I’ve been photographing little Levi once a month since he was born. We are documenting his growth as little boy. Up till now we have photographed at or around his home. Today we ventured to Provo’s Rock Canyon behind the LDS Provo Temple. Utah is full of beautiful locations and Provo Canyon is no exception. Granted, if I am going to photograph these locations I need to get into better shape so I can hike in and hike out with my camera gear and not be winded.
Since we were photographing Levi in a new location we brought his siblings and photographed them as well. We photographed some group portraits and we photographed individual shots as well. We started with the big kids and worked our way down to little Levi. We had to hurry since at least one kid had to run to the bathroom.
Group photo of the kids in a dried riverbed
The kids were pretty excited to climb the rock walls of the canyon. For Levi, his mom was right off camera in case he decided to take a tumble. Safety first. It isn’t too difficult to photograph out a hand that may have been in the corner of the photograph.
Levi sitting on rocks
I brought my portable lighting kit to keep the weight down while hiking into and out of Rock Canyon. They brought some props and a change of clothes for Levi. The rest of the kids kept to one outfit each. Keeping control of 5 kids can be a challenge for any parent/photographer. The challenge boils down to capturing the attention and then helping lure a smile from kids like Levi. He was so interested in the rocks, twigs, and dirt. He was about to try a new thing for dinner!
Levi smiles for the camera
We were able to get a few smiles from the kids. You try different tricks like jokes, fart sounds, Elmo’s voice, and saying the “ABC’s” when they get to E and G the mouth starts creating the shape like a smile. Too often asking a kid to smile will bring out a force and toothy smile that might last through adult hood. We want natural smiles, parents!
Levi smiles to his mom off camera
Group photographs almost always require some head swapping. Someone blinks, someone doesn’t smile, someone, looks the wrong way, or any host of problems.
Group portrait of the kids in Rock Canyon
Here are the older kids in their school finest. They will be starting school this week so we had to photograph them before school started and before their bed time. They are already treating the days like school days… no late nights. I’m still photographing through autumn and winter!
Eve’s portrait in Rock Canyon
Julianne climbs the rock walls for her portrait
Henry climbs the canyon walls for his portrait
Maren stands on the rock canyon wall for her portrait
Levi sits on the canyon wall for this portait
Levi stands against the canyon walls for this portrait
Levi coyfully smiles for the camera
Levi makes faces for the camera
Levi poses next to his cougar for his monthly portrait
