The Back Story

There are times when the world works in wonderful ways and things come together better than you could have ever imagined. This was one of those times. Over Christmas my family and I were travelling to Maui for vacation. We’ve been to Maui quite a few times over the last few years, but we had a feeling this time might be our last for quite a while. I was really wanting to have some family portraits done while we were there, and I knew I wanted Allison of Allison Gipson Photography to take them. Here’s the thing….Allison lives on Oahu, and we were going to Maui. I talked myself out of asking her for months and months. It was going to be way too complicated with too many logistics, and we simply weren’t going to have enough time. Finally I’d blabbed about it enough that my husband told me to stop talking and just reach out to her.

This is where the story gets fun.

Allison said that her family had been wanting to book a trip of Christmas too, so how about they come to Maui? Then, I totally did a happy dance in my office and may have shrieked a bit.  And from there it all fell into place. She came to Maui to photograph my family on the beach, and then I was lucky enough to fly to Honolulu to photograph a half day in the life for her family. It was such a fun experience. I boarded the teeniest of tiniest planes before breakfast and flew from Kapalua to Honolulu, spent the day with Allison, her husband and their 6 year old son, and then flew back to Kapalua for dinner. Crazy, right? I had to keep pinching myself. (I also had to take a lot of deep breaths because small planes and I aren’t the best of friends, but I did it anyhow…you guys…this is how much I love photography!)

The Documentary Photo Session

We spent the day playing games at home, baking cookies, and playing nerf wars, and then headed out for lunch (and macarons!!) at a super cute deli. The afternoon ended with race car tracks and a tickle fight. The Gipson family is a military family, so it’s really special to be able to capture these memories for them in their home, as it’s almost guaranteed they won’t live there for too many more years.

I lament a lot about the internet and how it’s killing real relationships, but this was one of those cases where it proved to be the total opposite. If it weren’t for Facebook and Clickin Moms, I never would have known of Allison and wouldn’t have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her family in real life. It was a pretty swell way to end a vacation.

The Photos

Below is a slideshow of their day, followed by a few of my favourite stills.

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p.s. Isn’t Lucy the dog the best? She has such personality and her gold bow was adorable.

p.p.s. Want to see the photos Allison took of our family? You can check out our Maui family photos here.