ccphotodesign: Murphy

Have you met him? I'm betting you have at some point in your life.

Well, he made an appearance at this session. He was not welcome but he didn't seem to care.

A simple shoot for all the grandkids. Outdoors. Evening light. Not a big deal.

Wrong.

Let's start with the heat. The amazing heat. Because of the heat and possible problems with rush hour traffic, at the last minute, we moved the session from the park to the country road & nature trail by the studio. We figured this would make it easier on the kids - plus we could easily switch kids in and out of the air-conditioned cars to cool them off between shots. Logical, no?

First off, we find out that some of the girls are terrified that there might be bears in the forest. Now, we're not really in the forest you see, we're about 15 ft in front of the edge of the forest. In Kansas. Not too many bears here. All the same, we bribed and cheered and did all the ridiculous things one does to convince a child to not be scared of something that seems very real in their head.

And then Grandma got bit by a huge tick. Now, let me mention...I've never had a tick problem in all the million times I've shot in this location.

Anyway - forest fun over...moving on to manicured lawns and flowers. On the walk to this spot one kiddo's flip flop busts. Have you ever tried walking on a busted flip flop? Doesn't work too well. Also causes a little drama with little girls.

Moving on to the country road (we needed the air conditioning break at this point anyway - we were drenched).

While Mom & Grandma are smoothing hair on little girls, I decided to move big boy over by the old barbed wire fence. They make super cool backgrounds for little boys. There happens to be a fairly deep ditch by this one - so for safety I keep any kiddos a good 3-5ft in front of it. That way they don't accidentally lean against the fence, fall in the ditch etc. I never considered a friendly shove from a sibling. Down the poor guy goes...into the ditch...wrapped in the fence. He's ok... but the shirt is shredded and Mom is frazzled (I don't blame her at all!).

alright ... ok ... we're only about 30 minutes into the session...need more images so we'll keep going and I'll photoshop the torn shirt. All is ok.

Moving on to the MIDDLE of the road (pretty well abandoned ... don't worry... I don't have kids playing in traffic). Middle...no ditches, no fences, no ticks, flat & level & no bears.

Me & Mom & Grandma laugh at the events of the day and we joke that the only one left to be injured or scared is the baby. No worries though...There are 3 adults within arms' reach of him and I have him in the no-fail chair for babies. It sits super low to the ground and the seat tilts in so they sit with their bottom so far down it's nearly impossible to fall out.

Nearly.

Impossible?

Guess what.

He fell out. Of course he did.

Why not.

And the adults (me included) have NO idea how it happened. We were standing RIGHT.THERE.

As he fell, big sister starts crying - I think it's because of the fall. No...it's 'cause she needs to potty. NOW. So I try to teach her to squat behind a tree while Mom & Grandma tend to baby (you realize I only have boys right?! teaching squatting is very new to me!). It didn't go well.

We called the shoot.

My shoots typically last between 1 hour and 2 hours ... this was 45 minutes. We didn't care.

We went to the studio for ice packs, drinks and potties. And I will be photoshopping a lot of this session. And that's ok.

Remember we moved from the manicured grass lawns of the park to this spot to make it easier?

Of course, I checked on everyone the next day. Baby is fine. Big boy is fine. Flip flop is a gonner. Girls still scared of bears. Mom's heart may have suffered some damage. My heart definitely did.

here they are - looking un-scared in front of the forest. see? no bears.