My First Family Session…

… was a pretty good effort, but boy did I learn a lot about what to do next time… if there is a next time.  :)  You may have seen my post on Miss Em’s shoot from a few days ago… from which we rushed to her grandparents’ house to photograph her entire family.  Being told you have 15 minutes to photograph said family, in addition to knowing the light was quickly fading and that 3/4 of the group doesn’t particularly like having their picture taken, made me a little totally nervous.  But these folks are wonderful and since the goal was to get a shot with everyone in it, I suppose was succeeded. 

However, like I said, next time I do a family shoot, I’ll approach it very differently… not as the friend taking a picture, but as a photographer with vision, direction, enthusiasm and more experience.  I won’t shy away from giving instruction and will take my time thoughtfully posing the group (if the session warrants it).  And I will just have to get over my nerves and maybe sing and dance and be crazy to get a LITTLE smile out of the entire family…  

… like, clearly, someone was doing here…

A QUICK SIDE STORY… I thought it was pretty cool that my such a big moment in my (hopeful) photography career should come at the hands of the couple, Don and Julie, who were the FIRST people Matt introduced me to as “his girlfriend”.  9 years ago.  He’d just picked me up from the airport and we had to swing by Don and Julie’s on the way home so they could give him instruction on taking care of their dog while they were out-of-town.  I’ll never forget how kind this couple was to me; a total stranger dating a young man they’d known forever.  They welcomed me then, and have only gotten more wonderful the longer I’ve known them…  

I took about TWENTY shots to get one that everyone was looking at the camera, although I LOVE the ones that resulted from mom and dad tickling the kiddos to bring out some smiles, too. 

And I insisted on taking these… the only TWO I took of Becky and Ryan…

… and I love this one…   Of course, it is fall, so we had to play in the leaves… … and take some with the fall foliage…

Hopefully this won’t be my last family shoot … but if it is, I enjoyed every moment and couldn’t have picked a better group of people to photograph. 

And I JUST realized what day it is… so much for Five on Friday… doh!