the dupreys . . . and the munsons!

This is Alek!



Tonight I had the pleasure of photographing some people who mean so much to me for so many reasons . . . the Duprey family is the family who I've talked about on my blog. Kate, Randy and Alek are the little threesome that make up this wonderful trio. Randy suffers from Scleroderma, and he's undergoing treatment between Duke, here and Albany to get his fine little ass back to good :) I'm going to give you a little history on this family . . . Kate was formerly a Munson!

Kate is the older sister of Dan, who I dated from the time I was 16 until I was 19. We had a typical, turbulent high school relationship, but I did spend a lot of time at his house, and his family was so wonderful to me, and he was so close to his parents and sister that we were just always together, whether it was cheering Dan on at a basketball or soccer game, or watching movies together in their living room. Dan and I parted ways almost 10 years ago, and we met again tonight for the first time in god knows how long. Probably 10 years! He has a beautiful wife, Shelley, and two absolutely gorgeous children, Keegan and Kayne. To see Dan and this family again meant so much to me - in just a simple, wonderful way of appreciating the experiences you've had and acknowledging them for guiding you where you are today. We laughed a ton, we reminisced, I got picked on a ton and heard "Oh, Morgan, you haven't changed a bit!!" about 100 times :) But it was such a lovely evening, and I thank you all for welcoming me back into your lives.

I knew when I arrived that Randy wasn't having the best of days, but he wasn't having the worst of days, either. He puckered up to give me a nice kiss, and enjoyed himself on their beautiful deck while I chased Alek and Keegan around. I had so much fun at this photo shoot because Kate totally prepared everyone for the style of photography I do - it was as if she gathered everyone in a room and said all right, listen up, there will be no posing unless you're told to look at the camera, otherwise, interact with each other, glance at the ones you love, and just relax and be yourselves! And that they did. This was definitely one of my easiest photo shoots EVER. And - I got to finish it off with a slice of pepperoni pizza with pineapple and a few chicken wings, good ol' fashioned Munson style :)

To all of you - thank you for allowing me to come and capture these moments, for making me feel just as welcome as I did when I was 16, for remembering such wonderful times in my life that do nothing but make me smile, and for being simply wonderful people. I am going to post some extra special pictures in a separate post, there are just soooo many to go through, but for now, SMILE and enjoy the slideshow!