{Seattle Family Photographer}/ Hillary

Mother of this adorable family contacted me a few weeks ago to take their family pictures. Every year they have a tradition to take their family picture taken on Jewish New Year which this year began October 2nd and ended October 4th.

After a few deliberations about locations we've decided that Washington Arboretum will be a great fit. Washington Arboretum gives lots of variety in terms of greenery and foliage, especially in October! So many trees were displaying gorgeous red and orange and yellow colors. Absolutely takes your breath away!

When I got to the location I was so happy that it wasn't raining. As you know that is always a big concern here in Seattle. Even during summer season one can never depend on mother nature to provide you with a nice, sunshiny day, and in October it gets especially tricky. One of my other sessions had to get rescheduled due to an extreme storm we had in the middle of October.

Once the family arrived I took a few minutes to get to know them, especially their cute little boy who was only two years old, and cute as a button. He had a smile that made your whole world light up.

Once we all got acquainted we all headed on to the park to start taking some pictures. The mother liked a spontaneous candid moments type of photography. I'm more of a traditional and fine art photographer and was a little concerned whether I would be able to pull of a candid moment session. But everything turned out great.

I was able to create fun little moments between the family members by having them look at each other as they were walking, playing with a little boy, having the little guy play with leaves. Everyone had a great time. Including me. I was even able to get a few shots of more a traditional style, which I prefer, so everyone was happy.

To get these pictures I used my favorite Canon 5d markiii full frame camera, and a Canon 85mm 1.8 lens.

I love using my Canon 85mm lens, because it works so great under low light conditions and creates a very nice soft skin effect. The only drawback is that I constantly find myself moving forward and backward a lot to get the right shot. This can get quite exhausting when doing a one hour session.

The little boy was such a joy to work with! He was all smiles and so happy to take pictures.

It's always a challenge when dealing with toddlers. If they are cranky it is very hard to get them out of their bad mood. One of my tricks is that I always bring toys or start hanging them objects lying around, such as leaves, sticks, rocks.