For some photographers the gift would be a beautiful model, others a perfect sunset, a grand vista, or a perfect little newborn baby.  For me it was a troop of tiny superheroes.  I’m sorry, did I not type that loudly enough?  A TROOP OF TINY SUPER HEROES!!!!!

When does that happen?  And how did I get so lucky?  It all started a year ago.  When I met this completely charming, totally zany, and absolutely adorable little boy.  In the last year I have spent a bunch of time with this little guy.  He never ceases to crack me up.  He is absolutely 100% BOY.  The kind of kid who inspires people to stop you on the street and in cafes and tell you how cute he is, how captivating.  And along with him, of course, has come a bunch of other little guys (and their little brothers and sisters) who have also inched their way into my heart.  A few months ago L became a big brother, now my heart has grown a little more as his sister found her place there too.

And so, this collection of littles gathered to celebrate L’s third birthday and with delicious food cooked by Dad and the most incredible costumes all hand made by Mom (and the most gorgeous day) I found myself luck enough to be surrounded by knee-high super heroes and their families.  Here is what I did with the photographic gift the universe served up…

No better place to start than the S family! These guys have a special place in my heart. I have been shooting their family photo since, well, forever. The older boys refer to me as “the picture lady”–they don’t run and hide, but they let me [quickly] capture their beautiful faces, then immediately begin wrestling with one another. Mom, a photogenic beauty, just rolls with it, as any smart mother of three boys will.

The first four of them are the subject of one of my favorite family photos of all time (the littlest one was a stowaway in this family portrait):

And this year’s shoot was a close runner up! The sitting was made all the more enjoyable by the littlest guy running out of the frame over and over again to give me a hug and kiss. Being a children’s photographer is not an easy job, but it definitely has some perks. The three of them are just as fun–and all boy!–as they can be.

First, one of the finalists was a family who had lost everything in a house fire. The winner, however, was a group of women–a “friend family”–who shared dinners and joys, trials and tribulations, and generally supported one another through life, over meals. The actual nominee was one of their group who had rolled with some pretty serious punches, supporting the others all the while. You can read the story (and all the finalists’ stories) here.

But, upon learning that they had won, these generous women asked if I would transfer the prize to the family who had lost it all in the fire. Instead, I agreed to do photo shoots with BOTH these women and the Lexington family.

Then, when following up with the family whose house burned down I learned that the year had gone from bad to worse. After losing everything a family member had a health crisis so desperate that they had to relocate to Europe to care for him, and, since the fire had effectively disentangled them from responsibilities in Boston, they were not at all sure that they would be back.

Several months later (in fact just a couple of weeks ago), the Lexington family again dropped me a line adding yet another wrinkle to the story–at the time of the fire friends from outside the country were relocating to Boston. All of their possessions had also been in the house when it burned. Since the home owners were unlikely to be able to redeem the prize, could they pass on the family portrait to these friends who would be anxious to have the portraits. Hmmmmmm. Let me think. OF COURSE! And so, we are organizing a time for that portrait session.

Meanwhile back to the Glorious Ladies of the Potluck. We scheduled our shoot (no easy task to get 6 women in two states to find a date–and then I needed to be available). The first shoot was called off due to injury. It took months to get another possible date. Well, we finally did the shoot during the later part of November and the wait was COMPLETELY worth it. So much fun to watch these women catch one another’s glow, encourage and tease each other, all while getting gorgeous portraits. Honestly, as I was going through them I was amazed at how few actually BAD photos there were. Six people are a lot to photograph and to have many great group photos is practically a photographic miracle. But, then, these women have created something special and celebrating it was bound to release some magic.

And it does not hurt that all of these women are gorgeous:

Stay tuned for this year’s contest this winter!

We romped around Tufts, wehre her dad is a professor, and a place that she considers part of her kingdom–from what I hear she is a benevolent ruler who excepts bribes (mostly in the form of lollipops and stickers).

We had a super fun shoot that included lunch and ended with two tired babies in cribs and fast asleep. In the meantime they were fantastic sports.

Don’t even try to resist. It just is not possible.

We begin with the funniest photo I think I have taken all year…

If you want to see their newborn portraits, click here Portraits by Lisa and like the page–they have an album of 5lb (distant memory) adorable.

These guys had a big year–they added a little brother the family. He will have to get moving fast to keep pace with his exuberant and adorable sister. She showed me all of her best tricks and best places to play. She is the consumate big sister (and three year old), she runs the show while stopping often to give and receive hugs and cuddles. And both of them redefine saucer-eyed, those big brown eyes are unbeatable.

Mom is especially photogenic–a characteristic that does seem somehow innate. Not a bad photo of her in the bunch. And she passed that gene on to her two little guys who just could not be cuter and more ready for their close up.

All together we had a wonderful time, and even managed to snap a few photos of the fun and love.

This family is active in every way… Two boys (three if you count Dad) and a million sports, travel, holidays, school, you name it. It was hard for us to find a time to do the shoot, but in the end we–and the lovely warm fall we are having–prevailed.

Working against the antics of the boys and dad was obviously a losing battle in this family, so I just went with it and kept on shooting. And I have to say, I think that the photos show what this family really is–some super-nice people who you just want to hang out with and maybe even horse around.

Even mom, who really tried to be the voice of reason, can be seen sneaking in a few grins at her boys’ “misbehavior.” And, in the end, she must add to the fun because she suggested a piggy back ride for her 6 foot 7 husband.

Just try not to smile:
]]> http://blog.portraitsbylisa.com/2011/11/a-losing-battle-needham-family-photographer/feed/ 0 http://blog.portraitsbylisa.com/2011/11/perfect-in-purple-needham-family-photographer/ http://blog.portraitsbylisa.com/2011/11/perfect-in-purple-needham-family-photographer/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:22:36 +0000 admin http://blog.portraitsbylisa.com/?p=1837 A while back I put out a call for a family with three girls. I had a few sessions with three boys but never three girls. Well, it took some time, but boy it was worth the wait!

When this mom called I knew we were gonna get along great. She told me that the best photo that she has of her girls reflects REAL LIFE–one being silly, one smiling, and one crying. That is how it is when three munchkins share one roof.

Meet biggest sister A. She was a fabulous model (I could have posted 10 photos of her alone) and a worthy ring leader–hers were always the hands in the photos trying to corral her baby sister or the lips in the photo offering kisses. She and mom share the most amazing green eyes and, although I was in love with black and white for these photos, I had to print hers in color sometimes because she had knee-high PURPLE boots. Swoon.

L is the middle sister–she was a ham and a spitfire. Alternately cracking up and giving me a run for my money. She was also a great solo model. I cannot get enough of the photo of her leaning against the fence.

Baby sister S was having a day. You can see in the family photos that she was the center of attention–there are several in the proofs where all eyes are on her. She totally came around and gave up some incredible looks. In the end she took great portraits, I think that Mom might be surprised.

Then Mom brought out the secret weapon–lollipops! And everyone was stationary for many minutes. Magic lollies I think.

Mom also requested photos of the family’s hands. I love these kind of requests. And you can see that getting to a place where we could get everyone to put a hand in was big fun–leading to some great family photos of their own.

Thank you girls, I have been looking at your beautiful faces all day and had fond memories of getting to know you and felt so grateful to have so many great images to send to your mom and dad!

P.S. The awesome prophoto blog template has added all these fun ways to display images–so I am trying them out, if you have a preference don’t hesitate to let me know!

As I was walking with the family into the self-described “homely” back yard they mentioned that they had CHICKENS! I mean, can you think of anything more fun? I don’t have any portraits of little girls and chickens! What a treat! Even more exciting, when we arrived in the yard and checked the coop what did they find? Their first ever egg!!

And this was only the cherry on top of a shoot that already involved a family of four beautiful and loving women, all obviously delighting in their opportunity to be on this journey together. Honestly, this was the first of three shoots I did in two days and each family was so full of love and warmth I just had a ball.

H goes to a school where I take school portraits, and once you see her face you will know that I could not have forgotten her. She is now the big sister to the smiley and easy going baby A. They were both full of the most delightful and hilarious expressions. I have series of H going from fake frown to laughing to contemplative in 30 seconds or fewer.

Mama wanted to start with the holy grail of family projects–the family photo–all faces front, eyes opened, and smiles for the camera. It was a cinch, actually–relatively speaking.

It was a joy to see you guys in between school portrait sessions.

Fast forward a lifetime. Now we are expected to be mostly all grown up.

He met a smart and beautiful woman and took a crash course in true love. They met and married and had a baby, all at light speed. Dad passed on his obsession with comic books and all things Star Wars to their son, L. Big brother L is nearly 6 and when I asked him if he thought that he loved Star Wars and superheroes because of the dad he got or if he just got the perfect dad, he said that he got the Perfect Dad. And it is true, after L came I wondered why no one had given this guy a kid a long time ago. He’s a natural.

Many years later these two announced that L would be a big brother by posting a video of them telling their ecstatic son that they would be bringing home a baby just as he had hoped. He could barely believe his good luck. Mom was excited to learn that, after coming from a family of girls, she would be giving L a little sister. And the wait was on… Well, everyone is truly in their element with the arrival of the forth family member, little Miss C. She was a trooper throughout her shoot, cuddling so cutely with all her family members–L cannot take his eyes off her (well, unless there is a light saber around).

Mom and Dad are remembering the realities of having an infant in the household–and also just how fast it all goes by. Everyone is savoring C’s arrival and enjoying each fun phase of her growing up. And soon she will be ready for her Jedi training.

It was so much fun hanging out with you and meeting your newest family member.