At most family sessions, kids usually dictate the pace of the shoot and we were pleased that Matthew warmed up to us rather quickly - he seemed to enjoy mimicking the squat I was doing in order to photograph him at his eye level. Here is Vince's photo of him squatting down directly in front of me:
And here is the image from my camera... check out Matthew's cheeky expression!
Beth, Ryan, and Matthew were extremely easy to photograph. Matthew was clearly comfortable with the camera and the whole family seemed to know intuitively how to position themselves for great photographs. In this next sequence, Matthew sat for a family portrait but then he started to move away. Hmmm, I wonder where he's going? He shimmied over and over and over until he reached a spot where his feet could touch the ground. Then he calmly smiled for the camera. Vince got a great angle for the image on the bottom left of Beth and Ryan beaming at their smart little boy.
One thing that I noticed as I was going through the images was how amazingly Beth, Ryan, and Matthew walk together as a family. Seriously! I generally like to do a few walking sequences in a session and usually I find a couple of photographs that work well. With this family, I found image after image after image of them walking that were fantastic!
The fog made for some wonderfully moody photographs. This next one is one of my favourites:
Vince is great with framed photographs - he took the photograph on the right and I love the candid quality of the image.
Matthew fell over a few times on the wet ground during the shoot. He took it all in stride but... that. was. when. he. discovered. dirt. It's amazing when children discover something new... especially something as interesting as dirt. Matthew was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Matthew is such a little man! Look how proud his daddy is...
After rolling around in the dirt, Matthew really came into his own. He was so amused and expressive as we entered a pretty courtyard for our last sequence.
"Tea-time!"
I adore this next image but can't really explain why. I think this is what family photos are all about - capturing a fleeting moment so we can look back and remember. I love the expressions in this image - Matthew looking intently at the mounds of dirt, Beth looking at him with wonder (and perhaps a bit of trepidation that Matthew would dive fist first into the dirt), and Ryan laughing in the background.
Beth, Ryan, and Matthew - thank you for spending your morning with us. It was great to meet you and we hope you will love your photographs!
