Aaron's 2-year portraits: behind the scenes

I know another photographer who says she's rather pull out her own teeth than photograph her children. I'm beginning to understand what she means. It seems like all the location details, outfit planning, and kid cooperation comes unraveled as soon as I pull out the camera.

Mike gave Aaron a bath just before heading out for our session, and Aaron begged for some "lotion" in his hair (gel). A little couldn't hurt, right? But it meant re-wetting his hair to get rid of the greasy, slicked look it gave our little guy. Not off to a great start.

I had agonized over wardrobe choices for these pictures, wanting him to look nicely put together, but not too nice. I still wanted him to look like himself. So we'd settled on jeans and a few t-shirts, all of which had been washed and ironed and hung up so as to look perfect. Who would have guessed that the snack in the car would have left big wet spots all down Aaron's front? Now we had a wet shirt as well as hair that was still wet from the last-minute washing. Ugh!

I was beginning to flip out a little at this point, and I hadn't even started photographing. Thankfully, my trusty assistant (Daddy) came to the rescue and dried the shirt over the car's air conditioning vent. I worked on Aaron's hair and got it looking good. We were in business! What we didn't know was that it was homecoming at many of the area high schools and dozens of dressed-up adolescent couples had flocked to the park for pictures at the same time as we did. Seriously?!?

But all's well that ends well. In the end, I think these hurdles forced us to sharpen our problem-solving skills and creativity, and made for even better pictures than I had hoped for. The images I'm loving the most aren't the ones I'd planned for, but just unfolded naturally. Stopping at the playground wasn't in my agenda, but Aaron's smile as he swings and slides is exactly what I was hoping to document in this session. Sometimes, it's about letting go, isn't it?

My super assistant, shirt-dryer, and laugh-maker... Daddy!

A quick outfit change in the parking lot...

One of my favorites:

To see his entire session, check out my post on our other blog. Or watch this slideshow.