I think the first time I met Carmen was probably a year ago. I had some photography props for sale and she decided to buy them from me. Yes, Carmen is also a photographer. We have since “friended” and followed each other’s work online. I loved her initial message to me asking if I was only photographing pets and if I would pretty please photograph her and her children. My response was of course I still photograph people and I would love to do it. Coordinating schedules of two photographers for a session was a bit troublesome, but we finally had a date nailed down. We were both checking our iPhones non-stop leading up to the session since there was a chance of rain. I’m glad to say the rain never made it to us that evening and while it was humid, the weather was overall good.

I again selected the Jefferson Community Park because I am in love with the location and the lack of bystanders. As soon as Carmen’s kids got out of the car they were a trip! Ian is 6, Ryan is 4 and little Naomi is 2. The boys were really excited about playing, more so than having their photos taken. But the bribe of throwing sticks in the pond after the session seemed to work. I realized from this session that some of my “bag of tricks” from dog photography will also work for kids. I have a collection of whistles and noise makers and the boys loved them. It became a game at one point, if they would do a photo or two for me, they could blow the whistles. Good thing the park was empty or we would have really been causing a commotion! I do not think Naomi was as up for photos as her brothers were. We had a minor meltdown from her for a little bit, during which, I took the time to work with the boys one-on-one. Once she was no longer part the center of attention, her mood changed and I was able to grab some candid images of her.

I am thrilled with how the images for Carmen and her children turned out while reading books and just hanging out on the quilt she brought along. I love being able to capture less formal family images and get the true interaction between everyone.