Rather than pay the hefty fee for a pro permit for Brookside Gardens, we trekked into the pretty part of Baltimore called Guilford and had a wonderful photo shoot at Sherwood Gardens.  My family and I used to go here on many a spring and summer Sunday afternoon and they were as peaceful and wonderful as I remembered.  It was an adventure though, as a thunderstorm came through about 20 minutes before our meeting time. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to shoot. In the end, though, it worked to our advantage because the sun did come out, and, BONUS,  for the first half of the shoot we had the park pretty much to ourselves due to the mass exodus the storm caused.  Considering the ages of the girls and the annoyance that formal shots are to most everyone, the children and the parents were a dream to work with. I hope it shows. All the images here are straight out of the camera except for a bit of cropping.

What I learned from this shoot:

• I still love my 70-200 mm. This whole shoot was with that lens. The images are so beautiful, but it requires precision and the weight sometimes makes that hard, especially when I'm moving constantly to accommodate kids and families. I have to really sling it around and inertia sometimes causes me to focus on just the wrong spot. 
• A tip I've learned to help solve the above problem is to just take more shots when the aperture is open. It is worth it to me to improve my success at larger apertures in order to have the background nice and soft.
• But, I am officially saving for a smaller lens for portraits. Just to have options. Now I have to figure out which one.

My favorite way to capture children is when they are doing the things that kids actually do.  I always get images that I personally like better than almost any posed shot.  Here are some examples from today's Easter fun with my nephews. They aren't perfect, but they show personality. Posed formals have their place, but nothing makes me happier than a wall full of real faces and real memories.