Family Portraits

While some guys are getting together on Saturday night to play poker or hit the clubs with some friends I got together with some great friends to play dungeon & dragons. Yes you read it right, "Dungeon & Dragons". I have been playing d&d since high school and continue to play with my same friends. As a matter of fact three of our kids, one being my son, plays with us. What ever preconceived thought you had of d&d, just throw it out. We are your normal day to day guys who have great families. Playing d&d is more of a reason for a bunch of friends to get together and have fun and fart, because we all know that when you put a bunch of guys together, there is bound to be some farting going on, but enough of that.

While most of our kids are getting older and are in high school, one of my friends kid will be turning one later this month. I have been wanting to take some family pictures of his new family since the little guy was born and thought this weekend would be the perfect time. I also had a request from another one of my buddies to take some pictures of his daughter and her child, who will be one in April. They live in Anaheim Hills and very close to Yorba Linda Regional Park, which has nice ponds and tree lines. So the plan was to get together in the afternoon to take some portraits and then hang out and play d&d.

That leads me to the pictures. This first group of shots are of my friend and his son Issac. He is such a great kid and so very mellow. I started with some basic family shots, but did have a few shots that I really wanted to try and see how they would come out.

The following four shots are what I really wanted to achieve. I don't remember where I saw this first picture, but I thought this would make a great shot of the connection between a father and son.

These next two shot, well what can I say. Take a look at these and tell me they don't put a big smile on your face. I wanted to see the excitement and joy that a young kid has when being tossed into the air, there's no fear, just a little guy having fun.

This next set of pictures is of my niece and her son A.J. Now she isn't really my niece, but her dad and I have been friends since the first grade and all of our kids call each of us uncle. I mean we have been though so much together we might as well be brothers. This is his second daughter and her son, who will be one in April.

I was looking for a moment here. A special time that is shared between a child and his mom. There are no faces to look at, just a moment captured, something they can cherish for the rest of their lives.

Now while we were out at the park taking these portraits I saw this Egret near the water. You all know I just couldn't pass this up and had to take some shots. After I took a few shots of it just standing on a rock I had my son walk towards it to cause it to fly away. I was hoping for a nice action shot of it taking off, but it didn't work and everything was blurred, but I was able to capture a nice shot of it in flight as it came back through the trees. A reason to remind me why I need to have my camera with me more often.