On Memorial Day I popped in my latest audio book and headed to Kenmare–a small community about an hour away from Minot to shoot some very special family portraits. Okay, in my opinion, all family portraits are very special. But this was a particularly special morning because it was a family reunion of sorts. Not the kind with T-shirts and organized activities…something more casual. A gathering of extended family, together in one place, photos included. But, since our language doesn’t have a good word for that kind of gathering, I’ll just call it a “reunion.”
I love shooting extended families. There is so much variety packed in to a short amount of time. It’s like shooting back to back micro sessions. Each individual family got a few photos, a photo with Grandma and Grandpa, then–of course–we tackled a photo of all the kids and the whole, big group. What fun! And we couldn’t have asked for a prettier morning, or a prettier property so shoot on! I simply adore the North Dakota countryside.
Now, as you look through these images you might notice something. Out of 13 cousins there is one one female. That means I was photographing lots of boys. Young boys. Now, I don’t think it takes a professional photographer to guess which gender is more willing to sit still in front of the camera. You guessed it: not boys. So with 12 of them running every direction and asking {once or twice} “When are we gonna be done?” “Are we doing more pictures?” It goes without saying that we had our hands full.
However, I’m nothing if not tenacious. So we wrangled, I told a few terrible jokes, and everyone looked lovely. I’d even go so far as to say a couple of them might have actually had fun…or at very least, they discovered that picture day isn’t as bad as they originally thought it might be.
It’s wacky. And I like it.
Then, at the very end I did a few individual shots of the kiddos belonging to the family who arranged for me to come. What handsome guys! {Don’t you just love the photo with the rooster?!}
Thank you to all of these lovely families who trusted me to capture this fun get together! Your images are nearly done. Feel free to share, post and tag yourselves!
Amy
