Could this week be more exhausting?

This is an awesome week to demonstrate how going part-time is changing our life! Nate has been home sick with fever and severe GI distress all week. It's gotten worse today so on my day off, I'm taking him to the doctor and catching us up on life. Alex's hand might be infected from some blisters on his palms so he's coming too. Add in night time wake ups due to illness, me traveling, and Jon single parenting and we are exhausted!

But I promised you pictures!

When I looked through the pictures of Liz's family, I had to laugh. Whenever I look at Mel from The Larson Lingo's pictures, she has a "signature" look where little kids are standing at a 45 degree angle to the camera. Similar to this but more exaggerated:



Hi, my name is LauraC and my signature photo is kids looking up at the camera with their head tilted. Seriously guys. Every shoot I do this! Why? I love it.



One of the biggest things I need to work on is getting better shots of groups of people. This one would never be a Christmas card photo of their family but I freaking love it:



And I also like this one because it reminds me of stoop sitting on warm Chicago nights:



Last night at photography class, we were talking about finding your photography muse. I was in Chicago, one of the most interesting architectural cities in the world. I went out with intention to take architectural photos and nothing seemed interesting to me. Nothing! But then I get behind the lens with people in front and I love it:



And one of the reasons I love kid photography is their openness. Adults have a tough time in front of the camera because they want to pose or smile or make sure they look good. Kids just act natural. Sometimes they smile, sometimes they pout. They just act like themselves and that makes them captivating to me.



My next plan is to do a series of self portraits to learn to be more comfortable in front of the camera so I can help people feel more comfortable. I'll be posting those shots on my other blog so as not to turn this into my photography blog! When looking through the photos, the best ones where when the adults were natural:



Even adult men can look natural!



So thank you Liz, Andy, and Audrey for letting me practice on you! And your hospitality and water fights and trekking all over Chicago and cooking and everything. Very glad you are my family!