MJ & The Traveling Dress Project

Little Dreamers Tutus is a couture dress designer who has put together a number of dresses for The Traveling Dress Project. I was really excited to see this and jumped on signing up for as many gowns as possible! The model for the first dress is seven-year-old MJ, who is a total dreamer with the most amazing imagination. I loved photographing her around the Fort Ben area!

Princess Dress Photography: A Little Girl’s Dream

The first dress that we were able to work with was the Alyssa gown in dark olive swiss dot. This dress was super gorgeous, with an extremely full skirt and generous ruffle. The way the dress is laced means that it works for several sizes in either direction (for reference, this is a size 8). MJ LOVED twirling, holding it up to walk, and imagining what life would be like if she were a princess. We talked about who her friends would be, how she would spend her days, what clothes she would wear, and how she would help fix up her country.

For this Traveling Dress photography session, we took pictures at the Indy Family Photo Studio and the areas right around it. Since we are located by Fort Ben, there are LOTS of beautiful areas to work with. I took advantage of some of the different backdrops in the area so we could have some creative shots. MJ spun around in the trees and she looked like she had stepped from the pages of a fairy tale. We used a crown from our dress-up trunk, and MJ swished her way down a stone walkway. Even though our portraits weren’t actually taken on the steps of her palace, they looked like they could have been! As it turns out, there is a lack of castles in Indianapolis… Everyone driving by slowed down to catch a glimpse of our little princess. It was an AMAZING experience for all of us (MJ, her mom, and me) to enjoy and play.

Childhood should be filled with magical moments. I am so happy that I was able to be part of The Traveling Dress Project to capture these images for Princess MJ! The joy and happiness she had in wearing this dress and taking these photos is something I am so glad I was able to photograph. That’s the best part of being a child photographer: celebrating the lives of these precious kiddos and helping them hold onto the magic in every day.