I've known this family for awhile.  Scott has been friends with my brother for many years. I even had the privilege of shooting their wedding. I was excited when they contacted me to take their family photos. We had a beautiful day and the leaves were at the peak of fall beauty. Their son Ryan is ornery with a capital "O" :) At first I could only get him to look at me if we were playing tag.  After that we had to trade sticks for smiles, and for one of the family pictures on the bridge he had his own idea of what the pose should be. I had placed a crate on it's side so that it was high and I wanted him to sit on it. I walk away to get into position, turn around and he was standing on it lol. Normally I will shoot any pose I can get a little one to do,  but this A) made me nervous and B) looked really silly. Since he didn't want to sit I turned the crate to a more stable position so he could stand. By that time he was over it, we tried everything to convince him to be in the picture, and as you can see we could have paid him with a million hours of "piepad"  time  and he was not having it. For those of you not fluent in toddler "piepad" is an ipad. I love his face in that picture...he's like, "Nope...I'm out." :)   He is all boy and I had a fun time trying to capture him. Toward the end it was difficult to get pictures of just Mom and Dad because he wanted to climb all over them. I hope you enjoy the "after" picture of Ryan standing on their backs as much as I did. I literately LOL-ed. Maybe it's because I'm a parent of children about the same age and can totally relate!    **No children were hurt in the creation of this family session ;)

Mary is not only one of my student representatives but also my neighbor! We had a really cloudy day for her picture. You never know what you are going to get in Ohio in the fall so we went with it. I just want to say that I LOVE the contrast of her porcelain skin and her dark hair! It is so dramatic and beautiful! It was a little damp from rain and when I had her sit on the ground instead of a blanket we discovered a bit of a mud problem :( Then I had her shimmy over a fence and during the process she got something all over the front of her jeans! I felt so bad! Thankfully we were close to home so we made a little pit stop. I had an awesome time chatting away with her in the car in between locations, I truly enjoy getting to know my clients! 

What a fun session! We drove out to a farm that Neil works. We squished into a gator and started exploring the wooded area. I always love going to new places :) We tromped through the mud, and I waded into water half way up my shins in  a creek, or crick if you prefer ;) I had my rain boots on and I nearly lost one in the mud.  I also discovered a tiny leak in my left boot while I was trying to escape. But the fearless photog that I am, I braved the elements and went in for a second time to capture the reflection image. BTW I love how the yellow leaf in the middle kinda looks like a heart <3 After that, we stomped through some tall grass to a location only to discover MANY blackberry canes that poked me in the tush every time I bent over to take a photo! OUCH!! Through the entire session this couple  was often laughing in the pictures and at one point Neil snapped a flower off and presented it to Jen. I love when clients can be themselves with me and give me so many candid moments to capture! This couple was a joy and and the pain was worth it. Congrats on your engagement! I wish you many years of happiness!! 

This sweet family lives 2 HOURS away from me!! We decided to meet half way since that is A) quite the distance to travel for pictures and B) a super long time for the kiddos to be in the car. I am SO flattered that they were willing to go the distance to allow me to capture their moments. We decided on a town that I have only driven through a handful of times. I started my research and was lucky enough to be able to take a virtual tour of downtown on Google Maps! I wish I could do that for everywhere, I'd never have to leave my house to scout another place again :) Our first date was rained out and when we arrived a week later we found that it was high school homecoming. Pretty much everyone that lived there was in the park I had planned on going to. Fortunately my bad habit of scouting while driving (probably not the safest thing) allowed me to spot a nature reserve on my way into town.  We started our session downtown and Emlyn and Ruth jumped right into being great subjects and even practiced posing while I was trying to chase down their little sister Charlotte...have I mentioned how much I love all their names :) Charlotte wasn't my biggest fan and was attached to mom. She did eventually warm up to me enough to look at me without hiding behind someone. When we got to the nature preserve I pulled out the trump card for all little kids...my mini rocker. They CANNOT resist it, it speaks to them, "Please sit in me I am just your size!" As the session progressed it was nap time for baby Henry and little Charlotte was approaching hers as well and was not feeling the whole picture thing. We were still able to slip in some shots of Mom & Dad together as I could see Mom was dwindling on the ability to will that "No, there's not a crying toddler behind the photographer right now" smile. Family sessions are rarely perfect but that's what I love about them..each one is different in it's own way. Thank you Marcia & Mike for choosing me and making the trip, it means so much to me that you like my work enough to make those sacrifices :) 

P.S. I might over share on this session, they have too many great images to choose just a few!

I had the joy of photographing little Miss Scarlett earlier this summer for her 1 year old pictures. She is such a sweetheart and I was thrilled that her mommy wanted me to photograph the rest of the family this fall. We got to try out a new location which was absolutely stunning with the changing fall leaves. The boys had a lot of fun exploring the hills and river bed and keeping me on my toes!  I won't pretend that the session was unicorns and butterflies the whole time :) with young children you never know what you are going to get and I JUST HAD to edit the last image of this blog. I don't even know why Scarlett was so upset but the picture is comical to me as a mom and a photographer because if you have done family pictures with young children you can relate 100%! The boys are over it, Dad is rocking the set in stone smile, and Mom....well you can see it on her face. Even though it's not "perfect", it is perfect to me. I feel this photo represents me as a photographer. I like to give my clients the posed images with a mix of "real" moments, that they can cherish and possibly laugh at for years to come. Thank you Lindsay for sharing your family with me!