...7...

I recently shot a family I used to babysit in high school. They have 4 lovely ladies and one little man.




This is the eldest, Gracie.



Next is Sarah Louise...




Then Miss Avery...


Little Micah Mae






And last but not least, Mr Eli.









As with all my posts, if you want to see an image larger just click on it :)

...3...

Group siblings shots can be hard, can't they? You have multiple little faces that all need to look happy or at least adorable and somewhat close together.

Generally when I need a group shot of siblings (particularly when one sibling is under 3) I put them in a "baby trap". Basically you look for something that is high enough that the baby won't run away quickly and low enough that if he does manage to get down he won't hurt himself in the process, chairs and benches work excellently.

This also serves to hold them close together for a minute. When the parents are in the picture I make the hold the baby to keep them in the frame, and if the siblings are seated on the ground I make them sit "criss-cross applesauce" which buys me a few seconds of leg untangling before the little one can make run for it.

I generally position the big people and tell them what to expect first, "I'm about to put the baby in your lap, and I want you guys to look at me and smile for three pictures because after that the baby will be done, ok?" Then I pop the baby into the frame, make goofy noises, shoot and hope for the best. :)

The family below did a great job, the big kids were great at smiling and the parents were a big help. Aren't they cute?


Generally siblings shot quickly become this....which is why we quickly move on to other things.:)

This is Simon, who is such a happy little guy!

I'm trying some new editing and for some reason it's making my resized images for this blog look a little wonky, to view them larger and much better, just click on the image.


I love his bald head! So cute. If my (future, theoretical) babies have hair I swear I'm gonna shave it.



This is Annabelle, who was the star of my favorite picture from this session. I just love the light on her face and her self-possessed expression.





This is the eldest, Max. He thought I was pretty funny.

Joshua

Six to eight-months-olds are the most fun to shoot! Even when they are crawling, (like the little guy in today's post) they still aren't too fast and they have the most expressive little faces!

This is Joshua, he is one of the happiest little guys I have ever shot. It was hard to get a picture of him where he wasn't smiling!

Ellie

Months ago, I shot a family of three sisters. Isn't that awesome? Sisters are good things to have. :)
This is the eldest Molly.

This is the middle sister, Addie.

Lastly is the new sister, Ellie.

It was her mom's idea to put her in a bowl and I love it. Doesn't she look sweet? (You can click on any of these images to see them larger.)

This is my former roommate Beth's chair. She painted and upholstered a chair she got at a thrift store and now we use it for shoots.

Anticipation

One of the best things about my job is that I schedule shoots online, and thus am pleasantly surprised when I meet my subjects in person. When these three little ones got out of the car I almost hugged myself in delight. Red hair! How cool is that?!?

Ryan is the oldest, then Miss Taylor and the youngest is Kyle.

(I was a little enamored with Kyle.)

Miss Taylor doesn't have red hair but she has some of the most striking hazel eyes I have ever photographed.







Look at those light eyelashes!

All in all, they were a delightful family and a joy to photograph.

Tagged

So I got tagged to list my 5th picture in my 5th folder of images.

This is that picture.

It is not the best of pictures, but I kept it because I thought it was funny. These two are my neighbor's twins, Reese (in green...two E's in green, two E's in Reese) and Riley is on the right.

From looking at this picture you would think Reese is the loud, feisty one and Riley would just like more sleep. However as they are 1-year-old now, I can assure you this is almost completely opposite of their true personalities (at least as far as one can stereotype 1-year-olds).

Here are a few more from that shoot that I kept on my computer (for over a year now!) to add to my website. In these Riley is on the right/bottom and Reese is on the left/top.