I believe in love stories. I believe they begin in marriage and develop over time as families grow and change. Every child born, every milestone, every triumph and failure, all these things contribute to the fabric of our family’s lives. Every phase of married and family life has its joys and challenges, ups and downs. All these experiences over time make our families richer, make our bonds stronger, our relationships deeper.

I am a woman who loves to watch things grow; especially, people and relationships. Engagements, weddings, the birth of a child, anniversaries, losses, joys, triumphs and heartbreaks all these things cause us to grow and change and cause our relationships to grow and change. Over a lifetime families experience all kinds of seasons and occasions that promote this growth.

This is what I absolutely love about creating lasting images for families. I believe they serve as markers for our memories of these special phases of life and these most precious relationships that grow within the family. I love celebrating with families in good times, and I love walking alongside them in not the greatest of times. I believe family stories matter. They are the very fabric of our lives.

Meet the Zentmeyers

I’ve known Lan since he was about 18 and my husband and I taught College Age Bible Study. I’ve known Ally since she and Lan started dating. I had the pleasure of attending their beautiful wedding & Ally helped to throw a baby shower for my daughter when we were expecting our first grandchild. Lan works for my husband and we are also good friends with his parents . Lan & Ally both come from large families.

Ally wanted to do a multigenerational family shoot with both her family and her husband Lan’s. The timing was perfect because they were fast approaching Ally’s Grandmother’s 80th Birthday. The location she chose was personal. She chose the University of Tampa, her alma mater, because that is the last place she took a complete family photo with her Grandfather who recently died. It was important to Ally to have her sweet Grandmother be a part of these pictures.

Moving Parts

There are a lot of moving parts to a multigenerational family session, by parts I mean people. Adults, children of all ages and aging family members all need to be considered and planned for. We set a time schedule that would enable us to do a private session with Ally & Lan’s family first, this way we wouldn’t run out of time, trying to do them afterwards and they wouldn’t be distracted by other family members.

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Ally has two sisters who are married with children and Lan has a sister who is still single. Along with both sets of their parents and both of their grandmothers, we decided it would be best to do the largest family photos first and then work our way down from there. This way we would not wear out the grandmothers. I even brought a chair from home so they would be more comfortable.

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There is so much love in this family, and it truly shows in their images. Their connections with each other are rich. It is not because they have had a life free of conflict, challenge or difficulty. On the contrary, it is because they have chosen to commit themselves wholeheartedly to each other and they have endured the good times and the bad times. It is truly hard not to love this family!

Lan & Ally

Believe it or not, we even had extra time to get some fun shots with just Lan & Ally and the rest of the family took care of the little ones.

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I just love what I do

Being present with Lan & Ally and ALL their extended family was such a privilege for me. A privilege that I truly cherish. Creating images with them that they will look back on and cherish is a huge honor. I love creating spaces for them to be together and demonstrate their affection for one another. Being a witness to the unfolding of those moments is something I cherish. Creating images that Lan & Ally’s children will be able to look back on and remember these times and these people, well that is just priceless.