Last night, I decided not to wait any longer to do a photo shoot that I had planned in my head. The clothes were purchased, everything 'fit', we were DOING THIS! I hadn't planned on it going so well with the Fourth of July, but the colors were Red, White, and Blue, that it just seemed appropriate...and PERFECT TIMING!
Or, so I thought!
We had a really late lunch, so I thought we'd hurry and do this photo shoot and then go home and have dinner.
BAD IDEA!!!
The proof's in the pudding...or candids...or just plain 'shake my head' worthy shots that came out. Let's start from the beginning.
In photography, there's a window of PERFECT LIGHTING...it's called the "golden hour." It happens around an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. If you want to shoot during these hours, you have to be quick because within that hour, the lighting changes A LOT, but you can get the most SUPERB images. That was my goal.
And my first mistake!
Golden hour in Miami is 7:13-ish. Dinner time when you've had a late lunch is 7:14-ish. But I didn't have time to feed the kids and fix their hair, and get them ready for my glorious photo shoot in time. I had limited timing. Especially since Ryan was now driving home from work...and he wouldn't have much of a transition time. I had to get all of this done NOW! No time for food!
As soon as we stepped outside, the rush of humidity almost poured itself onto us. HOLY MOLY...was it like 100% humid tonight? Did not plan on this. I knew we'd all be sweating in 5 minutes! O'well...I had the vision, I had the plan. We'd be done in 30 minutes!
OR so I thought!
Got out of the car. Got to the location. Looked in my camera bag...where was my lens??? ARRRRGHHHH....well, I guess my 70-200mm will have to do. It's a really nice lens, but it wasn't going to capture the vision like I'd hoped...I needed my wide angle lens...that was sitting on my computer desk at home!
Ethnie, my very mobile and independent daughter, wants only one thing in the world...to be mobile and independent. So, having her stand next to Cambri was just NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. In the arms of daddy she goes. And then the tantrum starts.
And this continues...and continues,....and continues.....and continues until he releases her to walk wherever she wants. Yup, there were lots of these:
Then there was the ENDLESS questions from Zacy...."What are the clouds like, mom?" "Mom, look at the clouds, I think there's lightning!" "Mom, Ethnie's screaming in my ears...will you tell her to stop?" "Mom, why can't I have binoculars in my pictures?" "Can I have a popsicle when we get home?" And the all time favorite: "Are we done yet?" times a million!
In my desperation, I decided to move locations to the fountain....in hopes that'll bring some smiling faces to my kids. What kid doesn't like fountains??? When I had Ryan sit on the steps, I noticed his socks....oh dear...they were not dirty or awful. They just were...awful for the picture! So, I made him take them off and that gave me an idea for this picture:
Because we had a screaming child, I figured this was the best we were gonna get tonight! And this is what it looked like above the waist: Perhaps you can see now why I opted to use the crop function in my editing!
A really nice Good Samaritan came to our rescue with Ethnie. He brought over a teddy bear for her to look at...and eventually ended up holding. It saved our ears...our failing photo shoot...and by this time, I had already given up on my dreams of the perfect photo shoot. I was just trying to get this over with...and get at least ONE good shot!!!
This:
To this:
To this:
To this:
Well, Ethnie allowed Ryan to hold her, while she held her new best friend. I got some great shots of the dynamic duo...with Super Dad in them (Thank goodness for Ryan!). Then, a miracle happened. Ethnie let Ryan detach from her hip, and I was able to get some solo shots of my little Diva! Isn't she ADORABLE???? Kind of makes me forget what a little devil she was 5 minutes before this!
All the while, Zacy is still asking his questions. Ryan is trying to answer him, but his answers only seem to be sub-optimal, in comparison to mine....even thought they're the exact same answer! And Cambri and Adelie are swatting mosquitos off of their legs, not so patiently waiting their turn.
Adelie told me, "Since I kind of look like a Sailor Girl, perhaps I could bring my binoculars?" I thought it a GREAT idea. At the time, I thought they'd just be something to keep her occupied while I was taking pics of the other family members. It ended up being a fun prop for her pics. It wasn't included in my grand vision...but that had long been abandoned.
I Love this girl and her personality!
Cambri's turn....and I gotta say...I didn't have my heart in it fully. She's such an amazing photogenic girl. And I LOVE taking pictures of her. But it was dark...literally...dark. The Golden Hour had passed 15 minutes ago and I knew I wasn't going to get any great shot from this lighting. My ISO was up as high as I could dare...my Aperture was as it's lowest stop, and still I knew they would be grainy photos. I didn't want to take the trouble of attaching my external flash...and there was NO way I was using my built in flash (think cell phone...blah!). But with that gorgeous face, anything's possible!!!
Anyways, so here's the things I've learned from this photo shoot:
1. Never try to do a photo shoot with hungry kids...ESPECIALLY hungry babies!
5. Bring a Teddy Bear...EVERY TIME!
XOXO,
Katy
