Every Sunday, which has been named, Sunday Funday Runday, my friend Crystal and I wake up early and go for a long run.  Our husbands know that we need that one day to ourselves.  It’s our mental health day, a day to get away and clear our minds.  Getting outside is so healing and I encourage everyone to do it, even if it’s not for a run.  

Well, it’s Saturday evening and Crystal and I are discussing where we should go running on Sunday as we always do.  I decide to start throwing Estes Park locations at her because it’s beautiful up there and I’ve been dying to back and next thing you know we’ve concluded that we should just wake up extra early to leave by 4:30am and drive up there to run.  Because I know Crystal is always up for an adventure and for super random plans I decide to throw in that we should do a photo shoot while we are there just for fun.  I have this really pretty gold foil makeup stuff that I knew would look amazing with one of my dresses from my client closet.  I also knew that to get to the location I wanted to use we’d have to run there so being able to tote a gown needed to be feasible and the gown I chose was perfect for that reason but definitely the opposite of winter weather apparel.  

Of course she says yes and she’ll bring her makeup and braid her gorgeous long hair so it’s all pretty.  At that moment I decided that I wanted to do it too.  I NEVER take pictures of myself or for myself and I think the only person I would ever feel comfortable with would be Crystal.  

I don’t really do the whole selfie thing a ton where I’m trying to look serious or pretty, it’s’ usually me being silly and making weird faces.  For whatever reason, I decided I should just go for it and get out of my comfort zone because I ask so many strangers (my clients) to do so.  It’s only fair to get on the other side of the camera and experience the way they feel during a session.  Not every client who books me thinks they are sexy or know how to pose but they can all agree on one thing.  They want to feel sexy and beautiful during their session and they are trusting me to guide them.  They may not be the most confident person but they want to feel badass and I think it’s incredible that so many women have trusted me to photograph them even when they feel their most vulnerable.  I personally wanted my pictures to be a bit sexy and serious and that is wayyyyyyyy out of my comfort zone but I really wanted to just do something for myself and so that I could maybe show other moms who feel like me that if I can do it they can do it.  I wanted to get all pretty and dressed up and so I packed my stuff.

Now, keep in mind that it’s January in Colorado and it’s cold and Estes Park is even colder and a whole lot windier than Colorado Springs.  When the weather says it’s 8mph winds you can automatically assume it’s about 5x that much in an open lake or valley.  Also keep in mind that Crystal and I made our plans at about 9pm Saturday night so there wasn’t much planning done when it came to how we would keep ourselves warm under a dress that is pretty see-through and made out of a thin tulle.  

Fast forward to driving to our trailhead and noticing oh hey, yeah, it’s super windy, this is probably a bad idea but we are totally doing it!!  We did our makeup in her van before we ran to our destination and let me tell you we were the “pretty” runners that day lol.  When we got to the lake we kept telling each other how this is probably a really stupid idea and questioning if we should really do it.  But, because we are who we are, we totally did it.  Yes, we know we are crazy.  

I volunteered to go first so we huddled behind a giant boulder on the frozen lake we were on.  I changed into the dress and tried my best to stay warm while doing so (impossible by the way) and I also shared a video to show how windy it was on my IG reel (@heather_ann_photo).  

Crystal helped me change and then we finally made our way to the center of the lake to take pictures.  I froze my ass off on that lake.  People were passing by in snow suits and ski goggles and I was in sports bra and underwear with a tulle dress on.  It was windy as hell which looked awesome with the dress but was definitely a challenge with my hair.  There were many images of my trying to get it out of my mouth and it whacking me in the face.  I think we took pictures for a solid minute before I tapped out and ran to get dressed.  Thank God Crystal was able to help me change because I literally could not feel my hands.  That’s right, my friend got me dressed as if she was changing a baby.  

I needed to warm up so after getting dressed we continued running.  On our way back we passed the lake we took pictures on and found another beautiful location which thankfully had sun shining on it.  Still ridiculously cold but any sunshine is better than no sunshine.  We planned Crystal’s wardrobe change a bit better so it went a little smoother than mine until I realized that she had braided her very long hair into 10 braids.  Oh. My. God.  How on earth could we unbraid her hair when we can’t feel our hands once gloves are taken off?  We were cracking up as I was giving her a hard time for her hair but we finally got in undone and she of course looked gorgeous.  People passed us by laughing and asking if everything was alright because I’m sure we looked absolutely ridiculous. 

We took her pictures there and then once again got back to running to warm up again.  We stopped at an area I had noticed before and definitely had her get undressed again to take more pictures (now that’s an amazing friend).  We finally got back to her van to warm up and eat something.  After we were back to normal temperatures (thank you heated seats), we decided to take some more pictures at another location nearby.  We drove over, I threw the dress on and we took more pictures of me and then swapped it over to her.  This location was so much warmer and less windier so we were actually able to stand the cold without feeling like we were going to turn into frozen ice sculptures.  We were able to have a bit more fun, not rush and get creative.  

The sun was shining through the pine trees now and the snow was sparkly.  It was so magical.  Now, this adventure wouldn’t be an adventure if Crystal took it to the next level.  She thought it would look cool if she ran on the snow barefoot as if she was “lost” in the woods and I definitely agreed it would look cool (also, I was glad she thought it would look cool if she did it and hadn’t volunteered me to do it lol).  Before my nutty friend decided to just throw her hiking shoes to the side and start running I halted her to give me time to put my winter coat on the ground for her to run to.  That’s how spontaneous she is and I freaking love it.

We finally arrived back at our homes at 7pm and that’s after waking up at 3:45am for a driving start time of 4:30am.  We were exhausted and in need of hot showers.  I was nervous to look through my pictures and definitely didn’t even show them to my husband until I had gone through and selected my faves.  I was a bit surprised to actually love the pictures we took.  I looked at myself and felt badass and now I want everyone else to feel that way too.  

For all of you moms out there who want to feel empowered and pretty I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and do something wild.  I’m not saying to go freeze your butt of in the winter, although I do have an Amazon cart full of warm nude layers for just the occasion.  But, if you’re like me and you aren’t the most comfortable person in front of the camera when you are trying to be serious or if you second guess if you can look beautiful, I’m here to say you can and you are.  Every stretch mark we have, ever wrinkle on our faces, ever scar from hard work or accidents, every breakout we get, is damn beautiful.  No matter what we look like on the outside we are beautiful on the inside and deserve to feel badass sometimes.  

I’d love to toss a thank you out there to Crystal who didn’t make me feel ridiculous for trying different poses and for trying to be serious without looking constipated or pissed off.  She  told me when what I was doing was not working-in the nicest way of course.  She is a talented photographer herself and did such an amazing job and I appreciate her whole heartedly.

Toss all your insecurities out the window and shoot me an email or a text and tell me you want to feel amazing and I will be there for you my friend.  My job is to help you with posing, to guide you with facial expressions and I promise to make you feel beautiful even if you don’t think you are.  I’m dead serious when I say that if I can do it so can you and I’d love to help you feel as badass as you are.

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