The saga of our own family portraits

I used to do family portraits with my family every year on Mother's Day. And it was kind of a big deal. It's not everyone's favorite way to spend time, but they humored me because they love me, and - Mother's Day. And then last year... we just never did it! This year I was determined to do our family portraits FOR SURE, but then my daughter and I came up with a complicated theme with vintage clothes. I loved the idea, but sewing sometimes takes a back seat when things get busy, and our usual portrait date of Mother's Day came and went. Several months later, my daughter told me that she wouldn't go in the river if it got too cold, and the river was an important part of what we wanted... so we sewed up a storm and managed to get our family portraits done in beautiful September weather.

As usual, it was kind of a big deal. We left too late one evening, then I forgot my remote trigger, and we ended up running out of light by the time we waded out to the sand bar that we liked. The only pictures that I got that I loved were the ones with the sunflowers, which were so gorgeous.


My awesome husband said that we could try it AGAIN the next week, which ended up being perfect.

Even though he hates wearing suspenders. (Thank you!)

And thanks to my kids, they were awesome too.

On our second trip out to the river, we stopped along the way to take some pictures with these fun logs and the soft yellow grass.






Some people in my family can keep a serious face. Some others have kind of a hard time.


Everyone had lots of ideas about how to use the logs for a picture. My son has decided to be Tom Sawyer for Halloween, he loves this shot so much.




My oldest likes the serious pictures so much that her dad had to tell a bunch of silly cow jokes to get a smile.




Our youngest loves to be in pictures and will cooperate at any time, any place. She did want to climb up as high as possible first.




As we finished up with the logs, it started to rain. Naturally. Because normally how many rainy days do we get in September? (Some years - zero.) We headed for the bridge to stay dry, and my husband pointed out that my camera could stay under cover under the bridge while we took the family shot that I really wanted. It was actually raining in all the family shots, but THIS WAS THE EVENING and we were not going to dress up and hike out to the river again.


I love how the mountain coordinated with our color scheme!


The sisters picture is really what I wanted the most. I love these so much. Well, these and the sunflower picture.






My youngest was probably the happiest to be in the water. As you can see, she got all the way in.






"Sorry Mom, I fell..."


Also having so much fun in the water, even though he, like his dad, hates wearing suspenders (so cute!).






My oldest is so sweet and fun-loving that I wasn't in the mood for lots of serious pictures. She is always so good to cooperate with my photography whims and ideas - I'm so grateful for her!






If you also love the Rio Grande, I'd love to meet you there for a family or child photography session! Give me a call or email and we can chat about a session for you or your family. Or if you'd like to see other options, I have lots of other location ideas for portrait sessions here.