a boy, a girl & mommy

I was honored to photograph this family last week, and I learned some things too! Most important ... remember deodorant! I have a tendency to be a big ball o' sweat during these shoots and um, well ... deodorant definitely helps in those sitchs!

Okay, seriously ... this is a beautiful family! Dad was at work, so I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with mom and her treasures.

Little miss sunshine was a ball of smiles when I arrived and started playing with her. And of course, as soon as I picked up my camera she was closed mouthed or blowing bubbles ... oh and then there was the complete determination of stuffing her whole fist into her mouth {sometimes her feet if she could get them}. She made me work!

Something I learned is to just let them play. Little man here wanted to get his dracula teeth ... mom was not lovin' that idea. Until I said, "sure, why don't we get a couple shots of dracula." And with digital it's so easy to delete them. Why not make little man happy so we can get some shots mom will love? And honestly, isn't this just a little bit adorable?

Another one where little man had his own ideas for the photo shoot ...

Another hard thing was trying to get one good shot of all three of them. I love photo-journalistic type photography where every frame isn't posed. Just natural shots of the kids playing, interacting, just being. But not every mom is going to want to frame a random shot of the kids playing. Most at least want one shot of everyone together ... I know I do when we have our photos taken.

What I learned is not to be so hard on myself. I was positive I hadn't gotten a single good shot of the three of them together ... but look ... this one isn't bad! And there were even a few more ...

At one point, mom went into the other room to change herself and little man, so I took advantage of her absence and put some cute hats on little miss sunshine ...


I loved their vintage looking furniture ... perfect for the vintage looking post-processing I did for this photo.

And last but not least ... raise your hand if you love a baby in a frilly green skirt!


Thank you Rachel & kids for letting me capture your beautiful family ... truly a blessing! You can find more photos from this shoot here.