Todays Shoot - The Polep/Kramer Family

Normally, I wont have anything to do with family portraits or children. The reason for this, isnt because I hate doing them, I actually enjoy family portraits sometimes. I also dont mind photographing children, but they CERTAINLY mind when I am photographing them

Basically the general reaction I get from the younger crowd is - they take one look at me - go "NOPE!" then start crying. They see me and absolutely will not have ANY of it. haha.

generally here it was it looks like - we start with sorta bummed



















then full out - "GET ME OUTTA HEEERREEEE"



















luckily that is the opposite of the situation with my awesome newest cousin Drew.

I missed part of Rachel's wedding due to a signing I could not have gotten out of, no matter what, and she was VERY understanding of the situation. I told her right then and there, I owed her some family portraits.

I got more busy with my work, and in time Rachel and Adam had Drew! who I got to meet for the first time at mothers day, and he likes me! he didnt cry, run away, or anything! thats rare for me and kids haha.

We scheduled a family portrait for the following week as my schedule has been slightly less insane, and I wanted to do those photos at their house to make it super easy for them, and it was a long overdue gift anyway.

So I set up two 3x4 soft boxes - one horizontal camera left - because it was a wrap around couch - and one vertical to the right - then a third 1x4 box behind and above me for fill

I shot these at ISO100 F16 at a 125th - with the 24-70 - which i found to be using more and more as time goes on - see unedited images below































































































I also had my assistant lauren take some photos of me with my cousins rachel and drew






































We then went outside for a couple naturally lit couples portraits, I knew time was tight because Adam had a meeting right after the shoot, so I took about 2 minutes tops - and did some shots at ISO400 2/8 at a 640th - i could have shot 100 and dropped the speed down - but whatever - wouldnt have made a major difference. see unedited images below



















All in all im happy with how the unedited images came out - im going to end up softening some shadows in post - and editing out the soft box in some of the wider images

I'm stoked to have a baby cousin who isnt terrified of me! and im so lucky to have such an excellent family that not only appreciates what I do, but wants to be a part of it every now and again.