So many lessons I learn in each photo shoot! This one is brilliant!

Family~

today’s little moments become tomorrow’s precious memories ~your tango

One of my favorite parts of photographing a family is watching children bond with their parents. It warms my heart every time. It’s a time where they can forget about what’s going on in the world and just be together capturing those sweet little moments that make up a family. The moments where every concern, all work, and all life’s pressures can melt away so they can change focus to one another, hold hands, hug, and be one. A time to capture where they are in this life of theirs. Just to enjoy the journey and pause the time of where their family is. It’s often easy to go day to day without realizing how much your children have grown or how you have grown as parents and even as a married couple. How you love each other in a different way or how you grow together and bond. Life brings so much wisdom, love, inspiration, sadness, heart ache, lessons, and so much that forms who you are as a person..a parent..a family. Take the time to pause your life. Even just for an hour or two. Document where you are. I promise you won’t regret it.

On this day the colors of the leaves were bright and vibrant and the park we were in was absolutely perfect.

It’s no secret that here in the Pacific Northwest it’s cloudy and has a reputation of being very rainy and very wet. Especially October and November! A busy time for photographers when many clients and friends are getting photos taken for their holiday cards.

Well, there’s a specific pose or two that I love to get with families but this requires them to sit on the ground. I had the parents bring blankets so we could do that. We walked through the park, took photos on a bench, in front of trees, bushes with red berries, rocks, flowers, water, and a fun red bridge. Towards the end I remembered I wanted to get them sitting on the ground together. By this time this sweet little girl may have had enough. She was such a little trooper. So before we exited I had them sit at a specific spot on the grass which provided a nice background of beautiful green vegetation. As I walked over, I was expressed, “It’s good you brought blankets because it’s so wet right here.” Not really realizing HOW wet it truly was.

We laid down 2 blankets and I had the parents sit first, then the toddler on the mom’s lap. The look on this dad’s face told it all. The water was coming through very quickly.

They were like, “It’s ok, we can get the pictures.” Oh boy, was I thankful it was this couple. So laid back and willing to be anywhere I wanted them to be and still smiling. Maybe smiling more by the surprise of how that water felt. I imagine it was cold and uncomfortable. Moving very slow but you can see the water starting to seep through the blanket. Oh my goodness, I felt horrified inside. Clearly bottoms and clothes were starting to get wet. I thought I will never do this again. I felt so bad. The mom was willing to sit against the dad and then she even laid on her back and put her head on his leg. The mom was the biggest trooper of all. Even patiently waiting for her toddler to lay on her stomach. How amazing! Not everyone would have reacted this way. This is why they were the perfect people for me this day and another lesson learned in my new photography journey.

When we were leaving, blankets were soaked and bums were wet. I will never forget this photo shoot. Cute toddler, amazing parents, funny memories made, lesson learned.

So on my way out, I thought to myself, “How can I avoid this and still get the photos I need and want for these families if (more like ‘when’) I run into this again?” I can either completely avoid those areas or I can come up with something different. This is when I realized I can take a shower curtain and place it under the blankets. This is brilliant. It would be best anyway so blankets don’t even have to get dirty.

So as I am sitting here writing this at Starbucks in Seattle I am adding a shower curtain to my list. Thank you wonderful family for being so amazing, patient, going with the flow and laughing at such a moment that could have been avoided. Thank you for allowing me to write about this fun photoshoot in the wet Pacific Northwest. I truly enjoyed spending this time with you capturing such a fun time. ~Mel, Pics By Pix Photography