Summer Vacation, Snippets from Day 2

Best way to start the day.  Waffles.  Best smorgasbord of toppings to be found anywhere:  raspberries from the garden, homemade applesauce from home-grown apples, blackberry syrup made from scratch with – yup – blackberries from the garden, whipped cream (yes, please), and regular syrup for those who don’t know any better. First swim of the day …Of course, I can never resist photographing this gorgeous garden …Look!  A peacock fairy princess came to play …Yes, [sigh], electronic gaming devices occasionally made an appearance …Afternoon swim …I loved our precious time in WA.  I’m so very happy I hauled along my camera gear, because I feel like I’ll always have a sweet taste of this all-too-short visit.  At the risk of sounding incredibly vain & even prideful, I’m loving these pictures.  To me, they’re *real*, authentic, completely candid (yes – even my darling fairy peacock princess niece above … I didn’t pose her.  I just followed her around while she did her thing.), relaxed, not static, intimate-feeling.  These pictures really, truly, look and feel like my family.  I’m realizing as I’m pouring through these photos (all 1300ish of them!!), and not eliminating very many, that these are the kinds of photos I *LOVE* to take.  This vibe/sensibility/style is what I long and strive to bring to each of my clients’ photography sessions.  The next two pictures (which will become longer blog posts on their own) illustrate two very important concepts I fully embrace:   1.  To get the very best, totally authentic pictures of a kiddo, let the kiddo PLAY.  And …

2.  My very favorite, hands-down, no-question-about-it, location for any given family photography session is … Home.

To be continued …