This was my fourth photo shoot with Reese, even though he isn’t old enough to probably remember any of them. My journey began with him while his mom was pregnant. Then we took pictures at three months, Halloween, and now at a year old. This latest session was won during my Halloween Photo Contest. Rachel B. Photo Studio LLC teamed up with other local businesses, like Twinkle Twinkle Little One in Roscoe Village, to benefit the Joshua and Robin Berry Children's Trust. For my part, sessions were held at Felger Park for $50, all going to the trust. 20% of the prints purchased from those sessions were also donated. The pictures I took of Reese that day won him a spot to take more pictures for his first birthday!

We decided to go to the zoo this time. Reese is a total ham! He loved being photographed and played it up for my lens. Perhaps he recognizes my voice because he kept coming over to see what I was doing, or maybe he was checking my work in hopes of winning another photo shoot. Whichever was the case, Reese has beautiful blue eyes and the longest lashes that only girls deserve and somehow boys always get. I see this through my lens all of the time. The boys seem to have engaging eyes that tell a story, and Reese was no exception.

We stumbled around the zoo while Reese tried to latch on to or get into everything we came across. I wanted to capture his vibrant personality, which meant I had to photograph him running and showing off. I attempted to play a game with him where his dad would throw me his shoe, and Reese would run to me to get it. I didn’t have to play a game though; Reese is a mover and a shaker. I caught some celebrated action moments, and we dutifully wore out Reese just enough to seize some quiet, seated moments with his dad.