At Home with Lindsey+Jacques // A Family Session

Geoff and I are absolutely thrilled to be doing our “Day in the Life” family lifestyle sessions! It’s very us, and we have a ton of fun. On this particular adventure, our task was to document the whole family (mom, dad, two grandmas, two grandpas, and an aunt and uncle) as they celebrated the third birthday of their very special fairy soccer princess, Elizabeth. We were invited into their home and had the great opportunity to document tea parties, bubble blowing competitions, the unwrapping of birthday gifts, mad coloring book skills, and even a game of soccer in the park. Elizabeth is one of the most well-behaved and precious children we’ve encountered, but we were also told that her demeanor on the day of our visit was a fluke (or possibly caused by us simply being there, in which case we could possibly be summoned at any point in time to come over and induce Elizabeth into an almost zen-like trance with our presence).

Her parents, Lindsey and Jacques, are incredibly awesome people who are SO fun and have an amazing sense of humor (Elizabeth’s bedside books included the complete and unabridged Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos). Her dad even writes amazing comic books! So little Elizabeth couldn’t be growing up in a cooler family (or with a more loving system of family members as well… her grandparents, aunt, and uncle were all delighted with her, even when she covered them in stickers). Elizabeth is very much loved and cherished, and I am so excited for her future self to see the photos of how adored she was by everyone (and how much fun she had as a kid). We’re honored to have had this family has clients!

Vivi // A Toddler Session

Vivi! What an amazing, adorable, ginger-headed toddler that there ever was. Her parents contacted us to have a session with Vivi as she recently turned two. The parents explicitly wanted absolutely not part in the photos themselves, and they warned me that it’s pretty much Vivi’s world, we’re just living in it. We were told that she would run, pick up sticks, play with rocks, and pose for no one… which, really, is our ideal client. So we met them in a park and spent a chunk of the evening literally running around after Vivi and attempting (mostly successfully!) to get the camera to focus on a constantly moving object. She did indeed pick up sticks. She did indeed play with rocks. She found a leaf, but this didn’t interest her for too long. She saw the camera, and then proceeded to say, “CHEEEEEEESE!” as she ran in the opposite direction of me. She loved Mr. Geoff, but most small children do (probably because Mr. Geoff’s not entirely sure how to approach small children and they can sense it, much like our cats flock exclusively toward people who are allergic to them).

Vivi also had a keen interest in all potentially dangerous areas of the park such as stairs, old farm equipment, and a stranger’s dog. Halfway through the session it started to pour and Vivi ran out from the overhang, stood in the rain, and looked entirely and completely confused. Then she’d laugh up at the sky. Then she’d look confused again. She wasn’t sure whether or not she liked it or wanted to be in it, but she had a hard time staying away from it, so we decided to go with the flow and follow her around in the rain for a while, still picking up sticks. She is, clearly, hilarious and amazing and kept us laughing the entire time. I think this age group has it best. Sticks, rocks, laughter, adventure, and having people chase after you all the time to make sure you’re okay and to give you snacks.

At home with the Coreys.

We’ve been waiting for a family session like this to fall into our laps for a while now. We’ve even been approached by a few families asking for family portraits who have disappeared once  we’ve suggested how we’d prefer to shoot the session. :) So we were beyond thrilled (and honored!) when (amazing!) photographer Emily Corey e-mailed us and asked us to document her family in a come-to-our-house and photograph-us-hanging-around-on-a-Saturday-morning type of way. As she worded it: “a snapshot of life.” She was pregnant when she e-mailed us and wanted to wait until after the baby was born, so we’ve had it on the books, but we waited for a bit until the timing was right and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Meet the Coreys. They live in an awesome house and make chocolate chip pancakes on Saturdays and walk their dogs and graciously let us follow them around with cameras while they did all these things. There is an amazing and incredible amount of love and patience and kindness in this family and not one single tear was shed (except maybe for like ten minutes with the baby, but even then they were kind of like those baby cries where babies just scream but no actual tears come out).

So here is it. We are kind of addicted to this type of session now. Addicted. So much fun, so little pressure on the kids to act a certain way and pose a certain way (and they’re much more relaxed since they’re at home), and the parents aren’t stressed out because they’re just doing their thing. It’s probably one of the most chillaxed sessions we’ve been on. Feel the love!