With today's installemnt from the Anderson Family session, you will find found yourself in the candid portion of the show. These photos are the wonderful gems that came along as we transitioned from area to area for the posed photos. Here I am simply trying to catch the moments as we walk, as this is where a lot of the personality of everyone comes out.
So many caught my eye, so without further ado here is a small collection of those candids.
A little time to showcase the ladies. We took a little jaunt off to a local parking lot to play around for about an hour, and as usual when dealing with kids, just let the shudder fly ‘cause you never know what you are going to get. But, when dealing with this crew you know you are going to get a dose of silliness mixed with cuteness. So what you see below is a mixture of hitting it just right and the spots in between.
Completing the set, the eldest of the siblings gets his time to shine as we travel to a many visited site by the Fury’s Ferry boat ramp. Our man turns 12 this year, a time for me that was roughly 32 years ago, so there is a lot of learning going on between the two of us. As I like to tell him and his sister, he is walking a tough path being our first, as he encounters the world for the first time and ldoing double duty earning just as he is teaching us how to parent in many situations. At times you can see it in his face and mannerisms what it is like to be a developing young man in this world, but give him some time and the true essence of his sweet personality will shine through lighting up the world around him. And if you’re lucky, you might just get one of his signature dance moves from him. He is our first, and oh how we love him so.
Not to leave Lilah out of the mix after the last impromptu Collette session, I decided to take advantage of a lovely cloudy day give Lilah a little time after I picked her up from school and we walked back to the car. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, kids are so much easier to photograph because they give you so much of themselves, they are not restricting themselves because of how they think they might look. Funny faces are par for the course, awkward smiles, and just genuine being who they are is what makes shooting kids fun. So take a gander below and enjoy a young girl who can a lot to smile about in life and it shows.
I should be working on some edits. I should be going to the grocery store. I should be cleaning something. I should get her out of the house before her nap. Before long it will be time to get Lilah from school. Emails, emails, emails. But I do have a new portable background I haven’t played with enough yet. The lighting is good in the playroom. My reflector is just right over there. My camera is juiced and ready to go after my photo shoot last night.
15 minutes later and 2 hours after that, well, here we are.
I had the absolute pleasure of having another go round with the Park family several weeks after Rachel and I were chosen to work their wedding. That was my first introduction to their wonderful world, capturing some tender moments during the ceremony between Holly, Jesse, and Avett. We had spoken during the wedding day about setting up a family photo shoot after the shenanigans had died down. And that is what we have here. We took a little trip to Phinizy Swamp, a place I had not been to in several years, and took a short walk around the main area, battling other photographers and their clients for space in certain places. Luckily enough, many of the places I looked to use as backgrounds many people just walk on by or don’t go into because, well, you’re not supposed to. Shhhhh. But do be wary of the poison ivy. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did, and without further ado, here is our Half-Shot results.
I have had the honor recently to work with the Augusta University Pediatric Unit in photographing some of their patients with amazing stories and the Eubanks family and Lion’s story was the latest. You can read more about it here on the Pediatric Triumphs page for Augusta University Health. The session was our Half Shot Session, our version of what most call a mini session, and run about 45 minutes with the goal of highlighting Lion and the support from his lovely family. With a limited amount of time we stayed right on the campus outside of the Pediatric building, but tried to utilize the uniqueness of our environment to the best of our abilities. We started out on the street side of the building…
I hate the "About Us" portion of website work, entrepreneurship, promotion, whatever you would like to call it because I basically don't like to talk about myself, hence one of the reasons I like to "hide" behind the camera. Which, when you are a transplant to a community and trying to build a business, brand, and reputation, can cause you some issues.
So, as we are currently working on a website revamp (I totally realize how bloated and convoluted the site has become, and I am sorry) and I have come to that period in time where I have to formulate the About Us section in a way that is clear and concise (not my strong suit as you will find out), why not use the blog as a way to explore our photography, ourselves, our philosophies, and use it as a tool to tell you a bit more about us and how we view and do what we do. Then, maybe I will be able to condense something down into a quick tidbit suitable for all the website developers that constantly contact me about my "web presence."
Four months after the fact, here she is.
It isn't that we have been reluctant to share her with the world, but it is simply that time has flown. She is... everything.
Patrick and I are expecting our second child this fall, and we could not be happier. Six years will divide the two of our little ones, and as far as we can see: our second child will complete our family.
We bustle around the house in preparation, once again imagining all of the primary colored apparatuses that will fill our living room. We will move the love seat out of our bedroom to accommodate a crib, and we still haven't decided whether cloth or disposable diapers will smell up our existence. We are excited, anxiously waiting the day an 8 lbs. child will once again wreck "our" lives.
I study faces. Hair first, and then a deep examination of the face. We might be talking intently about our children, but in the silence I am wondering how I would apply her eye shadow. The reality is, the season in which i live is shared by women who wear little more that mascara and lipgloss. We are working hard. We are raising children. We don't give much time to primping and prepping, except maybe on Sundays.
J and I met during a book study, and I caught myself inspecting her deep-set eyes while she was speaking to someone else. I don't believe makeup is necessary for looking beautiful (as I probably wasn't wearing any at the time, either), I just like to imagine what I would do with someone's face if I had the opportunity to make it up.
A year ago we did portraits of this beautiful family, and this year they asked us back again.
In a word: smitten.
The Andersons are a treasure to us, and finding them was as likely as pulling a pearl out of a smelly oyster, or a diamond in a lump of black coal. Patrick met Mrs. Anderson during his coffee days, and from under the brim of his hat he convinced her that he was legit across the drive thru.
These two...
It is not easy at 5 AM to look at two faces and pinpoint the exact succession of words I should use to describe our time with them. This is especially true in this case for so many reasons, including the fact that this shoot happened about a month ago.
Being gone for a week can, and usually does cause the weary traveler to declare "I need a vacation from my vacation." We tried so hard to keep work at home, and we were successful most days. The only problem is that a to-do list deferred maketh the mind a bit overwhelmed. Fortunately, working these two friendly faces into a blog post was task #1.
A softy through and through, this kid melts my heart every time he says "Mrs. Yachel."
I have know his family since Brayden's little beginnings, and my heart expands for him more and more each time I see his sweet face.
There are certain things that define us as a photography studio. I believe this stunning family shoot is a perfect example of what makes us different.
As we have mentioned before, only a small portion of our family photography is posed. The rest are brilliant candids, reminiscent of movie stills. When viewing certain images, one peeks in on something natural and organic, and still somehow magical.
This couple: I struggle with words concerning them. They are... extraordinary. Generous. Bubbly. Genuine. Honest. Inspiring. Magnetic. Accepting. Lovely.
And I could go on... but I will let the photos speak. As usual, photography by Patrick, hair and makeup by me.
It can be funny the connections that are made through chance meetings, but there is also something to be said for the connections we make when given the opportunity day in and day out. And this would be one of those stories.
Many of you may know that I work part-time at a local coffee establishment that provides full medical benefits for only working 20 hours a week: a huge benefit for myself and my family. However, one of the other benefits from that scant 20 hours a week is the ability to meet and connect with some truly wonderful people (and sometimes bombard them with business cards extolling the virtues of what Rachel and I truly love to do). We won't go into detail about Jamie's daily addiction, but suffice it to say I see her and her wonderful children on their way to school at least 4 times a week. She and her children every morning are some of the nicest people I come across, so it was an easy conversation to start about photography. As fate would have it, she was looking for a photographer for this year's family photos. I still feel so truly blessed to have had this opportunity to work with such a beautiful family, and I can't wait to work with them for years to come.
To keep in theme with the last blog entry, I present to you a family photo session with the wonderful Price family at the Evans Library and Amphitheater. Over the years it has seemingly become one of Evan's locations of choice for family photography, nearly as much as the old train depot downtown has become stock amongst photographers. However, it's an absolutely sublime location that offers an abundance of different backdrops to work with. It also allows for a nice stroll around the lake, as long as it is not summer in Augusta (at which point you don't even want to breathe, let alone saunter). But as you will see, I believe the photos stand out for those who are familiar with the location, as one would be hard pressed to find any of these images repetitious in regard to other photographers. Mastering this lens results in shots with alluring focus wherever I choose, and what remains is aesthetically organic (not contrived later in Photoshop).
The above is a common question that I get from mothers when they find out I am a photographer. "Yes" is the answer, but the question always makes me laugh.
The Biestmans are home after the loveliest vacation at Hilton Head Island, and for proof we can produce our Instagram account (@acuityphotography)! It has been a wild and wonderful nine months since our youngest was born, with our first shoot only 48 hours after her arrival. We were grateful for some time away from the computer, but of course we return with a lot on our plates (and nothing in the refrigerator).
Journey with us now as we share some of the gems we have stored in our hopper, the first set of images boasting of this fascinating couple.