I know the heading says Andre and Danielle, but this session was really all about Darius. Since he was born, he’s had a rough go of it, but has always had a smile on his face, even through all the pain. I have know Andre and his family for quite some time now, and when I heard that Darius is going for a very dangerous surgery in August, I offered to capture some family portraits and a short video of everyone. We chose Friendship Gardens as the location and it ended up being the perfect venue.

Upon arriving, Darius was ready to go. He had endless energy and there was always something to see with him. We did manage to get him to sit still for some posed portraits but otherwise the rest of the photos were just candids, which are of course my specialty. He got to interact with a little dog and he also saw some ducks in the pond which really piqued his interest.

At the end of the session, some bagpipers were arriving and he instantly heard them playing their pipes. As I was driving away, I saw him banging on one of the drums and smiling like he was the whole session.

I can’t imagine how hard it has been for Andre, Danielle and everyone else. It’s not much, but I hope they can look back on these photos and video with fond memories. My prayers are with Darius and his family this August and I know he will battle through any obstacle in his way!