Zach letting loose a little after trying so hard to sit still and pose nicely for pictures with his parents.

I was asked by my aunt and uncle to shoot their family portraits last week after seeing some of the photos of our son that have been making the rounds with my extended family. Another one of my aunts also asked for portraits, too, but they had to reschedule.

This was one of the shots from that session, and as with every shoot I do these days, I continue to gain more experience and learn new things to carry forward. In this case, I learned that my four year old cousin has a way shorter attention span than my 8 month old son. Who knew? Okay, maybe all those seasoned parents out there knew, but again, portrait photography isn’t the only I’m new at this year, remember. 😉

Your Nephew Has a Backdrop?

Here’s another interesting little tidbit I took away from this shoot. After editing the picks from the shoot, I ordered a quick set of 4×6 prints at the Walgreen’s location near my aunt’s house for them to review (think proofs). When she went to go pick them up, the guy at the photo counter asked to see a photographers release in order to give her the photos.

Now, I understand the guy was only following his training given by any typical drugstore-slash-photo outfit, so I can’t really knock the guy. When my aunt tried to explain that her nephew took these photos, he replied, “your nephew has a backdrop?” I thought that was a little amusing, but it goes to show you how easy it is these days when folks like me can get their hands on this type of gear.

Again, it totally makes sense and something I’ll be keeping in mind for the future. In my defense, though: (1) I’ve only just started doing this stuff more seriously, and (2) it never came up when we ordered prints of portraits that a friend of mine shot for us using the very same studio gear just a few weeks earlier.

Oh well, all part of the learning process I guess. 🙂