I have found the one whom my soul loves.

Back in February, I got one of those "Prince of Nigeria" emails.  You know the ones.  Some royal dude from somewhere far, far away is writing you, special you, and needs your help with his millions.  I used to be very trusting and gullible.  I am terrified of i d e n t i t y t h e f t.  I am terrified of getting conned.  And so I have turned cynical, wary, and skeptical.  So that email, back in February... here's the gist of it.

Saw my work on a friend's facebook page.
Together for eight years and have never, ever, had professional photos done.
Live in Alaska, but husband from Tennessee.
Visiting the area in May.
Want ME to shoot them when they are here.

I read the email over and over again.  Picking it apart.  Looking for any trace of grammatical or spelling errors, to indicate one of those foreign scams.  Looking for pieces that didn't make sense... My gut feel?  This was a scam.  I've read online so many horrible scam scenarios over the last few years.  I didn't want to be taken.  I nearly didn't reply.  Because this simply had to be a scam.  I default now to cynical.  Default to skeptical.   This person couldn't really be interested in ME shooting them, when they have so many other options to choose from.

In the end, however, there was a chance it was legit.  So I did reply.  Turns out, it wasn't a scam.  It wasn't a Prince of Nigeria email.  It was my first ever photo session where someone saw my art, valued it enough to pay the high cost, and chose to have me use them as my subject to create more art.  They weren't just my friends who thought I took good pictures.

Shawn instructed me to send him a text message every 15 minutes during the shoot.  When they arrived and got out of their car, I knew everything was going to be okay.  They, in fact, were worried that "I" was the serial murderer who had lured them out to the middle of nowhere.

"I have found the one whom my soul loves."  Song of Solomon 3.4

I don't know that I've ever met people who were more fun and more in love.  She adores him.  He adores her.  They ooze it.  I am so incredibly honored that they wanted my particular brand of art to document this special time in their lives.   I just hope that weird isolated stay at home mom me didn't talk too much to them.  They were just so much fun.