Throwing rocks...

This is Diane's new family, taken just after their wedding. I know, I skipped their wedding photos but there is going to be a lot of them & I wanted to show this 1 first. Back to the story...Ahem, Introducing her new husband Rob, his son Gavin (youngest on the left), Diane, & Diane's two son's, Nathan & Noah. We decided to go to the Sundial Bridge, where the kids could throw rocks in the river, as all kids like to do. It helps to encourage them to loosen up, creating more natural photos. NOTE: Even if this isn't the first time I've seen the kids, they can still revert back to the old habits of standing & smiling. Really they're screaming out on the inside, not to pose too much, to just have fun & that's what I encourage. Happy kids make for the best photo.

Of course, when you first get around kids, they want to stop & smile, it tends to happen a lot. An example is the photo of Noah above. I often happily take 1 or 2 photos of them doing what they think I want them to do, then I put my camera down for a bit & only pick it up when they're not paying attention to me. I immediately begin encouraging them to continue what they were doing if they notice me pointing it at them again. I often get rewarded with photos like the following...

I believe there is just nothing better to a child, than to be tickled til your stomach hurts.

This next one was a total fluke. I wasn't planning them to start running, little lone line up while they were running but when I seen it, I couldn't resist the shot. The path forming an "S" curve, the red color of Noah's shirt being off center, them being almost the same distance from each other, all doing the same thing, etc. I was pretty happy with what I captured. I could have used PS to clone out the pole but I didn't think it ruined the overall photo, so I kept it untouched as much as possible.

Gavin enjoyed throwing rocks in the river, you can even see the water splashing in the air.

Time to go.

In the next couple photos, I was trying my best to get Gavin to turn around & look back but he was having nothing of it & put his foot down...again & again as he ignored me walking away. LOL, no prob. It turned out to be the best thing, getting this look from Noah instead. Someone told me they thought he was looking back at a good friend & I thought the same thing when I first seen it. What a cute smile & all because I kept calm, let them keep walking away while I continued to reposition myself for the next opportunity. I am not disappointed at all. In the color photo below, it's just as cool, cause Noah was the only one wearing red, he totally stood out, off center, then add him turning around, that cute smile...

AAAAAHH...I have never been happier to not get what I wanted.

These were taken with my 28-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, I didn't have my 85 mm f/1.8 yet but I still liked how they came out. Pretty happy with how I'm doing & what I'm capturing. The wedding photos are next, I promise. It will take me a few days to load those. It literally takes me all day to load the photos to each post (I'm not kidding in any way). That's the amazing speed of dial up ladies & gentlemen (but I shouldn't complain, it works). I'm trying to be patient but if you know me, you know that's a lot to ask of myself. Besides I do have a life outside of computers & it includes some photo sessions coming up.