admiring: family portraits at central library

If you’ve been reading here for awhile then you might remember that we found a family photographer that we loved. We did a fall photo shoot with Yvonne Niemann almost three years ago, and the photos we chose are here. Unfortunately (for us), she moved to Athens, GA last year, but luckily she still occasionally comes back to visit (and book sessions), so she emailed me a few months ago to see if we were interested in a spring session.

We were, and we started to talk about locations. Since our last photos were taken in the fall, in nearby Lafayette Square Park, we decided we’d do this session with a little more architecture in the background. She suggested Central Library downtown, and that seemed like a perfect fit.

The session was so easy, and the weather was perfect for it. It only took an hour, and it was about as stress free as possible – and this is coming from someone that gets stressed out about photos. I don’t enjoy picking out clothing, getting ready, keeping kids in line and smiling and wrinkle-free, and I really don’t like being in front of the camera. Yvonne makes everything seem easy. She’s completely organized and professional and everything she does behind the scenes seems flawless – her correspondence, website, process. In person she’s the same way, but there’s also this really natural warmth about her that makes the entire experience (you know, the real experience – straightening hair, sucking in your stomach, smiling big enough but not too big, bribing / threatening / cajoling your kid non-stop while also staring most affectionately at them) impossibly calm. She works magic, plain and simple.

I’ve said this before, but I really mean it now. Take more pictures of your family. Hand the camera over to someone else. It doesn’t have to be once a year, or even once every few years. It can be just once. Pick a special place, put on something clean, do something that reminds you of what you love most about your family at this moment, skip a few dinners out and invest in a few photos that you will love now, but will absolutely treasure later. The only hard part of the process is choosing the best ones.

Here’s a link to the slideshow of our photo shoot that Yvonne graciously let me post here. She comes back in town occasionally, so contact her and get on her list. Or if you are lucky enough to live even remotely close to Athens, GA, then give her a call. 

P.S. Yes, E is almost as tall as me. The next time we get photos made I expect to be the shortest one in them.

P.P.S. The mouse made an appearance. As did The Secret Garden. And Wonder, sans book jacket.