Something Good This Way Comes

Last Christmas, Justin gave Suzi the gift of a 5-year package of family photography to document the next phase in their lives together. We gathered with the cousins for their first session on a beautiful day in late October — I love the image of the cousins above! See below for more pictures from their first Wonder Years session.

After spending a full day with their family, I think it’s safe to say Justin truly adores his wife, and practically worships the ground she walks on. That’s why I LOVE the picture above. They are the sweetest couple!

I am thrilled to be working with them over the next five years. The kids were quite simply the most cooperative kids I have ever had the privilege to photograph.

See what I mean? I love this picture! I would give almost ANYthing for pictures of me and my brothers just playing when we were this age.

Of course, one of the shots we were striving for was a nice family picture, and while the family picture above may not qualify as a portrait, it certainly makes my list of ALL-TIME FAVORITE FAMILY UNPORTRAITS! I love love love it! This family has been through a lot over the last several years, and I simply cannot put into words how grateful I am to have finally given them these precious family photographs.

Partly, I love it because it features Jacob, the youngest family member, and he was careful to make sure he was included in the pictures at least as much as his siblings. I had to tell him, as the youngest of my family too, that I totally understood what he was saying. There are practically NO pictures of me in my family albums, Jake! I ALWAYS make sure the youngest is well-covered in my family lifestyle photography!

Aside from that I just love it because it’s an AWESOME fun family picture!

The trees in front of their house were so pretty that day.

This one is my favorite mother-daughter photograph.

Toward the end of the shoot, Suzi’s youngest asked if we could take some pictures of him and his mom reading together. My heart melted when he asked me that! The one above is my personal favorite from that little series of shots. Love it!

Our day together started at the soccer field for Jacob’s game.

After the soccer game, we had a half hour or so at home before we’d be heading out to Jared’s flag football game.

Jared played an amazing game as quarterback of the flag football team.

Love this action shot!

The next afternoon, I tagged along to Alexa’s field hockey game in Branchburg.

I have really been enjoying all the sports I’ve been shooting lately!

Sure I love the chance to get cool action shots of my subjects, but what I’m really looking for at those games are the tender moments between parents, coaches and players.

How weird am I for making this picture huge on my computer so I could see what books Alexa has on her bookshelf? LOL! I loved reading when I was her age, and still find that books from the young adult genre are the most fun to read. I adore this picture for many reasons though. I love Alexa’s room decor and colors. Her dollhouse bookshelf is such a fun piece of furniture in a girl’s room. Her expression is playful. And the details shown in the things she has chosen to display on the shelves are so fun to study: a family photograph, a handmade ceramic piece with an obvious love of hers — the field hockey sticks — prominently displayed, a sweet little purse, a journal (never stop writing, Alexa!) and two Bibles. As an artist, I love the angle of the photograph too. A fave for sure!

The decor in Jared’s room is awesome too. Those bunk beds are great! And the colors are great for a boy’s room. I love how the rug compliments the walls and window treatments so well.

To capture Jacob at this age required me to push off all my cameras and camera bag stuff so I could lay on the floor and play a while. I loved it when my sons were that age, and they’d make traffic setups out of the texture in the rug. So if you’ve stumbled onto this blog post looking for decorating ideas for a boy’s room, get a subtle rug that has built-in streets! Hours and hours of fun built right in.

We were on our way to Roosevelt Park for a picnic, but needed to stop in downtown Metuchen for subs. I love this picture of Alexa and her mom by those telltale brick columns. For all you mamarazzis reading this, notice the unposed pose here? It’s simple. While your subjects are walking away, frame your shot, get your trigger finger ready, then call their names and be ready to snap away when they turn around to see what you wanted.

After our picnic lunch, we had lots of time to just play. The picture above may not be technically the best picture ever (there’s a lot of motion blur), I would put a 5×7 in a frame on my bedside table anyway if I were Suzi. She looks amazing! And it’s so cool that Justin can run around carrying her like that! Don’t they look amazing together? I love it!

I’m betting by the end of the day, Justin needed some pain meds. LOVE this picture!

Pain meds, for sure. But I love it!

This is my favorite father-daughter shot.

I couldn’t believe that Suzi can still carry Jared piggy-back style. Jared and my son are the same age and there is quite simply NO WAY I could carry Gregory on my back. Not possible.

My fave portrait of Alexa.

My fave portrait of Jared.

My fave portrait of Jacob.

As I mentioned, the cousins also came over for a little while. Above, my fave portrait of Maddie.

And last but not least, my fave portrait of Jack.

At the end of our five years of photography, I’ll design an album with our favorite pictures in it. Hand-holding shots always make nice backgrounds and end pages in album designs.

I take it back. THIS may be my all-time favorite “family unportrait.” LOVE IT!

Suzi, I hope you love your first slide show as much as I do! Oh, and here’s a little holiday gathering photo tip for all my blog readers: after putting the pumpkins away (lol), try to position people in family photographs for a layering effect. Put people in such a way so that their heads are on different levels and so that their arms and legs and head positions are creating dimension and flow. Stairs are great! But be sure to get the picture when the stoop is in full shade for the best effect with your new DSLR or your new point-and-shoot.

I keep thinking someday I’ll offer a “so you got a new camera, now what” workshop. Ahhh, maybe someday I’ll get around to that!

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