The day of this family portrait session started beautiful and sunny,
but (as often happens in south Alabama/ northwest Florida) storms started popping up across the entire northern Gulf Coast as the afternoon wore on. In fact, sitting at dinner that evening I even joked with my kiddos that I hoped the "Orange Beach umbrella" held out for me that evening. What's that you ask? Well, after sitting on the beach watching big thunderheads swarm all around Orange Beach and never getting rained on over the years, I decided there must be a special "Orange Beach umbrella". And, to date, that umbrella hasn't failed me.
It was sprinkling when I left my house in Pensacola, Florida and I have to admit, the dark, ominous skies had me worried.
It's against my policies to continue shooting if there's lighting within 10 miles of the session location, but upon arrival, we were still ok to go. I let my clients know that if the storms dropped any further south, we'd have to end the session and pick it back up the next night to ensure all of our safety. So, with WeatherBug lightning alerts turned to ON on my phone and my fingers crossed, we headed out onto the sugar-white sands of Orange Beach, Alabama. And thank goodness we decided to go for it! I think 2 drops of rain sprinkled on us before the clouds parted in an arc around us as the storms passed to the east, west, and north! And what do we get when there is a ton of moisture in the air and storms all around us? A rainbow!
![orange beach, AL family portraits](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_076-7915df85-1000.jpg)
![](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_026-e0a011ab-1000.jpg)
![Orange Beach, AL extended family photography](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_007-12179358-1000.jpg)
![](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_075-3b9e52a5-1000.jpg)
![gulf shores, AL family photographer](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_053-a5660f2f-1000.jpg)
![gulf shores family portraits](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_048-57d18ddc-1000.jpg)
![](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_016-37c4ce09-1000.jpg)
![](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/bk8bE4z/Jones6.13.16_13_057-8ba25d76-1000.jpg)
And, may I add, 15-month-old Millie ROCKED this session! She was an absolute doll (even though we were seriously pushing her bedtime).
![Orange Beach family photography](http://images-pw.pixieset.com/elementfield/pQLb9qA/Jones6.13.16_13_074-3d6c1b23-300.jpg)