Kaci Moran Photography

Leesburg, VA

#Spring

I’ve been obsessed with Kaci Moran’s work for a while. She’s an editorial photographer, she loves florals, she loves nature, she loves light, and she sees details the way I wish everyone would. When she moved up here from North Carolina and started looking for people to collaborate with, I was all in.

We did two separate installs at Rust Manor on the same day, and this one was built around that “walking out of the wardrobe into a different world” feeling. I wanted it to feel like the moment right after the crossing. Like she stepped through and suddenly there were tiny plants growing on her, as if nature had followed her in and decided to stay.

Forsythia was the hero. It has that early season confidence, bright and untamed, and it does not wait for perfect timing. Which, honestly, ended up being the theme of the day.

Because thirty minutes before we were supposed to start shooting, our model canceled. Fully sick. Fully last minute. And suddenly it was just me, Kaci, and makeup artist Mervat Haddad of Fleur Beauty Studio, staring at the clock and trying to invent a new plan on the spot.

It turned out our daughters were both home because school was closed. Both sixteen. Both brave. The dresses did not fit them the way they were supposed to. We made it work anyway.

The light didn’t hit exactly the way we pictured when we planned it, but the story is baked into these images in a way I wouldn’t trade. It was scrappy and sweet and a little chaotic, and somehow that made it feel more real, not less.

And the best part is that the final images from that day, including this shoot, were published in a European magazine, which still feels a little surreal.

The amazing vendor team:

Venue: Rust Manor House

Photographer: Kaci Moran Photography

Hair & Makeup: Fleur Beauty Studio