The Pella VLs asked me to shoot some family photos of them in the fall colors this weekend. Wendy and Suzanna went along to help corral and entertain the three VL children. It is always a monumental task to get three young children to all look at the camera and smile at the same time. As usual, I shot hundreds of frames and came up with a handful of decent shots.
As I was going through the photos with Wendy and Suzanna last night, we found ourselves howling with laughter at the number of silly faces young Aaron [the middle child – shocking] created in an endless effort of non-conformity. I just had to share a few.
Most often we look at and contemplate photos one by one. One of the things I’ve come to realize over time, however, is that when I import a large batch of photos and rifle through them, I often catch a theme from the event that one single photo doesn’t quite convey.
Last night three generations of my family gathered at my folks’ house for an evening of pizza. We did nothing more than have some pizza together and sit around the table and talk for a couple of hours. As I looked through the photos this morning I realized how many of the photos were of my family members smiling and laughing.
I know plenty of people who have never experienced this kind of love and laughter at a family gathering. The theme that arose from all of my photos last night was a reminder to be grateful and to enjoy these moments.
I always tell people that I have a brown thumb. I’ve never been much of a gardener. Most of the time the lawn and landscaping around my house are a humbling reminder of this fact. Over a year ago, however, I planted some rose bushes. Despite my inattentive cultivation and total ignorance of how to care for them properly they continue to grow, bloom and produce gorgeous roses that fill our home with their fragrance.
For Father’s Day this year, Madison arranged to have family pictures taken. Last night was a gorgeous summer evening and Rebecca Bender joined us around the pond by Third Church to take some family pictures. I don’t know why Murphy’s Law dictates that family pictures must be scheduled on a day when everyone is in chaos and no one is in the mood to have their picture taken, but that pretty much summed up the corporate mood before we headed out to the pond.
Neverthless, there’s enough creative energy in our collective that we were soon laughing and coming up with great ideas for portraits. Rebecca was a great sport and was willing to try anything that we could come up with along with adding a few of her own whacky ideas.
As the sun set we all headed back to the house for a nice dinner together before everyone scattered to the four winds. I can’t wait to see the finish products, but I brought my own camera along to snap a few pics during the session. What a good looking crew!
