Every shoot that I'm on always seems like the most fun one that I've ever done but I definitely think that these guys went out of their way to make it great! We laughed and joked and the time seemed to fly by! There is a wide variety of personalities in this family but they all mesh together to create a family that is full of love.
I was lucky enough to talk my friend and world's greatest photographer/artist, Amanda Summerlin (of http://www.amandasummerlin.blogspot.com/), into also going with me for round two of the pictures. She helped me out on the first go round with them and saw my pain when I realized that the dog had consumed my efforts! I know that I've sung her praises in my posts before but I honestly can't say enough good things about her work. She's a true artist and a great source of inspiration and instruction for me. She was nice enough to share some of her images with me so that I can share them with you, too. You'll see what I mean about how great she is and if you haven't checked out her work before, you really should do it now. Go ahead.....look at it....I'll wait.
Back now? Good. I told you that she was awesome. Now I can show you some of the gorgeous shots that we have of these guys.
First, came Natalie and Marvin. They are the brave parents of these kids. Well, they are the parents of Natalia, Jayvion and Nehemiah and the aunt and uncle of Montaega. It doesn't take being around Natalie and Marvin very long to see that these two are one of the most fun couples that you can imagine. They laugh and tease one another constantly and you can see the sweet little smiles that they share when they think that no one is looking. Amanda caught one of these sweet moments in this picture:
These kids are rambunctious, polite, funny, loving, energetic....you name it. Almost any good quality that you'd want to instill into your kids have all been rolled into these guys. You instantly feel a warmth when you're around them.
Being the oldest of the gang, we pulled Montaega into the festivities first! He was a good sport about it and set the tone for the rest of the kids to follow. He flashed that pretty smile and tried his best to appear bashful, which I almost fell for until a few minutes passed and his real personality started to emerge. He was the instigator behind the pranks and could flash an innocent face quicker than anyone that I've ever met. Amanda caught one of these sweet looks when he was still in the seemingly shy phase of the shoot. How good looking is this guy???
Jayvion was up to bat next. He tried his best to resist smiling for me as you'll see in some later shots but my sweetness eventually got the best of him and that sweet grin came through. He is a fun kid that is FULL of energy and seemed to bounce from place to place while we were shooting. You'd be ready to take his picture and look around and he was like a little Tigger from Winnie the Pooh....he'd be across the yard, throwing the football or teasing one of his sisters. When we finally got him to stand still for a second, I got this grin that's going to melt the heart of lots of cute little girls who won't be able to wait to get to meet him!
The men in this house are as handsome as they come but then you see these beautiful girls with smiles that can light up a room! Natalia is the sweet, older sister who is is so quiet that you hardly even know that she's around. Her mother assures me that most definitely isn't the case most of the time but I don't know if I believe her or not. Natalia is a stunningly beautiful girl but you kinda get the impression that she doesn't know that. She has a sweet, calm presence and a genuinely kind disposition. If I were Marvin and Natalie, I'd load the shotguns now because there will be NO shortage of boys lining up to get her attention. Look at this shot that Amanda took and you'll see what I'm talking about:
Even if they manage to hold the boys back on Natalia for a while, there'll be no need to unload that shotgun anytime soon. Coming up right behind her is Nehemiah. She's going to have her sister's beautiful smile and eyes and rumors are that she's already perfecting her Supermodel walk now. This girl can work a camera! I'd barely have it up to my eye and this beautiful grin would stretch across her face. I think that there may be a modeling career in this little beauty's future!
The time spent with this family was just flat out fun. They are the friends that you'd want to have because you know that you'd laugh uncontrollably most of the time! But, they are also be the friends to fall in there and hang with you when you aren't at the top of your game. These aren't "fair weather friends" kind of people. You leave this gang feeling a little envious that you can't be a part of it!They came up with their own poses and we finally just let loose and went with having fun! This was my favorite part of it all!
You see where the kids get their sense of humor from because these two are constantly joking and having fun!
We talked Marvin into striking his sexy, serious pose in this one.....
Deciding that the right thing to do would be to make fun of him for posing, this is Natalie cracking herself up after she made some joke about him!
Do these men look like mighty powerhouses or WHAT?!?!
I know that I'm repeating myself but I can't say enough good things about this family. I can say without reservation that there's no doubt in my mind that during these days of shooting with them, I was surrounded by people who truly love each other and have a strong sense of family.
Thank you to each one of these guys for being so sweet and understanding about the SD card mishap and for giving me two days of more laughs than you can possibly imagine! I hope that we can do this again soon!
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