Right before Christmas, I got a call from a mom I know. “Hey,” she says, “my kids are getting braces in the next month or so, can you do a shoot with them before the braces go on? I don’t want to forget this. The way they are now.” And sure, she takes pictures of them every day, but there is something about getting professional portraits done to capture the spirit and the being of the kids, just so. And isn’t it true that kids behave better when someone else wants to take their photo than when MOM wants to take their picture?!
So one morning, I took her kids off her hands for a couple hours. We went for a walk. We talked. We explored. We made silly faces. We hung out. And I got to know those kids in a way I hadn’t before. And these are kids I’ve known for years. Let me introduce you to their spirit.
Here they are, just the two of them, older sister and younger brother. Gorgeous brown eyes.
The girl, L, is a friend of my oldest daughter. In fifth grade, she’s at that “tween” age. That’s what they call it now. Somewhere “in between” the younger kids and the teenagers. In that “in between” of trying to figure out who she is, what she likes, what’s important to her, how she wants to dress, a whole world ahead of her.
You can look at her and almost see the beautiful teenager and further on, the woman, she will become.
But, she’s still young. And you can’t forget that at this age. She couldn’t wait to wear some of her new stuff from Christmas.
She was loving her new black boots! I remember at that age, I wanted heels so badly. And when I finally got them, I’m pretty sure I wore them everywhere, whether appropriate or not. But, L here, she was rockin’ the boots.
And her new nails!
Soon she will leave the “tween” phase and move on to a bigger world. Where there are bigger decisions to make. Until then, capture the beauty, the innocence, the way they are, as they move forward and onward….
And then there is the little brother. This guy, like most boys I know, was a spirit in motion. Here, there, and everywhere.
Climbing, jumping, running, picking up sticks, playing with sticks, throwing sticks.
What an imagination too! The sticks were guitars, swords, baseball bats, you name it. Active, active, active!
I did catch him unawares in one quiet moment of reflection. But, believe me, this only happened for a brief nanosecond.
After we took some shots, we headed back to their house where their cousins had arrived from Pittsburgh. It was fun watching them all together and reuniting.
The sun started to set and it was time for me to go home and make dinner for my kiddos.
The boy, well he just hopped onto his pogo stick and continued moving ~ everywhere.
Capture it now, I tell you. Capture it now.
xo
A
by Aileen
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