Karstyn is one of the newest members on the SJP senior team. To tell you all this session was one of the most eventful of all my sessions, is an understatement. (Excuse me while I giggle myself into the next paragraph).
Karstyn and I had planned this shoot for a few weeks and I had an idea in mind of all the goodies I wanted to bring. So I brought things like flowers, a charcuterie board full of yummy snacks, sparkling water, a guitar and some fruits.
When deciding the location, I knew what kind of vibe she was going for so we opted for Jackson Lake Island. It really is the perfect spot for a picnic shoot!
While we were there we took photos with the charcuterie props first and got some super sweet images of her. Mid-session, we had visitors… You know the kind of visitors you get at Jackson Lake Island. GOATS! It was as if they could sniff out all the delicious snacks we had and they did just that. We scrambled to get everything in my wagon to run it back to the car, but nope. They were practically in the wagon, eating up the apples, grapes and flowers… Everything! They ate nearly everything we brought besides the guitar, but we will get to that part later. As we scrambled to get what was left in the back of my car, Karstyn was going to get her next outfit out of the back of her car. As soon as she opened the door. A goat jumped into her backseat. Karstyn called over “What do I do? I have never had a goat in my car before?” So I ran over and agreed that it had never happened to me either.
(picture for proof)
The goat had jumped in the floor, up on the seat, on the clothes and tried to eat her plant shaped cup before I was able to guide him out of the door. (Another giggle pause)
Let me preface this that there was no harming of goats in the making of this eventful session… And my story has only just begun!
Finally when the goats realized there was no more food to be ate, they were off to the next group of people on the other side of the island. So we just KNEW we were in the clear now. I pulled the guitar out and we shot some pictures with it. I placed the guitar in the wagon. It fit perfectly in the wagon! So I pulled the wagon off to the side while we took some photos without the guitar. While we were shooting I heard a noise… It sounded like the guitar and my mind jumped to someone taking it. Yes… Someone was taking it! THE GOATS! Only this wasn’t a serenading sound. It was a banging/strumming/dragging sound! A goat had managed to dig in the wagon while we were preoccupied taking pictures. The strap had caught it’s horns and in terror of the noise, the goat ran and we ran… We were trying to get the goat to stop for us to set it free from the evil guitar on its back. I dove numerous times trying to grab the guitar to absolutely no avail. I’m completely exhausted because I haven’t run this much since probably my early youth. Meanwhile my next session is messaging me. “We are here!” Karstyn and I are chasing this goat all over the island when the goat goes under a house. I realize this is my chance to get the guitar, because this goat doesn’t have much room to escape under here. I also realize there is goat poop EVERYWHERE in this particular spot. Of course there would be poop in the only place where this goat is calm. So I go! On my hands and knees under this house. In goat poop. Finally, the goat calmly lets me grab the guitar off of it. At this point I do not even care that I just crawled through poop! I care that I have a client here watching us run all over the island. So as we walk back, I ask my client who just arrived. “Did you see that?” In almost fear to hear what she has to tell me. I’m praying this isn’t on video because it would be the most embarrassing video of my entire life. She says “Are y’all chasing goats?” It caught me off guard, because that is not anything I would ever do for fun! That’s not me, not to mention the exercise needed to accomplish that task. I say exhaustingly “No! That goat just took off with my guitar!”
Moral of the story! Don’t bring snacks to Jackson Lake Island and think you will eat them. Also don’t leave anything the goats can get a hold of in the wagon… They will get it!
I don’t know if my luck was just bad this particular week or maybe God just needed a good laugh! Maybe both! But these pictures did turn out so stinking cute. Don’t you think!
Thank you to the gorgeous Karstyn for being so sweet and going with the flow. She really is a gem! I am so looking forward to many more sessions with her!
❤️
With Love,
Stacy Jay
PLEASE COMMENT BELOW