So this session was exactly what I thought of when I decided to offer the Backyard Summer Portrait sessions. And it gets better too because it involved all the cousins over at grandma’s house.
Imagine you are at your grandma’s house in your grandma clothes. (Did anyone else have “grandma” clothes? They were not what you wore to school or for going-out but they weren’t the beat up clothes we wore to play and do chores in at the barn. They were the “in-between” clothes. Ok if they got dirty but also nice enough to run in to Giant Eagle on the way to pick up a few groceries for the grams.). Anyways, you are Grandma’s house with all your cousins and you are just running around barefoot playing on the slide, chasing butterflies around the garden, and no one is telling you to calm down and not get dirty. A lady in jeans and a black t-shirt shows up with 2 cameras. She’s hanging out with your parents talking and laughing. You hear her say “Well, I guess I better start doing what I came here to do.”
She casually walks over to your sister, introduces herself and asks her name. You interrupt and introduce yourself, because you are outgoing and think cameras are kinda cool. The camera lady asks if she can take pictures of you and you hop on a swing and smile up at her. Then you run away and she walks over to your boy cousins and she asks what they are doing. She takes pictures of them. Then she suggests you all play a game together. You sit in a row, make silly faces; you get up and see who can jump the highest. Then you all run over to the fire pit and make a s’more. Messy s’mores. Your mom busts out the bubbles and everyone tries to blow the biggest one. Then you just run and play and the crazy camera lady offers you the chance to take a picture of your sister jumping over a swing. Then you decide you can do better than jump over a swing and you jump off the slide. Before the blonde lady leaves, you all sing “Happy Birthday” to your oldest and youngest cousins because COVID prevented you from celebrating on the real day. Life is good. It’s summer and you are Grandma’s house…does it get any better?
In a nutshell, that was this session. I loved it. I loved the images I captured for this family.
Awe…and now I really want to go back 28 years and have this happen to me. Random memory: every summer, Grandma Cox would have “camping” at her house. She had a big fire and we all roasted hot dogs. (It wasn’t until I was in my teens that she eventually had ketchup for those hot dogs. She made chili sauce and that was her ketchup.) We slept in tents. One was large and orange and looked like a castle. Everyone wanted to sleep in that tent. In the morning, we would cook breakfast on the hot coals from the fire. Hmmm….childhood summers at Grandma’s house.
Portraits and memories have my heart.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy your day!