Sunday, May 18, 2008

Family photo shoot.

For ages now, my sister Andrea has been begging me to take photos of her family. And finally, this last time I was visiting her we had time to do it. Unfortunately, her hubby couldn't be there, so we had to make do with her and the kids.

We went to a really picturesque spot by an old bridge. The sun was a bit bright, but we worked around it.

The kids were a bit wary of me sticking a camera in their face at first. So I did a couple shots of just Andrea and the baby.

Aren't they cute? Then after letting them run around for a bit...

they finally warmed up.

Such cute blondies.

These boys sure do love their little sister.

This one especially.

Then we wanted to get a cousin shot. We sat them all down in a line, and no one wanted to cooperate.

Mom, he stole my rocks!!

What? Smile?

I'm really not having fun. But finally:

I had to photoshop 2 heads into this picture to get everyone looking half decent, but at least it was something. I laid down on the ground to get a better angle and all the kids copied me.

Silly goofs.

Ella, ever the model. But I'm glad they did because I got one of my favorites from the whole day:

So serious. I was trying to get him to smile in his pictures and I told him to think funny thoughts. This is what I got from that:

So I just went along with the serious theme and told him to act like a man instead. That got me a couple good ones:

Then it was both the boys' turn. Andrea was telling them to stand like her:

She didn't like that they were making fun of her, but I think it made for a cute picture.

Being the younger one, this one didn't like to hold still much at all:

I was lucky to get one head shot of him.

And during the break between shots big Cousin was so nice as to pick the bugs out of Alex's hair:

Nothing like reverting back to our simian roots.

Andrea offered to take some photos of me with the kids, but Alex had had enough.

Please, no more pictures, he says. So I'll just make do with this cutie:

And finally, a few more shots of the cousins:

White t-shirts on a bright day was not the brightest plan. Okay, that was a really lame pun.

I wish I'd had more of a zoom for this one, but never fear, I will soon!!

And that's that.

6 comments:

Andrea said...

I just love those pictures!! I can't wait to print them and hang them all in my hall!! I am so excited!!You did a wonderful job!! Thank you!!!

Marianne said...

Amanda, you are so talented. I love the pictures! Andrea, your kids are adorable.

Harmony said...

FABULOUS! These are great--it's sooo hard to get that many kids to sit still. You got some great shots--I love the kids in the middle of the road.

Was this right in the middle of the day? How did you keep them from being blown out--I can never do it! And Photoshopping heads? I'm impressed!

Come to Hawaii and do my family photo shoot--we never have pictures together! And maybe Photoshop my head on Elle McPherson's body

Jen said...

What a bunch of cute blondes! I think you should totally stimulate the economy by getting that 50mm lens- I love it. I am just BARELY getting started with photography, and was super intimidated by the non-automatic focus thing, but it has been really easy to get used to. There's a little blinking green light in the viewfinder that goes solid when the picture is in focus, so at least you kindof know what's going on! Since I'm learning, I think maybe it's a good thing to be more "hands-on" with my camera, just to learn how to handle it better- but that's just me. At the very least, it's about $100- it doesn't get cheaper! And the reviews are fabulous for it, so I say- DO IT!

SixShooter said...

you are such a great photographer! Where'd you get these skills? Really pretty!!!

Victoria said...

Those kids are all knock out cuties! The bug hair removing is priceless, as well as, the open mouth smiles! Great photo shot and what an ability to coax them through any squibbles! :)