The Many Sides of Keira Wray

I'm not gonna lie: the photo shoot was my idea, but when the day came, I wasn't in the mood and didn't want to do it. She had no idea we'd made the plan, so I thought it would be easy to change my mind and sit around and do nothing for the day.

"Oh, look, it's cloudy out. Looks like it might rain. Too bad."

But Keira is the only girl of three kids, and she's the middle child. So when her older brother came home from his 'mother and son breakfast date' happy as a clam to have had some solo adult attention, I knew the 'Keira and Aunt Terri afternoon' had to happen.

"Keira, go put on something that makes you feel pretty. I don't care if it's sweat pants or a dress - whatever you want. We're going out."

I. was. not. ready. for. THIS.

This vibrant, intelligent, creative, and beautiful human being is eleven years old.

Seriously. ELEVEN!

In fact, technically, these were shot nine days before her eleventh birthday.

She's TEN YEARS OLD here, people!

I got to shoot serious, mature, put-that-away-until-you're-21 Keira.

And I got to play with a monkey who loves to swing from trees and make faces for the camera.

Supermodel Keira...

...and an eleven-year-old who was just told she looks like a model.

At ease with the camera...

...and at ease with exactly who she is.

Brooding...

....and doing... 

whatever this is.

Throwing shade

and throwing leaves.

This unexpected gem is one of my favourites.

Also, the cropped version.

We waited patiently on the swings while some small children played on the tire swing. This was the whole reason she had chosen this park.

So much better than I'd pictured.

I know. There are a lot.

I ended up with 125 photos in the span of an hour and a half, and that's just the 'usable' ones.
There were so many that required only minimal editing - this girl is just so ridiculously photogenic.

On our way out, she asked if we could visit her favourite tree so she could climb it. It sounded like a fantastic photo-op to me, and I was all about it, grateful for one more chance to shoot the 

adventurous,

silly,

sophisticated

Keira Wray.