I am a big fan of Big Springs Park in Provo Canyon. We don’t have to walk very far to have several cool backgrounds for a portrait or children photo shoot.
We finally get to meet little Arthur. I’ve photograph Molly & James before. Arthur is a new addition who finally met the family after a Covid delay.
And I found the perfect tree! It has a large tree hollow and some branches that are perfect for kids to sit on. I did have to do an eye replacement since not everyone is in the perfect spot for the camera. But this next photo is a favorite of mine. I’ll have to update my portfolio soon!
After the group photo we then photograph each of the kids individually. This is the time to shine for each kid. The goal is to make eye contact and a smile at the same time. That doesn’t always happen. And there might be tears before a smile ever shows up. So if there are tongues sticking out or other cute faces, I’ll take it.
Arthur sitting on the tree roots 
Arthur sticks out his tongue
And we finally have a smile! Granted he is staring at his favorite mama. Thanks to my lighting, we have a sparkle in the eyes, a great expression, and he is even making a cute action with his arms. Perfect photo.
Then it is time for the older siblings. We try and photograph the troublemakers first so we can get them done and out of the way. But it also allows for a round 2 if we need more time.
Molly and James were not the troublemakers and we created some wonderful portraits.
James smiles for the camera 
Molly sits by the tree hollow
Here we have a behind the scenes of Molly. We have my main light on the left, and then I have a diffuser that is softening the sunlight on the right. Lately I have been loving shooting in shade with sunlight coming from behind, but we needed a different angle and I wanted to avoid the dappled lighting on Molly, James, and Arthur.
It is fun to see kid’s personality. Sometimes, a subtle smile is the best. If someone smiles to big, we lose the eyes. People squint too much and we don’t see pretty eyeballs.
James performs for the camera and his mama. He recently learned how to sit upright and that helped with this photo shoot. It’s a good thing he can’t crawl, we may never have had the shot!
It’s the last photo from the photo shoot! With my new camera, we have a great blurry background, great color, and sharp eyeballs. With my lighting setup, we have a perfect photo for a large print on the wall.
