Noah's First Birthday

I was asked to photograph my nephew Noah's first birthday party. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what pictures would be the most important and when he looks back at these what will he want to see, what will be important to him. I don't know that family members necessarily take the time to think like this, and I wonder if it made a difference. Tara, his mother, wanted me to photograph him destroying the cake, so I spent most of the time on that. I am so glad that I took two seconds to turn around and see the huge crowd that was watching him. I hope that he is pleased with my pictures and will look at them time and time again. (Will it even be in an album? I hope so, family albums are the greatest! Especially for significant others to stumble upon. Excuse my side note.)

Something to Live Up To

My grandparents loved pictures, take pictures, and documenting everything. There are so many family pictures that I have seen and have yet to see. I love looking at all of them. Most of the shots are candid even if they are posed. When a picture is taken of this family, it has to live up to those great pictures. When my dad's girlfriend, Stacy asked me to take a picture of the eleven kids, I was excited but extremely nervous. This picture will now be with all of those other great pictures that my grandparents took. It may seem silly that I was looking at it this way, but I really wanted the picture to be phenomenal and memorable, especially since they may just be the last time that all of the kids are together in one place. Everyone was here, in Ohio, for my grandma's funeral. So now that both of my grandparents are gone, I really have to live up to the legacy and make them proud and take great pictures.

This was taken at my dad's house before we left for the wake.

The family portrait.

Family History

I hung out with my dad for a little bit yesterday. He cleaned out my grandparent's house this spring and he brought home all of the pictures. Most to distribute to his siblings, and the others he doesn't know what to do with. These are the oldest ones that he showed me, mixed in with some postcards and letters from my grandma to my grandpa.