Christy and I decided on Brown’s Island and Belle Isle for their downtown family photos, earlier this fall. It wasn’t until I got to Brown’s on the day of our session that I realized the island was closed off for race preparations, and we stuck to Belle Isle for the Grays’ session, instead. That turned out to be a good thing, though, as the cool-but-not-cold November day faded into a golden sunset that set over the river. We played on the rocks, crawled under logs, squeezed between bolders, and ran after the handful of dogs that other Isle visitors had brought with them.

I hung out with Baxter last November, and while he’s a year older, he’s the same mischievous, happy-go-lucky kid. He showed me how he winds up to run ahead of his parents, and told me what all the animals say. He wanted to touch the river, so he got some help from Mom and Dad and got to dip his fingers in. Christy and Travis do a great job of keeping him from wandering too close to danger but also giving him the freedom that is possible for a toddler, teaching him not to be afraid of the river, but to be careful around it.

“What does a cat say?”

We spent the majority of our time on the rocks around the river, but still had time to explore some other parts of the our downtown oasis, like the rock wall and the little pond that looks so glassy in the evening light. Baxter ran until he couldn’t run anymore, and then let his dad carry him back toward the bridge. We paused for a sunset photo as the little yellow ball sunk down behind the trees. Just as the light was fading, we paused on the bridge to get a family photo with downtown RVA as the backdrop.

Thank you, Christy, Travis, and Baxter, for spending such a gorgeous afternoon/evening with me at Belle Isle! I loved learning about what cats and elephants say. 😀

*************

Click here to contact me to set up your own downtown family session!