This is 14 | Everything beautiful about photographing Middle School

I have specialized in photographing teenagers for over a dozen years (even writing that sentence down here blows my mind, by the way) but as the time has gone by, there is a special joy that has grown for me in capturing the Middle School years.  I recently shared portraits of my own daughter earlier this month and now I had the great fortune to photograph 14 year old Sydney.

This tiny window of time that bridges childhood to adulthood is absolutely beautiful photographically and it's always fun to collaborate with both the kids and parents to create portraits that can reflect equal parts strength, vulnerability, joy and thoughtfulness.

This blue lace dress from Nordstrom is one of 14 year old Sydney's favorites from her session and hearing Mom say that they had a ball shopping together and getting ready for the session was a cherry on top of this sweet experience.