Katy+Mike+Lois // At Home Family Session

Katy and Mike are friends of ours through Kelly+Danny and Beth+David and also through their love of little mousey critters and Halloween. They love Halloween as much as we do, but are better at scary movies, so now they’ve taken us under their wing to introduce us to strange new things. Lois, their daughter, is going to be very well versed in the strange and unusual, but is already quite knowledgeable at how to be freaking adorable. Look at those plaid pants! Also, I think she’s one of maybe 5 toddlers under 2 on the planet with a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds poster in her play room. Also – a badass Edgar Allen Poe pillow. We think that Lois has a 99.5% chance of turning out to be the coolest kid ever but she also has a 0.5% chance of teenage rebellion that would involve listening to only boy bands and watching a lot of CBS shows. The odds are clearly in her favor to be super cool, but she also ripped up a comic in front of our eyes and seemed pleased while doing so, so we’re unclear on her motives just yet. It is certain, however, that she loves space and space helmets, so if she turned out to watch a lot of CSI we could probably forgive her if she’s an astronaut. In the meantime her parents will continually coach her on how to have really good taste in everything while coaching us on movies we haven’t heard of but will undoubtably love. We’ll take the opportunity to hang out with wonderful people and to slowly but surely steal all of their furniture and decor while they aren’t looking and load it into our hatchback over a long enough period of time that they won’t notice.

Vivi // A Toddler Session

Vivi! What an amazing, adorable, ginger-headed toddler that there ever was. Her parents contacted us to have a session with Vivi as she recently turned two. The parents explicitly wanted absolutely not part in the photos themselves, and they warned me that it’s pretty much Vivi’s world, we’re just living in it. We were told that she would run, pick up sticks, play with rocks, and pose for no one… which, really, is our ideal client. So we met them in a park and spent a chunk of the evening literally running around after Vivi and attempting (mostly successfully!) to get the camera to focus on a constantly moving object. She did indeed pick up sticks. She did indeed play with rocks. She found a leaf, but this didn’t interest her for too long. She saw the camera, and then proceeded to say, “CHEEEEEEESE!” as she ran in the opposite direction of me. She loved Mr. Geoff, but most small children do (probably because Mr. Geoff’s not entirely sure how to approach small children and they can sense it, much like our cats flock exclusively toward people who are allergic to them).

Vivi also had a keen interest in all potentially dangerous areas of the park such as stairs, old farm equipment, and a stranger’s dog. Halfway through the session it started to pour and Vivi ran out from the overhang, stood in the rain, and looked entirely and completely confused. Then she’d laugh up at the sky. Then she’d look confused again. She wasn’t sure whether or not she liked it or wanted to be in it, but she had a hard time staying away from it, so we decided to go with the flow and follow her around in the rain for a while, still picking up sticks. She is, clearly, hilarious and amazing and kept us laughing the entire time. I think this age group has it best. Sticks, rocks, laughter, adventure, and having people chase after you all the time to make sure you’re okay and to give you snacks.