CHILDREN OF A PHOTOGRAPHER | Photography and Personal

     I have five amazing children.  Four girls and one boy. It would be an understatement if I said they are my world. My husband makes fun of me because I am with them pretty much 24/7 with the exception of the two older ones who live on their own in Florida. The three that are left here with me are home schooled through an awesome public school online program called Connections Academy.  So literally, we are together all the time. I love homeschooling them because our schedule is super flexible!  I don't know how many times we pick up and go on vacation on a whim because we don't have to worry about school schedules.

     Along with the flexible schedule there is a really huge reason I love them being home with me all the time. I am a photographer.  You might be thinking... So what, who cares?  Well, imagine being an artist and your home is always fully stocked with paints, brushes and amazing canvases to work on and you never have to order a single thing. You would be in artist heaven!! That is how I feel! I am in photographer's heaven every day.  If I get an itch to try out a new idea, I grab one of the three girls and start photographing. The funny thing is the other two will usually offer to assist by holding a light source, reflector or battery pack.  I love it when we all work together.  My eleven year old specializes in building or putting together sets, my sixteen year old like to model and my five year old... well, she is a camera hog. LOL!

     Recently, it snowed really hard.  We actually had snow stick to the ground! I was sitting at my desk at 9:00 pm and jumped out of my chair saying "Brooke, do you feel like playing in the snow?" She smiled and said, "What outfit would you like me to wear?"  It was great! She new immediately, that I wanted to take pictures in the snow. Within minutes my husband dragged a red vintage sofa outside and brought out some lights.  My daughter got dressed and braved the cold weather. All so that I could get to 'play' in the snow.

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I appreciate having such great girls and live in models.  Another time, my daughter decided to play dress up with my five year old. When the baby came out of the room she looked just like Shirley Temple.  Of course I had to take out my camera and take her picture. However, I played it as though it wasn't all that and the baby says "Mommy, don't I look cute?  Are you going to take my picture?"  OMG! how could I resist.

Then I have the eleven year old who doesn't care to be in front of the camera as much as the others, but when I get her to cooperate she is awesome.  She can go from grungy to glamorous and not skip a beat.

 My life is full of color, laughter and joys because of these children of a photographer. May God bless them always.