Lexi’s Graduation Session | The Strunk Family 2020
This beautiful family is very special to me.
They represent all three of my very separate worlds coming together.
The photography part is obvious…I am now their family photographer documenting the different stages of life and growth together. The other two worlds they represent for me you may or may not know about me…
I knew John first.
He was my blacksmith for my ornery but beautiful mare, Lacey. That’s right, I’m a horse girl at my roots. I started riding at 5 years old taking lessons and have owned horses at various times of my life. If you know any “horse people” you know they are rather obsessive about their horses and their whole lives pretty much revolve around their horse’s needs and schedules. Mine did too back then. I spent probably a ¼ of my time at the barn with Lacey. Horses had always been my stress relief and the best coping mechanism in my bag of tricks on tough days. Upset? Go to the barn. I could ride into the sunset if I wanted to or muck stalls and clean tack to my heart’s content after an emotional day. All the physical activity was so good for me.
Getting back into riding again as Andrew and Isaac got older, I decided to purchase a horse. John was recommended as one of the best blacksmiths in the area so naturally, I called him when I bought Lacey. He was never much of a talker….a get down to business kind of guy. He is always busy and trying to keep to his schedule for his clients. He was understanding with the horses but never put up with nonsense from them.
I was intimidated by him.
And, if you know me, when I’m uncomfortable….I start talking. Sometimes I just can’t stop. So, I started talking to John. I would have to guess it wasn’t very welcome at first. He’s a busy guy trying to concentrate on what he’s doing…along comes this new girl who isn’t connected in the horse community trying to talk to him. He was nice enough about it but kept the conversations short and sweet. Sometimes he would educate me about this or that as a good horseshoer will do in the best interest of the horses. Until…I mentioned that I worked in the autism field.
Enter my third world.
Well, don’t you know he put down Lacey’s leg, looked me in the eye and started a real conversation. His fiancé, Theresa’s daughter Lexi happened to have autism and it was a subject close to his heart. He entertained the conversation but ultimately got back to work. These conversations kept up every time John came out to work on Lacey’s feet (every 6-8 weeks) and I stopped being so intimidated by him. We had found a common ground. John, of course, told Theresa about the conversations and she became interested too as I was well connected in the autism world in PA (even if I wasn’t well connected in the horse world). He was smart enough to bring Theresa and Lexi along to an appointment so that he wouldn’t have to talk to me (kidding…but really) and we all hit it off immediately.
John and Theresa got married right around the time Marc and I got married. Marc and I got pregnant with Finn, I started learning photography, lost my job in the autism world and I eventually had to sell Lacey without enough time to really spend with her having little ones again and a business to build and run. I had to say good bye to most of my friends in the horse world. The Strunks have been one of the few “horse people” I still see from time to time because of their sessions. Theresa mentioned at their shoot on Sunday that when I got out (of the horse world)….I GOT OUT. And, it’s true. I haven’t ridden since I had Rita. I miss it tremendously and find that when I try to linger or hear stories from my horse world friends…it breaks my heart wide open to know I can’t do it regularly anymore. I also felt like I had to choose between this dangerous sport and my business. I’m just not willing to take the risks that are involved with riding when I have client’s weddings coming up and little children to care for.
The “what ifs” cloud my mind and my judgement.
You can’t ride a horse “cautiously.” You just never know. And so, I’ve distanced myself. When I come so close to them as I did for this session (they keep their horses on their property where we held the session) I feel the draw…the ache in my chest to ride again. The fall is especially tough. I have so many memories of beautiful fall rides in my life.
And so, I ADORE this family.
I love the role they play in tying up the strings of one of the biggest transitional times of my life.
As long as I continue to photograph them, those parts of my life remain alive.
This session was meant to commemorate Lexi’s graduation from High School. It was scheduled originally for ages ago. I’m not even sure when the original date was anymore. There were weather concerns for two of the dates and then COVID happened. They even rescheduled their date again because of a wedding rescheduling for COVID for me. At this point, Lexi’s actual graduation seems eons ago but we still needed to document this time. We didn’t think Lexi would like to have an entire session just her like typical high school senior photos so we included the whole family with tons of breakouts and, of course, her very special dogs who love her so very much. She got to have photos with everyone she loves, some of just her and we also got to have lots of different groupings of people. It was perfect for them.
We ended our time scheduling their 2021 session for Aidan’s senior portraits! I love driving away knowing I’ll get to see them again in a year.
Theresa, John, Lexi, Colin, and Aidan, we had a blast with you. I love the way you support and love each other. It’s obvious how much family means to you. I hope you love this sample of a few of my favorites from your session on Sunday and because I know how hard it is to wait, there are a few surprises in your inbox (Theresa) RIGHT NOW so go check! XO - Megan
