A couple of months ago, a client told me during her session a funny story. She had a good friend call her up and tell her she’d been searching for a photographer for her two boys and had found one whose website she liked. She said to my client, “Have you ever heard of Shannon Holden?” Well, as a matter of fact, yes! She told her friend that we had a session scheduled in a matter of days!
I was excited for the chance to meet my client’s friend this past week. We had another laugh at the coincidence of it all. Her two boys were SO cute! SO, SO CUTE! Just like my sons, you can tell they have a lot of love for each other, even though I’m sure they have a moment of rivalry once or twice a day. For instance, the little guy got a bit envious of his big brother’s red jacket. You know how little brothers want to be just like big brother. They gray hoodie in his size wasn’t good enough … he wanted the red hoodie just like his idol.
But the real highlight of the session for me was our method of enticing a smile from the younger one. I often sing songs to get toddlers smiling. The Wheels on the Bus or If You’re Happy and You Know It are usually my most successful numbers. This guy was not cracking. No smile. So I asked Mom if he had a favorite song. She said, with a laugh, that he loved the Indiana Jones theme song. So sure enough, Mom, Big Brother, and I broke into song together … “Dun, da dun dunnnn, Dun da dunnnnn, Dun da dun dunnnnn, Dun da dun dun dun!” Worked like a charm. He started giggling and there was that fantastic smile!! Turns out the Star Wars theme works pretty well, too, after a few stanzas of Indiana get boring.
Baby Brother #3 will be here any day! So I promised Mom I would get these portraits ready for her to view as quickly as possible. Us moms of three know how busy she is about to get! Baby Brother will be so blessed to join this beautiful family. He has two fantastic playmates waiting for him!
This family has a beautiful home in Virginia Highlands, with ideal light throughout and a gorgeous front porch where we spent most of our session together. The challenge of the session is that E was full of energy, moving a mile a minute at times. But hey, that’s what being a little boy is all about, right? And it’s my job to let him be just who he is meant to be. I loved seeing E’s spunk and spirit. He is darling.
