedly all over the place! Having a small child of my own, I knew exactly how it was so we just went with it.

Some of my favourite moments were when Oliver spotted a cat on the other side of a wrought iron fence and when Emma was getting upset and Sarah was swinging her into the air to get her to laugh. It's all the little things parents do for their kids and it gave me warm fuzzies to capture those moments.

Normally I would have blogged about this way earlier, but they wanted to give away pictures to their families for Christmas and I didn't want to spoil the surprise for them! It was such a great experience for me and I'm really grateful for the internet so we can still keep in touch! The world really does get smaller and smaller, doesn't it?

Thank you Sarah and Johnny for letting me be a part of a little farewell to Glasgow. I had a great time!

And now some of my favourite images: