I didn’t plan on taking photos this afternoon, but I decided to hell with it and I’m so glad I did, otherwise I would not have been able to capture this precious moment that I often take for granted—picking Miyu up from daycare. I learned a bit from this mini-shoot. I had set my ISO to auto and shutter speed to auto as well. Next time I think I’ll leave my ISO to auto and fiddle with the shutter speed because I did notice a lot of blurry shots from the batch. I’m always in pursuit of getting razor sharp images, but I feel like I’m getting closer!

Years from now I imagine I’ll be looking at this photo and remember a hazy, sweltering summer evening, filled with sounds of pedestrian traffic on a pebbled road along with the ever-present cicada, and the silent, joyous moment of capturing my beautiful daughter looking back at me with that unforgettable smile of hers.

Here’s some others from the shoot: