Grow With Me Series Finale! | Donnie and Leroy are 1
One of my favorite experiences ever happened this week. I can’t wait to tell you about it, but even more than that, I can’t wait for you to experience it with me. I’ll explain later:)
This image was taken during a Grow With Me series, during which I come to the house not one, not two, but three times to record those precious irreplaceable moments during baby's first year. You get pictures and a film from each session, and then after the year-old session, I deliver a film that blends them all together in a completely unique way.
These sessions are exciting, but daunting… I was just hoping the creativity would flow when I got home to do the edit. I had a lot of great stuff, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I’d piece it all together with my footage from their newborn and 6 month sessions. I was going to trust my gut. My gut was telling me to get a little bit of footage from their NICU stay. Mom airdropped 6 videos to me right before I left. Two of them were of each baby in their own bed at the hospital giving a sleepy smile.
I came home, and the edit started coming together really, really quickly once I found the music. (It gave me major This is Us vibes when I listened to it. Anyone else?)
I got to the section in the song where I knew I wanted to incorporate the NICU footage. I thought about playing around with a grid edit like I did in this personal film. I lined up the two clips I was going to use, scaled them, fussed over the positioning, and then hit play to see if I would even like the idea. You guys. I was brought to instant tears. I truly feel like the hand of God is in this film. I give him credit. I was fully expecting to have to make major adjustments, maybe even scrap it, because I always have to play around to get things just right. I have not messed with it since then because it was just so so perfect. I can’t wait for you to see. Just watch it already!
Ahhh.. did it make you ugly cry, too? I am in the business of making people cry, yes, but I have only actually ever cried at 2 films I have made. This one sent me over in that middle section.
Are you curious about the Grow With Me series? Let’s chat.
