This was my second time visiting the incredible Greensboro Science Center for a shoot with Cat and Mitchell! They’re members there and their kids are obsessed, so it’s a great place to spend the day and explore. I love this family. They’ve been close friends of ours for a long time, and we’ve known their kids since they were babies. And their kids are INCREDIBLE. They’re both really sweet and silly and insane and I love them. The youngest said she would “only be taking pictures with silly faces” during this shoot, and she did not disappoint. In fact, I think one of the few normal pictures she took was when I said, “Look at that llama made out of tinsel,” and she then ran over and posed and smiled politely with him. Smiling politely the rest of the time is not really her thing – her thing is mostly making weirdo faces and being the most excited child in the history of excited children. She also loves Halloween. I think we’re the same person. Her older brother is also very excited but in a slightly more reserved way, as evidenced by his extraordinary professional posing abilities. Can he walk over to a dock and put his hands in his pockets and pop a hip like a 1993 JC Penny’s catalogue or an ad for Dawson’s Creek? You bet. Can he find a turtle statue and sit on it in such a way where it looks like it’s a presidential campaign photo? Absolutely. Meanwhile, his sister is fake vomiting off the same dock. I love them so much.

WE LOVE THIS FAMILY. They eat burgers with us and see Weezer with us and talk with us about friend things and are friends. Cat and Mitchell have been with us for a long time (5 times!), and Cameron has now been with us two times! Together, they all have the best colors of Converse shoes. Cat and Mitchell always have impeccable taste in glasses, and while Cameron isn’t there yet, I fully expect a super cool pair on him at some point in the future, even if they’re fake. Anyway – this year we took their family pictures at the Greensboro Science Center, which was gracious enough to grant us permission for a documentary-style family session there. We followed them through all their favorite exhibits: penguins, sting rays, giant aquarium with a shark who was really good at following photo cues, and a 2001 Space Odyssey style hallway that contained a singular ad for Big Bird which, from what we can tell, is one of Cameron’s favorite parts of the museum. We saw a red panda who defiantly turned away from me once I started clenching my teeth and talking to him in a high-pitched voice about his cuteness. We walked through some colored smoke that made Cameron look like a toddler-God. We took pictures with dinos and green screens and prisms. Then we ate garlic fries and all was right with the world. We’re happy to take pictures and explore with these guys, and so happy to call them our friends.