Last July, Sydney Johannson and her mom, Laura, were all set for Sydney’s senior photo shoot outside with photographer Jessica Vallia. Then, all of a sudden, the clouds cut loose with a heavy downpour… the winds were getting rough and there was no way they could reschedule the shoot because Sydney, who has cerebral palsy, was set up for a major surgery soon.
So Laura ran inside the nearby Starbuck’s, walked up to the counter and said to the barista: “It’s pouring, my daughter was supposed to have senior pictures outside. She is in a wheelchair, can we just come inside and take some pics?’”
She almost expected the barista to say he could not allow such a thing inside the business. But she was pleasantly surprised when the barista, named Chris, responded with a very positive “Absolutely!!” Then Chris grabbed an umbrella and ran out to Laura’s vehicle to get Sydney in as dry as possible, getting himself soaked in the process.
When they were all inside, he offered them towels to dry off. Then he gave them all hot chocolates to warm up with. That was so incredibly kind of him, Laura and Jessica thought. But Chris wasn’t done. He and other baristas there moved the furniture to give Jessica the best possible shots of Sydney.
Chris and the others even pulled out colored paper and markers and made signs of encouragement for Sydney to use as backdrops in some photos. And during the hour-long photo shoot, Chris and his co-workers gave food and coffee to them, and refused to accept any money from Laura before they left.
Says the photographer, Jessica in a post about it: “There were serious tears from all after taking in everything from yesterday’s senior session. I just wanted her to have the average senior session, like any other girl, and instead she got THE RED CARPET in a way I couldn’t have been more proud to be a part of!!!”
I had a senior session yesterday that for several reasons should have been a disaster… it rained. A LOT. My senior is…
Posted by Jessica Vallia Photography on Monday, 16 July 2018
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