I find summers are more emotional milestones in my children’s lives than birthdays and Christmases. Maybe it’s all that time I spend with them and the approaching year change at school that makes me more focused on how much they are growing up.

I have known the children in these three portraits for many years. They are the children of one of my very best friends. I see them more in the summer because they hang out with my kids at the local lake and our pool. When I was asked to do a portrait session with them one of my aims was to capture them alone in their own  little moment. ( In one instance that involved a conversation about a tarantula on Uranus but it’s too complicated to explain.) What really struck me was how much they are growing up. My friend and I hope our kids share summer lake days right up to leaving for college and I hope here are lots more childhood milestones and memories  in the summers that pass us by.

These sisters were a joy to photograph!  I am just going to let the images speak for themselves…….

This lovely toddler was a very busy girl exploring the park. She took some time to stop and pop some  bubbles though!

This girl was a big fan of dogs. Seeing the dogs being walked in the park was quite exciting for her. Our mini session was just the right amount of time to capture some special portraits for Mom.

Here’s a preview from a recent full outdoor session. Families should typically set a side 1-1 1/2 hours for one of these shoots. Obviously the length of time spent capturing the shots very much depends on the moods of the children being photographed. If everyone in front of the camera is happy then the aim is to capture classic portraits and  more candid natural images. These kids were very good and we stretched out their session perfectly which made for a great range of images. Here’s a selection of both candid individual and a classic style sibling  portrait.

This one was worth the wait. It was too chilly last week to do this shoot. We got the perfect evening this time around and these children were a delight to photograph.