I FREAKING LOVED this family session. mind you, the five year old was impressively against the idea of having his photo taken. he never wavered from his principles and i gotta say i was impressed. i threw everything i had at him to get him to just LOOK at me. every trick in my book. he was too smart. and that happens. and when that happens you gotta just cut your losses and make it work. i personally don't mind because i want people to be themselves, but this mama wanted just ONE photo of everyone looking happily at the camera. i get it. understandable! and not a crazy request, right? well.... that didn't happen. but hopefully she also wanted a bunch of rad documentation of her family, their authentic selves, and their love, which we more than got.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: is that even when your kid is 1000% uncooperative and avoids the camera at all costs, the session isn't a failure. i was there. emotions can run high when you're paying for family pictures and your kid has a meltdown. its hard for the parents to remain composed, the kids are sad, blah blah blah. that can make for some miserable looking photos.

but tell me, do any of the photos below look miserable? or can i make you look good even if you're frustrated with your kids? so what i see when i look at this set of images is two people who really love each other. who really love their kids. it shines through these images! even if sam wasn't happy about being bothered by a lady with a camera intruding on his outdoor exploration time. the goodness remains.

but i mean if all you want is your basic staged happy pose then i'm not the photographer for you anyways. i mean, really.

THE COLORS: the colors made me so happy. but then i changed some to black and white and then i fell in love with the images even more. so here is a happy mix of both. i know you were worried about that.

NEXT UP on the agenda is devising a way to get to portland so i can visit her AND invade her house for an in-home session.

enjoy!