Christina's Blog

If my first session of the New Year is any indication, this year is gonna be a great one!  Peyton was visiting the studio for her 6 month Baby Love Collection session and she brought along her big brother, Austin.  One look at the two of them together and I knew I’d have no trouble at all capturing their relationship – the love these two have for each other was obvious and so genuine.  To be honest, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything quite like it – they literally just enjoyed being together and Austin was just so sweet with her.  After a few different poses, I recognized that Austin was beginning to lose interest in this whole “portrait session” thing and I really wanted to try one more pose.  I let him know if I could get just three more shots, I’d be done.  He reluctantly agreed and then did the sweetest thing ever:  he slipped his arms around his little sister, scooped her gently up into his lap and then in his best “stick with me, kid” voice said, “Come on, Peyton, we’re almost done.”  My. Heart.  Melted.

I’ve been away for over a week, on vacation with my family at Myrtle Beach.  Laying on the beach, listening to the waves, basking in the sun – my favorite way to relax by far!  It’s so nice to get away from the daily grind, but I think most Moms would agree that family vacations can be full of a different type of stress though, if you’re not careful.  I decided to tempt fate by planning to shoot our family portrait out on the beach during this trip – and my goal was not just one great session, but two!

Now let me be clear that most portrait sessions are not really stressful – but there is something different (harder) about photographing your own family, especially when you are also trying to be in the image – I always end up looking like I just pushed a button, ran around the camera, plopped down in whatever position I could find, and smiled just as the shutter clicked – which is of course exactly what I *have* just done!  Even still, I was determined to make this work.

A few lessons learned:
1. Heavy Winds + Beach = Unhappy child with sand in his eyes.
2. Family portraits look better when no one is crying in them.
3. A beautiful family portrait can make the above lessons worth learning!

I am thankful to my patient and understanding family for being willing to endure the blown sand on Day 1, changing into their “portrait clothes” on 5 minutes notice on day 2, and being bribable with ice cream and chocolate on Day 3.  I am grateful for the beautiful portraits that emerged from the chaos and that no one has yet to accuse me of taking to many photographs of them!  I can’t wait to get these on my wall!  Here’s a preview of a few of my favorites so far… notice I’m not in any of these!