my purple giraffe.

I have a purple giraffe. It is unfortunate I am the only one who can see him as he is quite amusing. Sometimes he jumps into shoots with kids (usually kids in the 6-10 range) and changes the entire atmosphere of the session. The well practiced cheese becomes honest grins and the tension dissolves when my purple giraffe sits down right next to you and starts chewing on your dress. Seriously. He's right there. You don't see him?

And then sometimes the instinctive cheese grin is a little harder to let go of. Sometimes a kid is holding onto their fake smile a little tighter. Sometimes you have to catch them off guard. Sometimes you have to fall off a porch. Seriously. I noticed earlier in the day that Ellena was laughing SO hard when I almost fell into a fountain (really almost fell in) so I put it in my memory and later when the fake cheese made its inevitable come back I pulled it out. I set up this serious look at your hands shot and then backed up and backed up and AHHH! You got it. I fell off the porch. Opps. But I love the second one even more than the first.




And that is part of why I love shooting kids. Every session is different not just because the child is different. And the setting. And the shots. But because the entire atmosphere of every kids shoot is unique. It is individual, like them. And sometimes you have to really look for the purple giraffe. But when you find it....