It was back in November when I shared my last photoset, which was also my first serious photo shoot with my newly purchased Canon 5D Mark II. That was until this past weekend, however, when we finally had a chance to make it down to this nice riverwalk trail down in Naperville on what turned out to be a lovely Saturday afternoon.

I won’t try to make excuses for not shooting more, but no one can really prepare you for what the first six months of parenthood really takes out of you. Still, if being out celebrating our son’s first half-birthday (if that’s your thing) wasn’t a good enough reason to break out the camera (and Maui is still 3 months away), what is?

Details aside, how about a few more images?

I’ve been very honest with myself that shooting portraits is currently outside my comfort zone. But if the birth of our first child doesn’t drive me to become better at it and document our son’s early years, I should probably just sell my camera gear and move onto something else.

With this recent photo shoot and the results I got from the baby shower in November, my confidence with shooting portraits is quickly rising. It really comes down to just more time to practice. Plus, standing behind a 5DMKII doesn’t hurt matters, either. I know you hear and read all the time about how good photographers can make great images with any camera gear, and I’m sure someone with more experience can get these same results with my Canon Rebel XSi instead.

So maybe it’s just in my head, but this dream-come-true of a camera body and the L-Series lens mounted on it are making me fall in love with portrait photography – something I never thought I’d say. That, and having such a beautiful wife and an adorable infant son in front of the camera can go a very long way, too. 🙂

Stay Tuned

So yeah, the portrait shutterbug has bitten me, and I want to do more shoots like this. Luckily, the timing is great because we’re leaving for Door County, WI this week for some much needed R&R, and there’s going to be plenty of time to fill up those memory cards during the trip. That will put some pressure on me in the digital darkroom once we get back to get those images online for our friends and family (and you, of course), but if I’m still buzzing about the shots like I was when we made it home this past Saturday, I think that will take care of itself.

But for now, check out the other photos from the Riverwalk Portraits photoset on Flickr. It’s a pretty good sized collection (in my biased opinion) for only about 15 minutes of shooting and the attention span of a six month old.

Enjoy,
– Kris