Family is love.

I jumped at the chance to take Kristan’s portrait. She’s literally one of the sweetest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. When we were in the planning phase of the shoot, determining the “where” and the “when”, she asked if her son Jayden could participate. And I said “Absolutely!”

This, of course, changed the shoot from a portrait session into a family session.

Whereas a portrait session is an attempt to “capture the essence” of a person a family session has a goal of showing the relationship of the people. In this case: Kristan and her son are an unbreakable unit. You can see the mutual love and respect.

I still made a point to get some individual shots.

Asking a kid to work through a full hour or an hour and a half of photography is a lot. We let Jayden relax and play throughout the shoot so I could focus on Kristan, (who is absolutely lovely).

And then we’d see her son sitting in the sunlight:

I used a lot of off-camera flash for this photoshoot, mainly for fill light. It was a bright day in the park so we worked in pools of shadows.

When you’re working with a tight unit like Kristan and Jayden, you’ve got to watch for the unplanned interactions that happen between them. Be alert for how they interact and you’ll get a feel for their dynamic. In this case: a loving mother guiding a strong young man.