The day that I discovered Desi, I was second shooting a wedding with Matthew that she was the flower girl for. I couldn't get over my urge to want to do a photo shoot with her, so I asked Renee if she would be willing to allow me to photographer her daughter at a separate time. When she said yes, I was thrilled!

Renee told me that the excitement of modeling for a photo shoot didn't set in for Desi until the day of the shoot. "I think that fact that someone noticed and focused on her enough to pull her aside made her nervous. Her big brother, Zachary has always had the bigger, louder personality and she always seemed content to let him take lead. [Prior to the shoot] we explained that someone wanted to shoot her to help expand their portfolio and she said she would help. [She] was always very reserved. Once we started shopping with her for clothes, she seemed to get a little more into it."

Renee went on to describe Desi's behavior on the day of the session: "I don't know if it was the Hot Chocolate from Starbucks or the start of the shoot. Once the ball started rolling, her nerves kicked up a bit. She was very shy with everyone in the room, which is totally normal for her to do. Once everyone left and it was just us getting her dressed, she started acting goofy and silly. We would ask if she was excited and she would just make a goofy face at us instead of answering. I have a picture of it....so silly! She was being so crazy but once everyone came back in the room, she sobered up again and got quiet. These were all very normal responses from her when she's excited. She only lets loose around people she's comfortable with."

Desi was amazing during her photo shoot. She took direction really well and she had an instant connection with the camera. I was anticipating having to work really hard to get her to pose and emote the way I wanted her to, but it was almost effortless. Matthew started with her first, and I photographed her after him. As we went further through the day and we each showed her the photos we were creating together, she seemed to smile more and loosen up quite a bit. She was such a joy to work with!