family pictures 2014

Hiring out family pictures this year just didn't really work for us. But that was not going to stop me from getting something this fall. Sporadically last Saturday I told Casey, ok, hurry and get ready, we're going to to go take pictures! I was already in this dress and my hair had been done earlier in the day, it didn't look like it much anymore but I didn't care too much. I told what to go dress Maxson in and then I said to Casey "Ok, now go wear something that would look good with us." He amazed me and put himself together in a jiffy and we tromped out to the area! You see, family pictures don't have to be too stressful!

Casey has become such a gem when it comes time for pictures, I swear  he never complains, he totally knows exactly what I want from him in pictures, he's not shy in front of the camera, he plays with Max, he gives me different facial expressions, he's not always looking straight at the camera, he interacts with me and Max, he's just so great, I got a good one to be a photographer's husband.

Although these are blurry I like that because it reminds me of how much Max is constantly on the MOVE. Jumping or running, it never ends,

I love Casey's playful smile right here.

FYI- if you're wondering how we did these, for the ones with just myself or Max and myself I explicitly told Casey how I wanted photos: what I wanted the focus to be on, how to frame it, to give me options of being in the middle, on the side, cut off, zoom in/out/both he'd take about 15-20, I'd look through them and critique them if they weren't quite what I wanted and then we'd keep going and he'd keep being my photographer without a single complaint, oh man he was great. 

The ones of just him and Max, well those are easy, they just be themselves and I capture it while guiding Casey to turn this way or that for me to get a better picture, sometimes I give them prompts or suggestions but mostly that's just them. Between all these when Maxson wasn't cooperating is actually when we took his individual pictures surprisingly. He'd either be running around himself, me shooting away, being chased by Casey which made him so happy, or we'd convince him to sit or stand somewhere and Casey would stand behind me and do goofy things to get him to smile and laugh, and then he'd get up after about 10 pictures and start running around again. We were constantly changing up what we did to keep him entertained and occupied. 

For the ones of the 3 of us, I used my tripod and used the self timer to take 10 pictures at a time, try to frame it the best I could thinking of how I'd get in there, and just run in. The strange object (tripod) with the camera on it kept Maxson's attention enough for some of the pictures, we just made it work! I probably did that 5-6 times or so, all I was looking for was really 1-2 good ones and it worked! Yay for capturing pictures of our family of 3+2 on the way!