Another year, another sweet session with this growing family | Tiiu, Dale, and the kids visit Wartman Paterson Park
/I first photographed this family in 2016, when Tiiu was still pregnant with her youngest. It was my first full year as a family photographer.
Tiiu, Dale, and Mikki (who was just a toddler then), visited a park and played, and we snapped a family photograph in front of their house, too!
In the fall of that year, I checked in with them again, because baby Niina had been born! 🤩
Afterwards, I visited them in fall of 2018, then again in 2021, and most recently in 2023.
I’ve photographed this family five times in nine years, and I’ve watched their kids grow, (I’ve blogged about them after their 2021 session!) and explore, and now they even have a fur baby added in the mix!
What I’m trying to say is… I LOVE this family, and I love that I’m their family photographer and get to help them preserve these precious family moments through candid photography.
We make sure to grab a more posey family photo at each session, too. Typically we do this toward the end.
So here’s a few snaps from our most recent outing, this time to Wartman Park. It was a rather gloomy and rainy day in November, but we decided we were going to stick with our date, because - well, we’d done a session before in the drizzle, and it turned out great. Plus, as my grandma used to say, ‘we’re not made of sugar - we won’t melt in the rain!’ (she actually had a more… vulgar expression, in which replaced sugar with 💩 haha)
Anyway, we were a GO!
I usually arrive a little before our scheduled time, so that I can grab the ‘moody’, ‘scene setting’ photos. Like… if this were a movie, it’s those expositional shots, you know? It gives context for the rest of the gallery, and helps the family remember the time of year, colours, etc.
I’m a bit of a sucker for shots of nature like this. Dried leaves, berries on a leafless twig, you name it. A dandelion? In November? I guess that’s El Niño for you…
I took a quick walk to the water, just to check it out. I wasn’t disappointed. The pastel colours of Lake Ontario in early November… it was really peaceful. The day was dreary, but the water was hopeful. Do you see it? :D
Pretty soon my friends arrived, with their new pup. Mikki brought a football.
Gosh, I wish I could remember this cutie’s name. He was such a good boy, and loved playing in the grass and getting treats. He’s still a pup, but already so tall!
I love to capture personalities, and Niina has a big one! She loves to explore and exclaim, and I’m just trying to make sure I don’t miss these sweet tiny moments!
Hehe, what a cute silly duo. They climbed this tree, and we took a few photos here 🤩
Now, things got tricky! Dale and Mikki stayed by the water, while Tiiu and Niina went up into the forest/meadows. I wanted to get photos of all of them, but I made a choice to photograph father and son first. I loved this quiet moment, and even though I photographed it like a paparazza (through the trees, with my long lens), I think it’s kind of meaningful. I also dipped in a bit closer to grab some closeups of Mikki and his gorgeous auburn locks 😍
Meanwhile, the girls were having lots of fun with their pup.
Then, we decided that it was time to get a family photo, up on a big rock by the water. So off we went again to the lakeshore.
Getting up on the rock was tricky. I didn’t think the pup would make it, but he did!
Totally worth the climb! What a beautiful spot for a family photo!
We got a couple of candid moments here, too! I love both of these images, for different reasons. They both have a completely different emotion, but I grouped them together to show ya anyway.
Of course we had to snap some candid photographs of Tiiu getting off the rock, because it was really funny and cute. When the kids are older, they’ll love seeing mom & dad’s personalities coming through these photos ❤️
I’ve definitely noticed a pattern from my years photographing the kids with their dad. They love to climb on his back for a ride! And he always happily obliges.
Meanwhile, Mikki is in his own world, throwing the ball around and just having a great time.
What kind of treasures can we find in the sand? A billion crushed up shells?
It’s also surprising just how many different moments we can squeeze out of a session that lasted less than one hour! I was personally surprised.
Can we get a few more huggy cute photos with puppy? Yes, please!
And we wrap up with some random shenanigans right before everyone has to go. If you look closely in the first photo above, you’ll see there’s actually a leaf hanging in mid-air, which Mikki is trying to decipher.
What was a rainy and dreary day (not unlike today, as I write this), actually turned into a really lovely opportunity for family photographs. We caught a little break in the rain, and got nearly a hundred photographs, each one representing a candid moment in this family’s life. Plus, we did a few family portraits too! You couldn’t ask for a better time, really.
Did you like reading this blog? Did you like a particular picture? Leave me a comment to let me know!
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