Photo Shoot: Michelle, Matt & Mattix

I had the pleasure of photographing my nephew, Matt, his former girlfriend, Michelle, and their eight month old son, Mattix, yesterday afternoon. Challenges: WIND! And a baby more interested in doing what babies do – looking at everything except the lady with the camera and putting everything that interested him into his mouth. Hey, it’s what eight-month-olds do!

I had big ideas for the shoot which all came crashing down when the wind would not allow my white umbrella to stand, so I did what I could under the circumstances. I shot completely hand-held and did a lot of crawling around on the ground.

A few family shots . . .

Look at that face!

Kissing baby cheeks is the best.

(For this one, I used onOne’s FocalPoint 2.1 to highlight Michelle and Mattix. I really like how it turned out.)

Crawling and exploring . . . that’s an eight-month-old’s job.

I’m thinking he’ll be walking before he’s a year.

Num! Leaf!

What’s that over there?

Binky shot.

And, as always, I learned what worked, what didn’t, and what to do differently next time. (For one thing, I could have utilized the stray person not in the shots (Michelle’s mom) as my assistant That thought came me as I was driving home!)

Photo Shoot: The Warren Family

My friend, Kirstin, came to my home today for a photo shoot with her husband, Mike, and their son, Jake. We had a lot of fun.

Jake was working his suit!

Kirstin’s dress was amazing . . .

These trucks made more than one appearance in the photos . . .

Then the ties came off . . . and we got down on the floor.

Kirstin thinks this one is her favorite. I really like it too.

Kirstin changed . . . into knockout red.

I think they’re in love or something . . .

One last family shot. You can find more from the shoot at my SmugMug gallery.

Mother and Daughter, Part II

A few more from yesterday’s shoot.

One of my favorites:

Eventually we headed outdoors. They live right next to the Truckee river.

The six-year-old was finally getting to the end of her attention span, but it gave me an opportunity to get this shot of her mom.

Sneak Preview: Mother and Daughter

I received a last-minute request from a friend to photograph her and her daughter. I’ve known GLC since just after 9/11. You see, her husband is Afghan and they lived in Reno where they ran a local burger place where Sweetie ate lunch quite frequently. After 9/11 they began a program to get school supplies to Afghanistan. In addition, they began a program to have school desks built locally in Afghanistan. Eventually they moved back to Afghanistan. Things appeared to be going well, and in fact, they even adopted a baby girl. However, in recent years, Afghanistan became less secure and my friend and her husband decided that she and their daughter would return to the U.S. He is still in Afghanistan with the two boys he has adopted. My friend spent a couple of years in Washington, DC doing cultural training for Americans deploying to Afghanistan.

Last year she and her daughter moved back to Reno. On Friday she asked if I’d mind coming over to photograph them so that she could have something for friends and family by Valentine’s Day.

We did the shoot yesterday. More to come.

Day 322 – And I thought pets were a challenge!

I did a family photo shoot yesterday. I need the practice, they need the portraits, so it all works out. The two little girls are 17 months and 3 years old. While I could talk to the three-year-old, the seventeen-month-old had her own priorities. It was a lot of fun, and I hope that the family will be happy with some of the shots. PS – I learned a lot yesterday.

Here are a few that made the final cut.