Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Session

I haven't been doing blog posts of my photo sessions since last summer, it was just one thing I could let go of to simplify life a little for myself, so I did. I might start sharing some here and there again, but only as I have the time or desire to, instead of putting so much pressure on myself. That said, I HAVE to share this session with you. Sunrise, a hot air balloon, and one of the coolest families I know, Dave, Shawn, Jordan and Isaac Hain. It was an absolutely amazing morning. 

The idea for this session came from a prophetic vision that Shawn had of this next season for her family. They are missionaries to South Africa home on furlough, and I'll share her words on what the vision looked like: 

"While praying one day, I saw a picture of a hot air balloon with my family in it. As I asked the Lord about the significance of the hot air balloon these points came to mind.

In a hot air balloon: 

*you are in an area but not fully apart of it *you see familiar things from an entirely different perspective *you are not in control of its direction *a hot air balloon doesn't take off and land at the same place What's amazing is that each of these points so accurately describes this particular season for us during our sabbatical here in the US."

We had already arranged to do a photo shoot while they were in the area, but after hearing her relay her vision in entirely separate conversation, the idea came to me of how cool it would be to use a hot air balloon in their photos. Not only would it be AMAZING, but it would have so much personal significance to them.

So I got in touch with a hot air balloon company, we arranged a date, and then we were at the mercy of the wind... we finally had a nice morning, and then the magic happened. While the balloon was being inflated we snapped some shots with the sunrise. 

There was another group that left in a balloon just before we started shooting, and I love that their balloon is in the background of this shot. 

The guys helped with the tear down. I grabbed these following two shots during the process and absolutely love them. 

This was one of the most most thrilling and original shoots I've ever done, and I couldn't have been happier with the results. I am not typically a morning person, so I thought getting up at 4:30 a.m. might make it a little rough, but the creativity surging through me had me more awake than ever. On my way home from the shoot (at 7:00 a.m.) there were tons of yardsales (it was a Friday morning) and I was all by myself, so I stopped and perused and came home with some treasures... I pulled into the driveway and unloaded my car, carried furniture to the back porch and was making the coffee and the yogurt parfaits for my Bible study girls (who were coming at 9:30 that morning) before my boys were even awake. It felt amazing to accomplish so much in the beautiful sunrise hours of the morning. Of course I was ready to crash by dinner time, but somehow still stayed up until 11:00 p.m. that night... It was seriously one of my favorite days of the year so far. 

Hope you enjoyed a small look at some of the photos from this shoot!