I've been making some images that are exciting and moving to me. Studying the Beloved style of invitations and games to create authentic interactions and responses during my last few photo shoots has added greatly to the enjoyment I already feel during my time working with families, as well as helped me get over my natural introverted tendencies. Once understood, the simple ideas and prompts that the purchased materials include can be expanded upon and personalized, and I look forward to doing that as I continue on.

These images are from the Hunter session, and what I like most is this: these images can be attached to a memory. In the first series, we are playing a game called World's Greatest Inventor. The little girl in front is telling about inventions that she is thinking up on the fly that will help her family with various problems. I love her seriousness and focus contrasted with the way her words are absolutely delighting the rest of the family, then I was able to lead them from that game time to the lovely hug shot at the end, where they surrounded the "inventor" with gratitude for her great ideas.

In the last photo, near the end of the shoot, I asked the children to take turns telling me the story of how their parents met, and a sweet, peaceful closeness seemed to surround the family. The little girl put her head on dad's knee without any prompting and the others seem lost in happy thoughts. These are the images I've always strived to make, so I feel very, very grateful and blessed.






Thanks to Brooke Snow for introducing me to Beloved. I can't wait to see where I can go from here. 

For now, this is going to be my photographic living room for the world. My son is building me a new website and I've moved my proofing galleries to Instaproofs. I am incorporating more and more of the Beloved techniques into my shooting and am really enjoying the evolution of my style. Here are some images from the last months since I've posted here. The reason for the hiatus is that I've been traveling extensively and have been able to take photos in Europe, Chicago, Utah and California in recent months, as well as for my wonderful local clients. Here is a taste of my photo-life since May: