Extended family shooting fun & a tip

The Fine Art Friday post will be coming soon today.

This family was a lot of fun. We actually didn't make it to the location of the shoot because I saw this cool restaurant then the fun barrels across the street, then the nice weathered building next to those, and finally we stopped at the river park. By then we were all starving so it was time to call it done.... Sometimes with a fun family I feel like we could shoot all day since there are endless combinations & locations.

One of the moms, Cindy, is very interested in photography. She asked me what her next purchase for her DSLR camera should be. "Definitely a great lens," I said! Here is the example of what a good lens with a nice wide aperture can do compared to a 'kit' lens sold with most digital SLR cameras. These photos were taken at the same time with the same lighting and the same editing treatment. The only difference is the aperture was 3.5 on the left and 1.4 on the right. It makes a huge difference in the colors & depth captured in the shot. She looks great in both pictures, but the richness and portrait look to the right one is definitely superior.


We started off at this restaurant for a nice casual big family photo.






I love mom's face here! There are several more cool ones from this spot, but this one is definitely my favorite.


This spot was soooo bright, but everyone thought it was a cool spot to try.


These guys were so cute. When it came time for a couples shot they declined, because all they have up till now is shots of just them. They are so very thrilled to be first time parents.


These guys in the first photo have a couple normal smiley photos too, but I would put this one up on my wall over the others. LOVE IT! It is my favorite shot of the whole shoot.

The behind the scenes shot for this session. I completely bit it coming down the hill before them which is why they are being extra careful! Man, my body was stiff up the next day. Then this weekend I did the same thing picking up the kids from the sitter after a session! Madison and I have had matching scrapped knees this week. She got hers from pushing her walking toy on the driveway too fast so she fell down behind it. Oh, and when I fell down the stairs this weekend, Madison was holding my hand. I made sure to let go as I was falling. As I was coming to my senses with a mental review of body parts for injury and watching Madison two steps above me she does a sympathy suicide dive after me thankfully where I could catch her! So as we are at the bottom of the steps in a cuddle Blake is at the top of our steps with the sitter watching us. He decides it was too much drama for him & starts whaling. All this for missing the bottom step! LOL



The kids had a blast running for these though is took three times to get them to run where we wanted them too... Check out the joy in their faces.