Have you missed me? I can’t believe the backlog of posts and photos I have to share with you — but I’m afraid you’ll have to be consoled for now by taking a peek at this beautiful family:

This is Katie, Kevin, and their daughters. I work with Katie, and have formerly worked with both Katie and Kevin at a previous job. We decided it was high time to get together again, since Jameson was still a sluggy newborn when he met them before (and obviously, wee little baby wasn’t around yet either!)

I offered to take some photos for Katie of her family as practice. I think maybe I could have adjusted the apeture somewhat more, but I didn’t want to be at risk of losing some focus. Practice makes perfect, right?

I spend so much time photographing Jameson and Lily, I really wanted to try my hand at a hard target: a toddler who doesn’t know me, and a baby who doesn’t care.

What I learned? I need to develop confidence in posing. Katie and Kevin were so natural that it didn’t matter, but I was uncomfortable telling them how to pose. Anyone less photogenic than this beautiful family and the photos wouldn’t have turned out nearly so well.

Katie’s favorite: The one that included their pup, Lucia. She told me they didn’t have a single family photo that included their dog. Let me tell you, we almost gave up before we got this shot. I didn’t realize I had a blow out spot until later, that was a little disappointing.

Tip 2: Dog treats from the start with the family, and a good loud voice to get the dog to look at you.

Meanwhile, Brian was chasing around Jameson who was running through the yard like a whirlwind. When I crouched down, he wanted to climb on my back, which was cute, and brings me to tip 3:

Toddlers like other kids. She wanted to smile at Jameson! He was conveniently located behind me for the last couple shots. However, the most natural smiles from her were when they were unposed or she didn’t think I was looking:

Yeah, I got a couple of my own kid, too. After the “official” shoot, we blew up the bounce house and let the kids go wild. Katie and Kevin own an RV, so they played in there for a bit too before we had a cookout lunch on their deck.

It was funny to watch Jameson watching her — she was jumping up and down all over the place, and he seemed to be wondering how to imitate her. He doesn’t know how to jump yet!

It was so fun to do these photos, to try my hand at observing the lighting to select the best locations for shooting in her yard, and to see what it’s like to take photos of kids you don’t know (that don’t know you!)

My personal favorite was this one, of Katie unposed smiling down at her new 7 week old baby girl.

Oh, just keeping it real, this great color coordinated family did all change after the photos were finished into much more casual outfits. (The baby’s changing might have been necessitated by a very successful poop. Thankfully she had good timing!)

P.S. Speaking of babies, our friend Lauren finally got to take her twin girls home at just under 4 weeks old. They are about 4-1/2 pounds and are super cute! (And I’m not just saying that; they really don’t have that “premature” look about them at all. They’re adorable!) I got to meet them briefly last week, and I’m so very excited that they finally got to come home.