One of the best things about photographing my own kids is that it’s one of the rare times I can be truly creative and experimental. I find that with client work I’m less inclined to take on-the-spot risks. It’s not that I never do, it’s just that with my kids I always feel more free to make mistakes since they aren’t exactly paying. 😉 I can shoot and shoot and shoot as many frames as I like. Some things will work, some will not, but that’s how I learn. And now that they are finally at an age where they actually enjoy letting me take photos, it makes it that much easier for me. Dare I say even fun sometimes 😉
I shot most of these indoor images using my 50mm 1.4 lens, which is not usually my lens of choice. I wanted these to have a very shallow depth of field though so I shot with the aperture wide open at 1.4 (the lower the aperture, the blurrier the background and the smaller the area in focus). Shooting this way, particularly with fast moving kids is usually not a good idea. And I’m not gonna lie…I came away from this experience with a number unusable shots since it’s extremely easy to miss your focus with a depth of field this shallow. What I love about these though is the fact that they represent a creative risk. In this case, it’s one that feel that it paid off because I’m happy with how the images came out. But even if they hadn’t, they still represent something that I see so few people actually doing in photography today. Taking risks, whatever they may be, and despite any imperfections, just putting it out there for the world to see. Generally speaking I live my life pretty safely (I really need to work on that ;)). But I’m glad I have an outlet like photography that let’s me step outside of myself every once in a while.
My kids love the library. So today we took some time out to just enjoy a couple of hours at our local branch. With the start of school less than a week away for my kids, we’re trying to squeeze as many day time activities in as possible! On our way back to the car I couldn’t resist snapping a few fun photos against the brick wall. It’s funny how you can walk by a place a million times and see absolutely nothing. But given the right moment/mood/day it can suddenly be inspiring. That’s definitely what happened here. 🙂
Hope everyone with kiddos are enjoying what’s left of summer! To book your family or children’s session with me, contact me today! It’s still only August but I literally only have a handful of dates left for September and October!



