A Golden Hour Evening in the Pollinator Garden | Mid-Missouri Family Photography


There’s something so special about photographing your own children in a place you’ve poured so much love into creating.

This summer, I wanted to capture a little piece of our everyday life in the pollinator plot we grew here at home. What started as a garden became the perfect setting for an evening of flowers, sunshine, cowboy boots, and a little bit of country life.

My daughter and son joined me for a golden hour session among the wildflowers, and of course, we had to bring along one of our horses. We added cowboy boots, a favorite hat, and plenty of time to simply let the kids be themselves.

And this is exactly why I love the idea behind my Story Sessions.


A Session That Feels Like You

Beautiful portraits are wonderful, but sometimes the things I most want to remember aren't the perfectly posed moments.

They're the little things.

The way my kids explored the flowers. The way they interacted with the horse. The dirt on their boots. Their personalities coming through in between photographs. The warm evening light settling over the garden as the sun began to set.

These are the pieces of childhood that pass by so quickly.

A Story Session is designed around those pieces.

Instead of choosing a location simply because it's pretty, we can create an experience that actually means something to your family. Maybe that's spending an evening on your own farm, picking flowers from your garden, exploring a favorite creek, baking cookies together at home, or simply playing outside until the sun goes down.

The possibilities are completely personal to you.


Golden Hour in the Garden

There is a reason I love photographing outdoors around sunset.

As the sun begins to drop, everything becomes softer. The light filters through the flowers, the fields begin to glow, and there is something almost magical about those last few minutes of the evening.

It's the kind of light that makes you want to slow down.

For this session, the combination of the pollinator garden, the warm evening sun, and a little country life felt especially fitting. It wasn't about creating a perfect backdrop. It was about documenting a little piece of our life exactly as it is.


Creating Memories Here in Mid-Missouri

Living in Mid-Missouri, I feel incredibly lucky to have so much natural beauty around us. The fields, creeks, gardens, farms, and quiet country roads make beautiful backdrops, but more than that, they give us places where families can simply be together.

That's what I want my photography to feel like.

Natural. Warm. Connected.

I want you to look at your photographs years from now and remember more than what everyone was wearing or where you were standing.

I want you to remember how this season felt.


The Story Session

After experiencing this with my own kids, I'm so excited to begin opening these sessions up to other families.

If you've ever thought, "I want family photos, but I don't really want to just stand around and pose," a Story Session might be exactly what you're looking for.

We'll dream up an experience that feels like your family and photograph it as it naturally unfolds.

Maybe it's an evening in your garden.

Maybe it's gathering eggs on the farm.

Maybe it's chasing your kids through a field, exploring a creek, picking wildflowers, or spending a slow evening together at home.

Whatever your story looks like, I'd love to help you preserve it.

Because childhood is fleeting, and the ordinary days have a way of becoming the memories we treasure most.


Interested in creating your own Story Session here in Mid-Missouri? I'd love to hear what makes your family yours.


Rae Photography | Central Missouri Family & Motherhood Photographer

A mother and young child walk hand-in-hand along a wildflower path in a sun-dappled meadow.
A smiling mother in a floral dress and cowboy boots holds hands with two young children in a sunny wildflower field.
A mother in a floral dress walks with her two young children along a sunlit wildflower meadow path.
A mother in a floral dress and cowboy boots holds hands with her two children in a golden wildflower field.
A smiling mother in a floral dress crouches down to greet her two young children on a sunny meadow path.
A mother kneels to embrace her two young children in a warm group hug in a wildflower field.
Two young children run toward the camera as their mother laughs behind them on a wildflower meadow path.
A mother and her two young children walk hand in hand away from the camera through a lush wildflower field.
A smiling mother holds her toddler son while her daughter poses in front in a sunny wildflower meadow.
A mother stands smiling with her two young children on a sun-dappled path surrounded by wildflowers.
A mother tenderly holds her toddler son while her daughter hugs her side in a golden wildflower field.
A mother crouches with her young daughter in a sunny wildflower meadow, both smiling warmly.
A young girl in a cowboy hat hugs her smiling toddler brother outdoors in a natural setting.
A smiling blonde mother holds her toddler son in a sunlit field of yellow wildflowers.
Two young siblings in cowboy boots embrace and smile in a lush green meadow.