So I have the most amazing neighborhood & neighbors. Like, if you knew me in real life you’d be constantly bombarded with my icky gooey gooey professions of love and all the amazing things we do. My summer contribution was art class. We got together on tuesdays afternoons, shared a picnic lunch while learning something and then put it into action for the next few hours.

It was fun. A lot of fun. And at the end we had a neighborhood art show. I had grand plans for how it was all going to look in my head, but then it rained for 3 days straight and well…it turned out just perfectly nonetheless. Ever the overachiever, I had planned to do quirky cute about the artists bits. I never did get around to writing the bios or having the individual pictures printed but i did get the photos. And one just BEGGED to be edited immediately.

And so I popped it off to her Mum in a text and was like HOW CUTE IS THIS KID. And she pretty much responded — We need this. All kids. Now.

And while it took a few more weeks to coordinate everything (including myself & my happiness with the photos), we ended up with a set that I am absolutely over the moon about.

Fresh, Fun and ALIVE!!!

I always am considerate of parents wanting nice, friendly happy smiling photos but they never really spark joy for me. I’d so much prefer a family interacting with each other, or laughing ridiculously, or even that one kid looking off into the distance. I find it really fun that we combined a studio look in the comfort of our back yard and got such strong personality portraits. As a Mama, I want something that in 5, 10 20 years you look back and feel the energy of that person. Not just a nice photo.