..off to California for School, and leave on a Mission, let’s have our family picture taken.  Getting together and getting ready for a family picture is hard.  Any mom will tell you it isn’t easy but it’s worth it, especially as your kids leave the nest.  Ashley and I met up with the Roylance Family last week at twilight for this session.

Summer is a time for family reunions and a family reunion is a great time for a family photo session.  Bill and I have know this beautiful family since their kids were very young. It’s hard to believe that these kids, that I remember as little ones, now have little ones of their own.  You can tell by the looks on their faces they enjoyed the week being with their cousins and having fun with Grandpa Eagar.

This has been a crazy busy summer both professionally and personally, like everyone else I have a lot to do and not many hours in the day to do them.   Craziness aside, I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve had with my family this summer, time with friends, and time that I’ve spent getting to know new people.  I call myself a lifestyle photographer.  I like to photograph people in their own environment, letting them be themselves and enjoy the experience of being photographed.  For most people being photographed isn’t something they have had a good experience with in the past so once they start having fun that’s when I’m there clicking away trying to capture those moments.  When I do posed shots I like to let people pose themselves giving a few direction along the way but for the most part they are sitting standing or playing the way they normally would be.  I won’t allow for anyone to be stiff in front of my lens.  I love people so it isn’t hard for me to let my clients know I’m their friend first and the photographer second.  Every once in a while I get the pleasure of having my DH assist me.  Bill enjoys getting to know people as much as I do and I think has fun going out on sessions with me.  Last week he was with me when we photographed the Douglass family.  We had a blast being with them and getting to know them.  The session took place at their home on the creek.  We had to wait until late evening to have the best light so we were a little pressed to get the shots we needed before the sun went down but that didn’t stop us from having time to have fun.  I promised them a sneak peek.

Bill had to chase a few cows out of the way for this shot, they wanted in on the action so a little later I grabbed this shot.  I love how the “mama” cow is resting her head on the calf.

A big thank you to the Douglass family for letting Bill and I photograph your beautiful family!

Summer is the season for most of my family sessions.  I’ve had fun this last week shooting some children that I’ve been photographing for years now.  I love seeing these little people grow.  Saturday I was in Pasco at the beautiful  Promise garden  http://www.promise-garden.com/index.html with Miss K and her little sister Miss I. We knew it was going to be hot so we started early, but I think by 9:00am it was 90+ degrees so we tried to stay in the shade.  Even with the heat these beautiful girls had smiles for me most of our session.  My wonderful Sister Lori was there to help.  Thank you Lori!

This next session were Brothers from Moses Lake.  I’ve been photographing Mr. N and Mr. D since they were newborns.  I love this family, with most of my clients I enjoy the friendships that develop when I work with them.  Fortunately we had beautiful weather on the evening we shot this session, it was a few days before the heat wave.  My Daughter Kait assisted with this session and fell in love with little D.