I've known the Valbrun's for a few years. Niko goes to school with Liv and he is, and always has been, sort of her polar opposite. Who knows what these little experiments we call children will one day become, but for today he is gentle and sweet. He is kind and not super loud for an almost four year old, a total plus in my book. He doesn't appear to talk back, at least I've never even heard him utter the word "no" in any kind of bossy manner to his mom or any inanimate object. Liv has been photographically documented yelling at her spaghetti and meat balls. Niko is a good soul. When Olivia and Niko play, she is abrasive and demanding. Because. Her mother. But Niko takes it all in stride. He is amazing with her and all the rest of those little dictators in her class, of which let's face it, my daughter is the ring leader. He is the very definition of chill. I'm jelly. Beyond. 

I digress. This family agreed to be my first family photo shoot as a quasi-photographer, or basically some mom with a very expensive camera and apparently a significant amount of free time to use it. There is an internal process that smothers my outright elation on almost any new endeavor (having to do with my own pathology, as my husband so astutely and delightfully points out about once a quarter). This process, or ok Dan, my pathology, doesn't let me see things the way others do, perhaps. I can get happy, but perhaps never satisfied.

I think much of what I struggle with as a pseudo photographer, and let's face it, a human being, is that I very much have a picture in my mind of what I believe will be. Reality, or what you walk away with... well, that may look different. Radically different in many cases. 

If you have ever had family photos done, you might know that as the client, there is much for you to do. You must pick your date and time, your outfits, and then you have to orchestrate your entire family to be in one place, clean, and at that location at the specified time. It's no small feat, even when your children are over 5 years old and not regurgitating all over themselves and your $100 crewcuts investment. I usually end up a sweaty mess who has bitten the head off of anyone in a 20 mile radius. I'm today experiencing the flip side. The stress of getting the right shot, in the right conditions. The right expressions. Did I capture it? Will they love it?

What I am getting at here is that I love these people, I love their kindness, their utter lack of pretension and their willingness to share themselves with me for this crazy idea I have. I adore their little boy. I hope they enjoy these pictures because what I do see here is infinite love and a whole lot of playfulness. I hope I've captured a little bit of it for them.

I just pray these guys will hire me again to take their family photo - perhaps in a few more months or years when I can really wow them! Ha!

I now present: The Valbruns.