It is not often I get to shoot photographers. Well, actually, I do get to shoot other photographers and their families about 10 times a year, and I know I have said this before: it is both extremely fun (and flattering), but also really nerve wracking. Though I AM loosening up a bit.

This is my photographer-mommy-friend in Boulder and her family is the. cutest. ever. And I am so happy they had another baby because she, too, is the sweetest little thing! I did their family photos last year at Wonderland Lake in north Boulder, and they were a gorgeous family then, but now that they have baby M they are complete (or are you going to have more???!).  I love it when my friends have babies because I NEED to have babies around me at all times if I do not have one of my own. If I have one of my own, then forget it, I can only handle that one at a time. I am thinking mostly about my last baby, who was a bit, ahem, colicky, and somewhat challenging, but we made it! We lived through it to the other side and now she is the most outrageous, adorable, little firecracker there is.

So for this family shoot we went to Chataqua, which I have been photographing a lot at lately because it has just been so beautiful with the flowers, the flatirons, that dreamy wonderland-ness of it when the sun is setting. I think it was a great fit for this family, too. The only problem when you start to add more babies to a family is that it IS a little harder to get that family photo where everyone is smiling, eyes open, and looking at the camera at the same time. I personally don’t care too much about that, but I know it is always nice to have at least ONE photo like that.

I am thinking of some family photos we had when I was little that I would come across every now and then and really study. We were library family of the year three years in a row (i know, we rocked), and so they took a family portrait for the newspaper. My parents always bought a few copies and clipped them and that is what I would be looking at. And this photographer MUST have been good at getting people to sit posed, composed, and looking at the camera, because in each year’s photo we were stiff and all 7 of us (yes, I had a huge family) were looking at the camera. We were not happy or anything. It did not show who were really were. It was a good rendition of what we looked like at that moment of time, but it didn’t really tell a story about our love of reading books or anything.

My point is, when you book a session with me I chat with you on the phone to really find out who you guys are-as a family and as individuals. I want THAT to come out in the photo. There are many, many, many photographers out there that can take a good photo of what your family looks like right now, but only a few that can show the connection, love, and uniqueness of who you guys are. I would like to think that I am one of those photographers.

xoxo stacey