I haven’t talked a lot on this website about personal shooting. As an artist first and foremost it is very important to be inspired continually. When we drive anywhere my mind is constantly taking in the scenes and lighting conditions that pass before us. Most of the time I imagine how these scenes we pass will look with people in them. I love to photograph people most of all. When I meet people, and even when chatting with friends, my mind is often using an imaginary camera to capture the best of that person. Looking for the good, the pretty and most importantly the personality.
While it is currently very popular among photographers to capture sultry looks from their subjects I will undoubtedly continue to endeavor o capture the real smile and joyful personality in every subject. Most people have a cheerful and cheeky side that is just waiting to be captured. This certainly doesn’t mean I want to pass up any tender emotional moments that convey the genuine love families have for each other.
But I digress from my original topic. Capturing images just for my personal inspiration. When I am being personally inspired the whole world just seems to be a better and more enjoyable place. This is why I decided to accomplish a 365 project where I take an image a day. It has been a bit impossible to post those images lately on my blog, but I am still taking them daily. They inspire me many days.
This last week we spend in Atlanta visiting some of my family. As we were driving to the house the second day we were there, I noticed a really cool shabby barn surrounded by some beautiful trees. My first thought was that it would make a great place to capture some family images. Since my family there is pretty camera shy I knew we probably wouldn’t get to capture everyone, but the kids would work great there too. I capture images of them all the time, but we rarely go out with the intent to capture images like a real session.
I rummaged around my parents house to see what we could use for the impromptu session. Guy & Madison had her dressed in a rather eclectic outfit and I liked the colors Blake was dressed in. We didn’t bring any clothes with us other then everyday play clothes. With all the items gathered my sister and I jumped in the SUV with the twins and headed over to the barn.
And here we begin! Just after they sit down they are both enthralled by the water in Madison’s cup only it wasn’t just water in there. There was a small black bug swimming for all he was worth to escape. I quickly dumped the water and we reloaded with some fresh water. Ha ha.
After I got the bug out of her water and they switched sides a few times we got down to the ‘serious’ business of shooting.
Clients are always asking me what they should bring to a session. When kids are involved there are so many options right from your own home. All of these items were just around my parents home. The hydrangea bush on the side of the house provided the flowers. The bottle came from an Australian ginger beer I got when Guy got his meat pie and sausage roll fix from the Australian bakery the day before {Guy is from Australia}. The “table top” is a book with one giant pull out page I remember seeing as a kid. The “table base” is a family heirloom handed down to my step mom from her grandmother. Madison and Blake’s “chairs” were grabbed as I was walking around perusing the house contents. My step mom has a thing for dishes and china so at the last moment I grabbed a couple plates and cups to take with us. I didn’t have any plan on what to use where, but it all came together when we got there. We also brought a black umbrella.
My husband, Guy, says this one should be titled Mars – Venus! We love it.
Back at home from our trip the last two days they have played tea party in their room. As I was editing the images both of them excitedly relived their photo session describing all the stuff they did while pointing to their images.
She looks so pretty to me.
LOVE
She started laughing at me as I was teasing her to coax out different looks.
My baby sister, Grace, was helping out by moving the kids here and there, filling their water and adjusting whatever needed adjusting. Blake is inspecting his cup to ensure it was filled properly by her. lol
Then he ran off. Typical boy.
No worries. Madison carried on the tea party without him.
She decided it was time for her to get in some good play time too. She gave me this adorable look and body pose before heading off.
I love this shot. It is definitely time to get some of my favorite images together to sell as fine art images people can display in their homes.
I need to braid her hair more often. It goes together well and looks so cute.
Another fine art image. So sweet and nostalgic.
Grammy’s china photographs beautifully.
Detail shots are always a favorite of mine. One of these days I want to publish a book of my detail images with cool stories and funny saying calling it Pieces.
Blake gave Maddie some flowers. Giving them actions generally helps them to have more fun and gives me cool images that tell a story. This evening, Blake was talking on the phone to Nanny {Guy’s mum}. He turns to the computer just after saying hello and sees this image. He tells her, “Did you see the pictures of Blake and Maddie on mom computer? We were playing.” Well honey, she will see them soon enough when this post gets published.
Girls need to run off and have a different kind of fun sometimes. Blake liked to get out of the shady area where the location wasn’t quite as cool anymore. She’s off to join him here.
After some smooth talking they came back into the ‘scene’ and agreed to hug each other. This quickly became a giggly mess of let’s see who can knock the other one down first.
Madison got a scratch & not sure why Blake looks sad too. This is one of my favorite images from the session.
This girl loves to pout. I don’t think we go a day without her pouting over something.
Blake came over to help her up.
She loved it until…
Yep, neck grab and she stopped helping herself up thinking her same size three year old brother would be able to lift her dead weight up off the ground. Sure Maddie. She has a thing or two to learn about physics.
The wind kept knocking our wold history pull out over which I ended up liking better anyway. She brought the pot back over to the tea table. It’s such a cute image of a little girl at play.
We got this adorable image before he was fired from the umbrella for a while.
This session turned into something much more about Madison then Blake. There are so many images I love. She cracks me up and I love this quirky outfit her dad put her in that morning.
Both of my twins love to tease us, and playing hide and seek is one of their favorite tricks.
I love how quickly their attention turns in different directions.
After capturing some images of Maddie with the umbrella we walked over to see if Blake was ready to join us for some close ups of the two of them together. I turned around to see this… My sweet girl was busy walking behind me dragging the umbrella while blowing bubbles. lol
This one makes me laugh.
This is so sweet. They really love each other. I’m so glad Blake consented to rejoin us for some close ups under the umbrella together. The first time we tried it he kept dragging her by walking away and pulling the umbrella. This time he got really into the affectionate and fun moments with his twin sister.
Check out the love in that look.
I love these moments and am so thankful to be blessed with the talent to capture these precious moments of my kids as they grow and develop.
I inherited this same upside down smile thing from my grandma who passed away last summer. She is the first one I thought of when this image popped up. Miss her.
Another look at Mars and Venus here. Madison is all angelic looking right at the camera, while Blake is doing his own thing and looking bored with it all.
I love everything about this last shot I got of them. It was the perfect note to end on. Pretty much since this session ended I’ve been on an emotional high.
~ Shannon
