Bluebonnets Now and Then
I am probably getting near the end of bluebonnet season (although my newest patch is pretty packed with blooms still, and I’m shooting Sunday.) If you’ve waited to call, it’s your last chance, as I think most of them will be gone by the end of next week.
I took my very first bluebonnet baby shot a very long time ago, when I was pregnant in 1998, by taping a sonogram image to a bluebonnet. I was so jealous of everyone nestling their little ones in the blooms that I couldn’t wait! It’s a good memory, before the bad ones came, and I still have the photo framed on my wall with bluebonnet shots of the girls.
My next baby, Emily, arrived at the tail end of bluebonnet season in 1999. I dragged her out into the bluebonnets for a squinty unhappy newborn picture–but yes, I had it! My baby in the state flower!
Elizabeth arrived just after bluebonnet season in May 2002, so by the next year, I was ready for a spectacular shot. I had seen many professional images by then, and I knew exactly what I wanted. This was a stellar year for the blooms, and they prolifically filled a spot in Zilker Park. We did an amazing shot of Emily’s entire playgroup joining hands, and I also snapped the one of Emily and Elizabeth laughing at the tea table.
The next year, Zilker mowed the field and it didn’t bloom at all. Then they began using it as a shortcut, so tire tracks wrecked most of the blooms. While this year wasn’t stellar, they were enough that I returned to that spot to take portraits of the girls.
Those blooms waned quickly, so I’m not using it for others at this point, but I have always loved the trees at the edge of this patch and it is a good memory for me!
I’ve felt very honored to take so many family bluebonnet portraits this year. It’s is such a wonderful tradition.