Inspired By You Photography: All in the family...

I am so excited about this post! It's a long one though, so get ready.

Everyone knows how I feel about photography, like how pictures are so emotional to me because they capture that instant in time that is, in reality, documentation of our greatest memories. The milestones, the expressions that define someone at any particular point in their lives, and the relationships, the relationships, the relationships! I can't say it enough! I love that you can feel the love and truly get a sense of the dynamics between people through a photograph. I especially love taking pictures of my own family because those are MY memories and I feel especially connected to them. Meet my niece and nephew...Elle and Easton, or "eh" and "east" as Addyson calls them! My sister-in-law/long-time good friend called when this whole thing was getting started and scheduled a session. We decided to do the shoot at her parents house because it is such a natural setting for the kids already and is just beautiful! They own/run a therapeutic riding center in Waco so they have lots of land and horses and is just serene. We also thought it would be a good idea to get some of all the kids (cousins) for some grand kids family portraits-not a bad thought! Well, we did get some great pictures, but at some expense! Teri and I were SOOOO exhausted by the end of this day from all the running around, bribery, and "attention-getting" tactics that we pulled on this ALL DAY shoot! Yes, all day...we did some pictures in the morning, then went back in for more after the kids had napped. All in all, it was another day of great memories for me, Teri, and all the kids with some fabulous pictures to prove it! As I looked back through these pictures though, I thought "man, out of all these pictures we should surely have more great ones of the 3 of them", but then I realized that this is what I do...I take pictures of real life, and my goal is not to see how many times I can make multiple children say "cheese". As I sat here, I began laughing hysterically at the images we do have. These are our kids and this is how we will remember their childhood! I had to put a couple of the "non-framers" together in a collage so you could see what we were dealing with throughout the day. I could have done a 20 image collage of these funnies, but just had to move on to other work! Ok, so let me set them up for you before we get to them and then I will post the sneak peek images below...be patient--these are hilarious!

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Someone mentioned the word "panties" and Addyson's ears perked up. I am almost positive we weren't even talking about her panties at all! But, she decided to show everyone that she knew where her panties where...by the way, the next couple of images down from this one is one of Easton leaning over to pull Addyson's dress down--so freakin' funny!

2. As you can see Easton is throwing a full-out fit in the yard. Obviously because we took his 1st ever-yes, FIRST lollipop he's ever had, away from him for a bit so that Elle could do some pictures by herself with it. We just rolled watching him throw this tantrum, which of course made him steamin' mad!

3. Any explanation needed? Just look at each kid individually and try to imagine what you think they might be thinking at this moment!!! I think Addyson might be thinking "I am gettin' me some of this lollipop, dang it! They can argue over it all they want, but this is MY opportunity!!!"

4. Again, no explanation necessary, but just check Easton out--look at that picture perfect expression! What a great picture, right? Oops, it would have been, but then you've got the 2 pouty princesses sitting on either side of him. This is how our WHOLE day went-and when you have 3, I guess you just have to expect that and hope to get some lucky shots, which we did! I know I sound like I am complaining about it, but who could complain when you get to have a laugh like I have had every time I look at these :)