I'm not a professional photographer. Not even close. However, I do enjoy taking photographs, and I happen to have a nice camera. It gets me by while I wait for a chance to go home and see our professional photographer for family pictures, and sometimes it allows me the chance to take some family pictures for friends. I have a lot of fun doing it, and yesterday was no exception, especially considering that I got to take pictures of some of the most photogenic kids ever. (Excepting my own three, of course. ;) )
This family has been friends of ours since we moved here to Colorado. I was sort of terrified a little nervous when they asked me to take some family pictures of them. I know from shooting my own littles how unpredictable children can be. When it's my family I can pack it up on a bad day and try again tomorrow, but that doesn't work when it's someone else's family, and I would hate to completely butcher someone's family pictures. But I enjoy taking photos, and I thought they would probably understand if everything went pear shaped on us. Besides, what is life without a little adventure, right?
We were blessed with such amazing weather, especially for November. We're also blessed to have the whole of Colorado to shoot in, and while I am an Ohio girl at heart, I can't state enough how breathtakingly beautiful this state is! We decided to meet at Garden of the Gods, which is always pretty, but it seemed exceptionally so yesterday. Everything went better than I could have hoped, and the problem ended up being how to choose which pictures were the best of the best. I'll try to only share my absolute favorites here, but it could still end up being a pretty long post. :)
Did I mention that these children are gorgeous! Not only that, but they are naturals. I didn't have to direct them in how to pose at all. I told them where to be and they did the rest. Love it when things come together like this!
We were lucky enough to meet this little girl right after she was born, and she was present when Eleanor arrived too. It took a bit for her to warm up to me, even though she knows me. I remembered what my amazing friend and photographer, Katie, told me once though. If you want to photograph kids you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself. Once I started acting like a goofball I managed to get more smiles out of her. Having her bog brother and sister behind me acting silly helped too.
Oh my word, so I told you these kids were amazing, right? All I had to say was "Come sit here." The rest of this is all him. And I love it! They made this too easy for me. I'm not sure what I was worried about at all.
Yes, yes, I've said they have beautiful children. Now, how about the beautiful parents!
You kinda just want to smack them they're so cute, right?
This last one that I'm about to post was probably my favorite. It made it in the top 3 at least. We were all cold and ready to go when Lily said "Let's all try to fit on this rock!" I thought that, surely, it was going to end up being an odd throwaway picture. Always try for those odd pictures, folks, because they might surprise you.
I said I was only going to post my 10 favorites. I guess bumping it up to 15 isn't bad. I can't wait to take pictures of these guys again. It was truly a joy.
