Our Family

I fear that my kids will wonder where I was when they look at family photographs. I'll have to say, apologetically, "Well, I was there, I was just behind the camera." However, as time continues to cut away the years I am finding that Kim and I are increasingly absent from the family photo album. As a photographer this is frustrating. We consistently give clients photographic art for their families and the walls of their homes, but never have that for ourselves. No matter what people say, it's just impossible to get several artistic family photos relying on a timed shutter release and a tripod. When taking a photo of a kid, I'm lucky to get a laugh or smile with an assistant jumping and making faces behind me. I'll let you just guess how successful it is to say to a four year old, "look that way at the tripod and smile." So, you see the dilemma. For years we have just shrugged our shoulders and said, "Ohh well, I guess we'll worry about it someday." "Someday" came to us a few weeks ago when my wife said to me, "I want family photos for Mothers day." Now, my wife is a great photographer, but she is an incredible mother and wife and if her heart longed for family photos, I was going to get her some family photographs. Please keep in mind, we could hire a photographer and go that route. We value photography and value the skill of a great photographer. However, photographers inevitably want their ideas to be implemented in the photographs. I know this because I'm a photographer. We frame it the way we want, we take suggestions and ideas, but ultimately it's the photographer's creativity and artistic eye that people pay for when they hire a photographer. Otherwise, it's like hiring a great chef and then telling him how to cook your meal. It defeats the point of hiring a chef.

We wanted a certain image and a certain look. So, we asked our good friends, Melanie and Jeff Mansfield who we think are incredibly talented photographers but also humble enough to let us direct what we wanted. We offered them a meal with us, in exchange for their time and skill. I know what you're thinking, that is an incredible offer: several hours with us, including the meal for the stress of trying to create another photographers vision of a family photograph and making certain that it's technically perfect. No, it was not a fair deal. Yes, Jeff and Melanie totally served us. They deserve far better. That's the kind of people they are. They sacrificed a night off with their kids, money for gas, and exchanged it for the stress of taking our pictures. They both are so generous that they give until it is detrimental to their business, literally. It is rare to meet people like that.

So, we scouted all the locations, got dressed to the nines, and came up with a few poses we wanted to replicate from client sessions we had photographed like the Lowry's and the Hollowell's. We just needed someone to click the shutter and give us the memory cards. Melanie and Jeff worked hard to give us images we wanted and then we just let them tell us what to do. We experienced what our clients experience when we are getting to tell them how to stand and pose. It was fun!

In the end we got some great family photos and then we laughed with our friends until we cried sitting around our kitchen table until 3 a.m. We feel fortunate to have friends like the them. If you want to see the Mansfield's take on the session and the images they edited, you can see their blog post about it here. We want you to look, they're good . . . and so are the pictures.

We want to hear from you. We love all of the pictures below that Melanie and Jeff took for us. We are having a hard time deciding which one to have printed on canvas and hung in our living room. Post a comment letting us know your favorite and why. It would help us out!

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We also wanted some more recent pictures of our children. This was a task we can easily accomplish on our own, but rarely do. So, we dressed them in the same outfits and went to the same locations a day earlier and took our time photographing our children. It was fun, and challenging. Below are some of our favorites. We'd love for you to let us know which one you like the best for us to put in our home by posting your vote and why in a comment below! Enjoy!

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