This is one of my all-time favorite slide shows. If you know this family, and would like to see the show, leave a comment or send me email and I’ll hook you up with the link. It’s so much fun!
We shot at the grandparents’ house at Bradley Beach. Isn’t this the SWEETEST picture? I LOVE it!
This is not FAIR! I want a shot like this of me and my boys!
He was kind of shy most of the day, but at one point he suddenly turned and smiled at me! Yay!
Love this one too, wind-blown hair and all!
The light streaming in the window gives this picture almost as much warmth as his sweet smile. I love this picture!
HATS are so great at the beach! They keep long hair at bay. They provide a little shade for the face. And this particular one provides texture, color and shape! Love her fun smile too!
Plus, hats instantly change the mood of a photograph. This image would look really nice with an aged texture added in photoshop. I’ll mess with that one day when I get time and put it up on the blog for you if you remind me.
(Queen of the sand pile.)
The moms were having a little, a-hem, ISSUE with the kids always making bunny ears whenever I pointed the camera at someone. “STOP MAKING BUNNY EARS!” was begged over and over and over.
So I cracked up when I turned around…
… and caught some mom bunny ears!
These next three shots are so typical…
The men (and the oldest boy) are half asleep in the living room watching television.
The women are in the kitchen chatting and cooking.
The girls are hanging out in the “beauty salon.” One by one, they called people into the “salon” for manicures and massages. Note to all future photography clients: Everybody needs a massage after a beach photo shoot! They are SO MUCH FUN!
Thanks everyone! I pray you love your slide show as much as I do!
Peace,
jules
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:01 pm
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for a little slide show from my winter daytrip to the beach with Steve.
What is it about sunflare that I love so much?
Steve is a writer.
Check out his Web site here.
What I love about this one is the use of the off-camera light to evenly light the outside of this old abandoned building and Steve on the inside as well.
I love the depth in this picture. Can you name the location? Bradley knew it instantly, remembering hordes of mosquitoes the last time he was there in summer. No mosquitoes now. That’s ice by the tracks. Brrrr.
Little tree growing on the beach.
Little tree gets a close up too. I have no idea what kind of tree that is.
But that tree in the background of Steve’s smiley headshot is an easy one. Know what it is? One of my favorites for winter interest because of that splotchy bark. Lots of blog praise for the correct answer.
Thanks again, Steve! You pick the coolest locations for your pictures!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:53 pm
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 4:15 pm
One of my all-time favorite clients booked me for a new family session this fall. Their pictures are coming soon, but I just had to share this one from Spring Lake Beach. I LOVE the clouds, the water, the calm ocean, the depth, the light, the motion, and of course, the red bucket. Nice, huh?
If you haven’t checked out my galleries lately, be sure to go to my
main photography Web site and click the links under “lifestyle” for lots of pretty new fall pictures that don’t necessarily make the blog.
By the way, I get to call John and Paige “one of my all-time favorite clients” for a very good reason. Besides the fact that they have adorable children and are TOTALLY into the lifestyle photography mindset, I lovingly refer to them as my “Six Degrees of Separation” family. The vast majority of my clients can be traced back to the word-of-mouth referrals I got from their first session in summer of 2006, and the word-of-mouth referrals that I got from the families John and Paige referred, and so on and so on. I think the degrees might be up to more like eight by now, but it’s still happening! And then a new client came along for maternity pictures,
Beth, who started the process in a new web of referrals, so now I have two diagrams, with pretty much every single client tracing back to either John and Paige or Beth and Isaac.
Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE documenting the American family through the photographic essay?
It’s a happy Monday!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:48 am
We went for a ride down to Point Pleasant to celebrate the big ONE. Isn’t he cute?
What a great way to celebrate a special birthday!
Before we left, though, we read books, ate some breakfast and went to the park with grandma and grandpa. If you know his mom and dad, e-mail them for a link to their slide show! That one got the absolute highest compliment ever when Bradley said, “They’re going to love their slide show, mom!” (What? My 12-year-old son complimented my work? No WAY! WOO HOO!)
We had a grand total of about 10 seconds with the sunglasses on.
Remember the days when you took your 1-year-old to the beach for the day, and you spent a good portion of the day standing by the car while the baby got changed and fed in the back? We used to do that all the time in my family.
I love this shot!
Love this one too. I dragged the shutter to get the Twister zooming by in the background. Hardest part of this was getting the baby to stay still!
And then we went home for bathtime….
… a favorite show…
…and finally, bedtime.
This little boy was the perfect little model, often smiling, always looking at the camera, always making some perfectly appropriate expression. I hope we do this every year!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:24 am
Gregory’s birthday list consisted entirely of various Star Wars Lego items, each one with a description letting us know the degree to which the item was desired. Clearly, the drill set he wanted topped the list, having been given the highest ranking of all birthday list items: “awesomly awesome awesomness.” So, just for fun, I thought I’d share the picture above of Gregory and Bradley on the Tilt-a-Whirl at Point Pleasant. Rarely do I get the chance to see my offspring surrounded by pink. There’s not much pink in the Lego Land boy-aisle.
Gregory’s favorite thing about Point Pleasant: the bumper cars.
Second favorite: the arcade.
Or maybe second favorite is the beach.
Or sitting on the boardwalk eating ice cream.
But probably, miniature golf doesn’t even make the list.
Gregory thinks this hole should be listed at Par 23.
Sometimes the best part of a day at Point Pleasant is going home.
But by far the best part of being 7 is blowing straw paper at mom.
And making fun of Bradley when he gets silly.
(Bradley’s going to kill me for posting this picture, so if ya’ll never see me on here again, that’s why.)
And then there’s the yellow cake with vanilla icing.
Gregory added the sprinkles and smiley face!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREGORY!
My boys. Awesomly awesome awesomeness.
Till next time, if there is a next time, —jules
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 10:59 pm
This is Harold, Gregory’s latest Webkinz.
Harold’s backstory: Walking along the boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach, Gregory spied one of those spin-the-wheel games. Grand prize: Harold. So Gregory says, “Mommy can I? Please?”
Mamarazzi says (because mamarazzis have a general distaste for throwing hard-earned money in trash cans), “No. You won’t win.” We continue to walk, hand-in-hand. It’s Gregory’s birthday on Tuesday, so our little trip to Point Pleasant is all about doing whatever Gregory wants to do. Mamarazzi looks down at her sweet little lifetime model, and says, “What would you like to do next?”
“I want to play that spinny game.”
After several rounds of “You won’t win” and “What would you like to do next” and “I want to play the spinny game,” Mamarazzi gives in.
Three squares for $5. There are at least 50 squares. Gregory picks his three squares very carefully. If the Wheel of Fortune should land on one of his squares, he would win the big prize.
“Vanna” spins the wheel.
…spin spin spin spin spin…We wait. And wait. And wait. (That wheel spins forever!) Gregory WINS!
Mamarazzi’s punishment, according to Gregory: “Say ‘I was wrong and you were right’ three times.”
“I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. You were right. You were right. You were right.”
Best five bucs I ever spent. You should have seen Gregory’s smile.
Welcome to the family, Harold.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 3:22 pm
ANOTHER SHAVER FAMILY PORTRAIT
Summer 07
When one member of the family is the defacto photographer, it isn’t so easy to get a good family portrait, but I keep trying! I love how the shadow in the sand is sort of glowing. I was experimenting with diffused fill flash at Point Pleasant Beach today.
Click here for our first freaky family portrait of the summer. I’m on a roll!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 8:07 pm
One of my loyal blog readers booked me for a photo shoot at a private beach club on the Jersey Shore with her sisters and all their boys. This is my favorite picture from the whole bunch, and that wasn’t an easy choice, since there are so many beautiful ones. But the reason I like this one so much is because of those beautiful, natural smiles.
Easy to see why those moms are so smiley.
They have six handsome boys between them. Here’s one.
Two.
Three.
(And a dad, or maybe an uncle.I was so confused about who belonged to whom. It was hard to tell becasue they’re all so close.)
Four.
Five.
Six.
That makes one big gorgeous family. (That’s the girls’ mom on the left. Hi mom!)
We started the day at the first soccer practice of the fall season.
First soccer practice of all time for two of our boys.
The day marked the end of summer — the beach club owner was battening down for the winter, for one thing, and hardly anybody was there.
But that just made it easier to get unposed shots (without a crowd in the background) in my “unportrait” style. I love how you can see the adults standing around in the background in this one. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow at a photo shoot that involves six boys under the age of 7!
Most of my pictures are candid, but there are a few “tell me when you see the shutter move” shots.
If this were me in the picture with my son, I’d print it, frame it, and put it on my dresser to stay forever. I love this shot.
Love this one too! I have too many faves!
I love their slide show, but this one’s private so if you want to see it, please email one of the sisters. And THANK YOU ALL for booking me to document this summer in the lives of those sweet little boys. I had a great time! You’re the BEST!
We’ll be seeing one of these families again in a few weeks because, as a loyal blog reader, she and her husband won my June contest for a free family shoot! And it’s only a few weeks away! Speaking of contests, no one has won this one yet!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 10:42 am
I had so much fun at this shoot with these little boys, cousins all under the age of 7. Be the first person to name the beach and you will win a $10 gift certificate for
Brain-Builders.com. (In the spirit of six boys under the age of 7, I chose Brain-Builders.com because they have lots of cool building and construction toys!)
Rules: If you’ve won a contest on my blog in 2007, you’re not eligible to play. The gift certificate will be delivered to the e-mail address you provide when you leave your comment, so be sure to put your address in correctly! You don’t have to leave your full name in the “name” field. First names or initials are fine!
Here’s a hint:
Watch the blog for more pictures from this shoot coming up soon!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 8:51 am
