Two-year-olds can be a challenge to photograph, but it’s one of my favorites. They are who they are, and there’s nothing phony about it! I loved the images from this beautiful family’s session:

This particular image is one of my favorites that I’ve taken in a long time! Definitely would’ve made my “favorites” post from a couple of weeks ago.

This beautiful woman is the photographer for All Smiles Photography in Tampico, Illinois (she’s very talented–check out her site HERE). She was smart and hired someone else to take her family portraits, instead of using a self-timer and racing back and forth like I always try to do. They are such a sweet little family, and I was honored to take their family portraits!

We had a great time photographing this handsome young man at the the country club in Morrison.

We included some family shots, too!

Catch-up day 2…another stunning family at Rockwood State Park!

It was recently requested on a professional photographer’s forum that everyone share their favorite 20 images. I went back through my favorites of the last three years and came up with the following images. They are not all technically perfect, but they are images that stand out to me. Most of them I’ve shared here before. I know I only have 19 here, but these are the ones I came up with!

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I shared one of these images a week or two ago, but here are the rest. They are a gorgeous family of three, becoming a family of four shortly!

I do a lot of extended family pictures. And what I mean by this is the grandparents, children, spouses, and grandchildren. Sometimes great-grandmas and great-grandchildren, too. I love doing these sessions because I know they are photographs that will be treasured for years to come. Given that it typically takes a lot of effort to get everyone in the same place at the same time, these sessions often do not take place more than once every few years. Sometimes not for 10 or 15 years, especially if the adult children have moved away.

Since are talking about a portrait that is a once-every-few-years or every once-every-ten-years, it’s important to get it right. One way to do this is the wardrobe. Dressing one person for a photograph can be a struggle, and the struggle multiples every time you add another person to the mix. So, dressing thirteen people so they all coordinate is like dressing one person to the thirteenth power. Or something like that. And then, you must consider that the group will be broken down and families must also still look coordinated, individual children’s outfits must look good in their solo portraits, and so on. It’s more like dressing to the 26th power. Or maybe the 169th power.

The point of this ramble is that this family got it all right. They selected a coordinating color palette. All are solids except one shirt (grandpa) and the flower pattern on the littlest girl’s dress. A bunch of patterns don’t work, but these two added in tie the other colors together and make the large-group portrait more interesting. Bottoms are important, too–some are wearing pants, some shorts, some capris, and they are either khaki, white, or denim. This variety also makes the portrait more interesting, as you don’t have a sea of denim on the bottom half of the image. Enough of my chatter. Let’s get to what you want to see–the family photos!

p.s. If you feel like you’ve seen a very similar post from me before, it’s because I wrote this a few weeks ago and it disappeared after two days because my website switched servers and I wrote it during that switcharoo (my fault for not listening to my ISP’s warning that could happen). So, I had to start over!

About 5 minutes after this shot it poured. And I mean POURED.  We could wring out our clothes. This shot was worth it, no? A beautiful family.

But our main focus of the evening was this young man’s senior pictures.

I love it when the “adult kids” come home for a session with their parents! These full family shots are such keepsakes. I love looking back at shots of my own family from when I was a kid. When I’m out and about, people often tell me, “I’m going to call you for a session after I _____” (insert: lose weight, get a tan, get a haircut, etc.). Here’s my advice: don’t wait! Take a picture of YOU, NOW. If you become even more amazing in a year, we’ll do the session again!

Confession: I get nervous when clients want to use their own property for portraits. No matter how beautiful the scenery is, sometimes the lighting is just not right for portraiture. Confession #2: I am even more nervous to take this risk for group portraits, as for groups you need an even larger area with which to work. Confession #3: After spending some time at this client’s property, I kind of want to move in. With them. Their land is gorgeous (and ideal for pictures) and they are so much fun. And at least one of them is a really good cook.

They had some fun ideas for their session and we laughed a lot!