It's been about three years now since I shot the Rose family's portraits in their backyard on an overcast San Diego Saturday afternoon. I had done a newborn session for them when their daughter was born, and at the time of this shoot they had just recently become a family of four.  Clint, a Navy Veteran who is now an engineer, is a good friend who I met at work, and Kerri is an amazing high school teacher who makes a difference in kids' lives every day. They are an awesome couple with two adorable kids.  When they asked me to shoot their family portraits, I said, 'why not'? Only at the time, I didn't realize that my Canon DSLR was on its last legs. So, when my camera broke sometime before the day of the shoot, I had to find some other way to make pictures that didn't involve my broken camera. As luck would have it, I had my Uncle Ray's old Minolta Maxxum 35mm film camera (which I am still technically borrowing from him), and I ended up shooting the whole thing on film- and at that point I hadn't shot film in many years.  The following photos are the result.

Since I was gifting the shoot, I figured if things didn't turn out that great, they could always hire someone else to do it. Well, as you can see for yourself, the results were far from disastrous and I actually look back at that day as the 'genesis' of my decision to pursue family photography professionally. If I had failed miserably that I day, I probably would not be choosing what I believe is one of the most difficult photography professions to excel in. But despite the challenge, I had so much fun and felt like I was able to create images that would remind the Rose family of this very specific time in their lives and allow them to cherish it for decades.

Next time I'll talk about what a lifestyle session is and why I believe it's the best way to document a family's unique story at any given time in their lives.

If you want to schedule a lifestyle or portrait session for your family, contact me today.