Once in awhile, a photo session comes along that has a special story, a special meaning.

Mom contacted me and told me that she had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and that she wanted to document portraits with her family before undergoing another bout of chemotherapy; the final round of chemo before she lost all of her hair.

As a photographer, it is our job to document the moments, as they are, as unscripted as you can. On the way to this particular family beach photo session the weather was awful. When I say awful, I mean torrential downpour. On the way into the beach, the parking lots all along Atlantic and all of the beaches were completely flooded. My heart broke as I pulled into the area because of course I wanted the sun to be just perfect for this session. I mean, I always want the sun to be perfect for all of my photo sessions, but I wanted everything to especially align for this family.

When we began the session the clouds were beginning to part. I got to know the family a little bit better. This mother is such an inspiration. Had I not known her story prior, I would have never guessed she was sick, by her looks or her attitude. She was kind, polite, patient with her children...a true example of what I'm sure most women strive to be. It was truly an honor to document this short time with this family.

Toward the end of the session, the clouds parted, the sun peeked out just as it dipped behind the treeline to the west, and the sky turned the most magical of warmed hues - reds, oranges, yellows...every beautiful color you could possibly imagine, and some you had never even thought you would see. It was almost as if God was smiling down on us, lending a helping hand to our photo shoot, giving us that extra divine touch we needed to round out a perfect sunset beach session.

Was the youngest not cooperative at times during the session? Of course, that's how it goes. But Mom and Dad stayed positive, we were prepared, and with a little luck from above we made magic happen.

So with this in mind, I only chose to share the very last images, and some of my favorites of the evening. At the bottom of this post, I've noted Mom's reaction to her portrait gallery. This is why I do what I do, and nothing makes me happier to part my gift and hard work to a deserving family. I'm honored to have been a part of their transition in life, and look forward to being able to document them once again in the spring when mom has hopefully beat cancer and completed her treatment.