If you haven't checked out the first part of my shoot with Sarah, please check it out here first for some context to this second part.

I think the best place to start with the story behind this shoot is with the song that Sarah is really connecting to for this, and that is "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys. Because truly, this is about Sarah being who she is in this time, on the other side of loss. The way she lights up a room and brings her full presence to every place she enters. This is about who she is on the other side of an unexpected loss and how she continues to move through everything in her life... through every roll, from that of a mother to an employee, to the very soul of who she is and what brings her to light on fire. Sarah, you go, girl. Way to bring your passion to the table and make your goals continue to grow even as you explore all ways of who you are as you are. This is Sarah on fire in her life, and I'm so glad to be a part of the adventure!

About a week before Sarah came to visit me, I sent her a text that started with something like, "so... don't hate me... but I have an idea." Sarah's husband left her about a year and a half ago, and so the story of this shoot has a lot to do with that reality. I've watched Sarah grow and move through the pain of the leaving and the divorce into an even better friend and a more stunning woman of heart and soul than I knew of her before. They say trials brings out who you really are, and as such, it is my privilege to call Sarah my friend. This shoot is about moving through the process of releasing dreams and hopes and stepping out of what was, even allowing it to fall away. Sarah played the song "Burning House" by Cam a few times that day and it seemed to fall in line with everything. Sometimes you have to let what was burn and wash away so that you can become new. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Sarah is still Sarah, but more of her than she was before. Sometimes you start anew. Sometimes you find life on the other side and even through pain. It's not as though what was no longer exists, it's just in a different state of existence and you yourself have become more of who you are through it, and I see this so much as a part of Sarah's beautiful soul. Sarah, thank you for being so willing to work through all this with me. I'm truly so grateful for you and the woman you are and how you have come even more into yourself through this.