Being Overweight Is Not An Excuse! | My Family Shoot at Disneyland

Very early in my photography journey I stumbled across a photographer named Winnie Bruce.  I loved her editing style and was still finding myself at the time.  She put out a “who would take a class from me if I offered it” post on Facebook and I of course jumped on it!   I was a Lightroom girl at the time and at the time I had no idea she was going to rock my world with Photoshop!  I have since learned so so much from her and consider her my main photography mentor.  She has the best Facebook group out there for her mentorees  because the group is a reflection of who she is, kind and giving!  I have learned so much from these ladies along with Winnie!

Last summer Winnie put a question out on her Facebook – “Who would like to do a shoot at Disneyland when I am in Los Angeles?”  That had been something on my bucket list for a couple of years.  We spend A LOT of time at the park with our grandson Cody.  Before he started school we were there at least once a week.  While we are at the park I always think about having someone capture our time there for us.  So of course I jumped at the chance to have two things I really wanted – a session with Winnie and doing it at Disneyland!   My only hesitation was I had gained weight – a lot of weight!  In fact I was at the heaviest I had ever been!  I was trying to find an outfit that would hide the fact that I gained so much weight and was stressing inside about it.  At our shoot she made us so comfortable that I didn’t even think about it. we were just having fun!  When she posted a sneak peek on Facebook I somehow didn’t look as bad as I thought!  Sometimes in our minds we don’t see things quite as they are.  I love these photos and I am so glad I did them in spite of feeling so bad about myself at the time!!  These will be cherished forever by us and Cody.  This was us doing what we do and having fun doing it!  Thank you, Thank you Winnie for making me feel so good at a time that I felt so bad!  Its not about the weight or the clothes or if we had the perfect smile it was about the memory of us being us!

First stop always the candy store to see what they are making…no matter what it is Randy always says its his favorite!  We had the treat of our friend Victoria working in the window while we were there!  (Grandpa says when he retires thats where he wants to work!)

One of our favorites is in front of the castle!  I love how Winnie captured it so perfectly!

Ever since Cody was about a year old we have had to go watch the train at that bridge.  At some point he started screaming as it came around which make us laugh to this day!  Now that he is big enough to ride the train he screams at the same point the same way he has done all these years.  These make me smile every time I look at them because that memory is forever captured for us!

Finally we have photos of us together!  This is a first without kids since our wedding I think – 33 years ago!

We bought the sword and the stone movie and since Cody watched he is determined to get that sword out.

 One day I heard him say to himself as we walked away “Someday that sword will be mine!

He works on it every time we go now and enlists anyone he can to help get that sword!

Another one of Codys favorite rides is Star Tours and he makes us go through the shop and look at everything every time we ride.  Even if we don’t get on the ride we need to look in the store – just in case they have something new!  I love having the shot of his little hand building the droids!

You can read Winnie’s blog about our session here: Winnie Bruce Photography