Autumn Family Portrait Session at Olin Park

This kid is cool, probably because his parents are cool. Coolness is genetic. This dad is infamous in his family for being un-photogenic, but I didn't experience that at all. Funny how some people get that reputation, usually from some isolated photo were the camera caught them in in a momentary cross-eyed moment, but then they can think they look bad in pictures forever. I like to wipe that slate clean.

I love Olin Park for family photography sessions because there is such varied landscapes within a short walk. Lakeside, parkside, big oaks, forest, field, playground... it's all close at hand. And it's separate enough from residential areas that it's usually pretty quiet too. Recommended!

Sisters!

These three girls are absolute sweethearts. And God bless their mother for getting them all rested up before the shoot, so they were ready to run like crazy until I could corner in some way or another. She was worried about the girls being difficult, but they were so perfect: full of life and emotion and expressing so much independence and love for the world. Can't beat it. Yes, I ran myself ragged... and yes, the mosquitoes were ridiculous... but adversity and adventure is a great recipe for awesome images.

As always, it's a wonderful honor to capture a fleeting moment in one family's evolution. Everything passes so quickly. I'm excited to look at these images with these girls in twenty years and see what memories they evoke. I don't think they will remember the shoot, but perhaps what is was like to be that age, what sisterhood was like then, how their experience of their mother has changed over years. Fun to think about.

Summertime at Olin-Turville Park

At the cusp of adding another member to the family, the Horibes met up with me at Olin-Turville Park on Lake Monona for a photo romp. We shared a great picnic, ran around, swatted bugs, found a frog, waded in the water. It was good fun. And I was reminded how fun it is to hang out with kids when my own aren't around.

We are so fortunate to have hundred-year-old city parks to enjoy in Madison. The big, fat oaks at OTP are so damn gorgeous. They are the definition of picnic trees. Olin-Turville is such a great resource... if the lake were not between it and downtown, it would get tons of foot traffic. It would be like Central Park. But for some reason, the spit of John Nolan Drive is enough to keep most folks away, and the paths through the forest and fields of Turville Point are some of the most peaceful in the city. Thanks to the folks with the foresight to create places like this for us.