When the holidays roll around Ryan and I have to think really hard about whether or not we want to work. During the winter season when families are together they want photos, and the only unfortunate thing is that its the same time we get to see our families. We have a pretty big extended family and spending time hanging out with them is a real treat, since most of us are scattered across the planet all year long. This year we were just a small group of family pigging out on turkey, playing board games and laughing at Ryan’s dad. This year he started using the term “hashtag” after everything. That man cracks me up. #dad, #christmas, #dadgetsturkeyleftovers. With only 1 holiday dinner on the calendar this year we decided to spend time photographing other families and events. We honestly thought it was going to be a drag. But it was very far from that, choosing to capture families at this time of year is the best, everyone is so happy and worries of work life are behind them. Next year I want to move our family holidays to 2 weeks after Christmas just so we can take more family photos at this time of year. We have a bunch of winter photo shoots coming to this blog so stay tuned.
The Nielson family does not have family photos. When you walk into their house there are a few graduation photos by the front door of their two children, and a few candid shots around the house, really tiny photos. Jamie wanted to surprise Heather with the one thing she has been bugging him for, family portraits, real ones, by a professional photographer. When we arrived at their house everyone seemed really happy and excited to have portraits taken. Heather seemed a little nervous, so we chatted with everyone as we set up, and we slowly started to realize that she wasn’t nervous at all. She was starting to tear up! The Nielson kids just sort of laughed and rolled their eyes at her, with a “not again” sort of tone, explaining to us that she was so happy to be getting portraits taken with her family. It was an amazing sight to see someone so emotional over the idea of getting family photos taken. We right then and there fell in love with this family. Over the next two hours we took some of the most fun photos we have all year. Meeting the Nielson family was a real pleasure, being able to capture these moments for them was an honour.
Heather I hope you are not too embarrassed by us mentioning how emotional the photo shoot was for you. Knowing how much you value family portraits and seeing your reaction makes what we do worth while. In all honesty this photo shoot made our christmas holidays amazing. Thank you. Although, you have set the standard of emotion pretty high for family portraits, I want everyone to cry now 🙂
Thank you to the Nielson family for choosing us to capture your 2013 family portraits.
Cheers
& Ryan
