By: Always Remember Photography
What happened yesterday honestly felt a little unreal.
My husband called me from the field and said, "Bring your camera. There's a baby fawn out here you have to see."
When I got there, this tiny little thing couldn't have been more than a day or two old. But instead of being frightened, she was following my husband around like a little puppy — ears perked up, staying right beside him as he walked through the grass.
The first time I knelt down to photograph her, I actually laughed out loud. Because instead of running away, she walked straight toward me like she expected me to pet her. I have never seen anything like it in my life.
I photographed her for several minutes, completely amazed the entire time. And afterward my husband carefully walked her back toward the edge of the woods, hoping her mother would find her once she settled down and laid quietly in the grass.
This whole time I could not stop thinking about my three year old grandson and how he would have loved to see this baby deer.
Recently I had photographed his Forever Bear Storybook Session. One of my favorite portraits from that session was him standing beside the old wooden gate holding his bear, smiling off to the side like he had just discovered something magical beyond the frame.
And suddenly I knew exactly what that image had been missing.
This little fawn belonged there.
Not because they had truly met. They hadn't. But sometimes fine art is less about documenting a moment exactly as it happened and more about creating the feeling childhood deserves to have. The magic children believe is possible before the world teaches them otherwise.
I do this sometimes in my artwork.
A hummingbird buzzing in front of a little girl at the edge of a field. A robin perched quietly above a little girl standing in the wildflowers. Small things added gently and intentionally — not to overpower the image, but to complete the story it feels like it was trying to tell all along.
And this story?
I think it was always waiting for a little fawn beside that gate.
So if you see this little fawn in a few of my fine art children's sessions this summer, remember — the fawn was really there. Just not at that moment.
If this is the kind of childhood you want preserved — and you would love my signature style of artwork in your home — I would love to tell your child's story.
The Forever Bear Storybook Experience is where moments like this begin — a session where your child adventures, discovers, and takes home a bear and a hardcover storybook of their own.
Learn more about the Forever Bear Storybook Experience
And if your child’s happiest moments happen outdoors — splashing through the creek, exploring the woods, and getting wonderfully messy along the way —