It doesn’t seem possible to be the mother of a 12 year old. It’s like she grew up while I blinked. It doesn’t help that she’s nearly 5’5″ and yes, a half inch taller than her momma. Boo hoo! But thankful she has the height!
We had a mommy daughter date just the other night. I told her on our way out I wanted to capture photos of her as a 12 your old, one -on-one just like we did last year.
What I really wanted to remember about her right now are the things she admires most in life (which you can see in an image below typed out). She may look like a young pretty teenager but what’s really inside is a spunky, tomboyish and confident older child. Madison has wisdom like I could have only wished I had at her age. She has the wisdom to be herself….. and anyone who knows her can testify to that! She has NO desire to conform to the likes of others and hangs with a specific group of young girls who are also the same. While they may share some common interests, their main common denominator is “individualism”. She even calls me out sometimes when she knows I am trying to impress others! Talk about conviction.
And a funny little story to share. When she was about 5 years old I asked her what she was thinking about while she lied in her bed each night before falling asleep (she’s a night owl to this day). Many little girls would say “a princess marrying my prince, or dancing like a ballerina on a stage etc). Not my girl. She confessed that she was dreaming of “being a super hero and taking over the world”….. And I am pretty sure she was serious because she was a pink power ranger and spiderman for halloween the following years! In fact, she’s still obsessed with super heroes and is likely to marry a very heroic man one day!
Ok, on to the images. My favorite time to shoot will always be the “golden hour” which is her favorite time of day anyway. I thought she might want to pull out her art tablet and sketch while I photographed her…. but nope. She said she wasn’t inspired. About 10 mins into shooting she pulled out these plastic duck taped frames from her bag, put them on and is all seriousness said “Ok, now I’m ready”. So, in all seriousness I present to you the one-of-a kind Madison Elizabeth Sherrick.
