This is a session I’ve been wanting to blog all year, and the day has finally come! We shot this last January, and it was one of the first sessions I did entirely at the family home in Culver City. With 3 kids under age 5, I had my work cut out for me!
Lucky for me, Ava (age 5) has that special something that so many models have – every time she looked over at me, her big brown puppy eyes just devoured my camera and the shots were always amazing. Vince, age 3, has a ton of energy and had a great time all throughout our session. And little Leighton, at just 10 months old, was the most challenging of the three that day. But even though she was intent on crawling her little heart out, she’d always look up and give me her best expressions.
I’m so happy with their entire collection, and it turned out the biggest challenge was editing it down to a reasonable number! This is just a handful of my very favorites, and of course a few hilarious outtakes just for laughs…
Starting with a quintessential Ava moment:
Working with the window light in their living room
Some focused time with little Leighton
Who doesn't love a baby in a bath?
Every parent wants a great shot of all the kids together, and of course it's the hardest shot to get with little ones. Luckily, I have some experience with this and a few tricks up my sleeve. I really love this series, expecially when Leighton decided to get a taste of Vince's ear!
Things were going so well, we thought - hey, let's try for a shot of all 3 kids in the pretty white window sill. Sounds cute, doesn't it? The big kids were just hanging around., looking cute, while we got Leighton ready.
But of course, as soon as we settled her into her spot, she let us know exactly what she thought about it!
Things got even better when Ava grabbed her brother by the face and planted a giant smacker square on his mouth. I couldn't resist getting a shot of the big kiss, and then she turned and gave me just about the proudest look I've ever seen on a 5-year-old girl. Given that they're siblings, I suspect these shots will show up again in another 25 years, maybe in their wedding dinner slideshows? Too funny!
And last, my favorite Ava face from this day. I love the blue sky and my silhouette in her eyes...