I introduced Shontionn and Maria as a couple in this previous post.  I now have the pleasure of sharing the images from my maternity session with Shontionn and Maria.  We did the session at a familiar place tor me and my photography, Glendale’s Saguaro Ranch Park.  Shontionn and Maria are a delightful couple to work with as I believe these photographs from our session will demonstrate.

Sahuaro Ranch is well known for its Rose Garden.  On this day, there were not one but two weddings taking place in the Rose Garden.  We were fortunate enough to arrive for our session in between weddings.  So we were able to “stop and smell the roses” as one wedding broke down and the other set up.

The local’s nickname for Sahuaro Ranch is Peacock Park.  On a couple of occasions I have been able to get some great photos of the peacocks around the ranch.   There is this wall that separates the Ranch from the City Library.  A peacock mural is painted on this wall.  We thought it would be an interesting backdrop for a few shots, and if we were lucky, we might be able to get a shot of a peacock or two.  The beautiful birds cooperated and decided to join us on our joyful photographic journey.

I was shooting another angle which put me up against the wall.  As I am shooting both Maria and Shontionn exclaimed at the same time “there’s a peacock on the wall.”  I turned and looked, expecting to be able to catch a picture of the bird. What I saw was the backside of the peacock, his tail feathers fully extended, at about 1 foot away from my face.  I let out a little “yikes”  and the fowl immediately jumped off the wall before I could snap a picture.  Peacocks are amazingly beautiful birds, but not so much when they are that up close and personal.  It did give us a bit of a chuckle.

We decided to put Maria to work so I gave her my camera and got her to take of photo of me and Shontionn.  Athlete and coach together again.

I saw Shontionn last Friday at the Glendale Union High School Track and Field Relays held at Apollo High School.  I was announcing the meet, and Shontionn is in his first year as the hurdle coach for the Apollo track team.  It was fun watching him as he went about his coaching business and his excitement as his boys and girls hurdle teams won 2nd and 3rd place medals.  Maria was on a girls’ night out.  And in a couple of short weeks, they will be proud parents welcoming their new child.  May God bless you two with a healthy and lovely child.