I shot pictures.

I know, I know. In my last post, I said that I was going to take a short break and recharge my batteries. And I did that. For the most part.

But when you take a look at the images below, you’ll see why I just couldn’t resist shooting those two beautiful babies.

My break was basically a long weekend trip to Alabama to see both sides of the family. We started at LaDonna’s mom and sisters on Thursday and went from there on Friday to my brother’s house. I took my camera and equipment with me, because now that my brother has grandkids, doing a shoot is a given.

You’ve seen Madi before, but this time we got to shoot little Levi as well. There’s a beautiful botanical garden near my brother’s house in Birmingham and it was the perfect spot to get the two cousins together for some shots.

I had been honestly looking forward to it. Outside of weddings, I believe that children’s photography is about as challenging as it gets in my job, especially with little ones this age. They don’t follow directions, they are on their own schedule and they are generally either really, really happy or really, really unhappy. But when you can get a good shot, it’s gold. I like that kind of challenge.

And we had some challenges on this shoot. The first time we put the two of them together, Eli reached out and grabbed a handful of Madi’s hair and yanked. Needless to say, that was not a blessing to her. Levi also discovered grass and was determined to taste it, which grandma and grandpa were opposed to. Madi is a month younger than Levi and is just now getting to the point to where she is somewhat steady pulling upright. About two seconds after the shot below where they are standing on the bench, she sat straight down on her bottom. After that, she was pretty much done.

But we had gotten plenty of good shots by that time. The ones inside were made in a bedroom in my brother’s house, just after Levi had awoke from a nap. The afternoon sun was coming in the window and it looked like a perfect spot to snap off a few spots.

So even though I didn’t get to completely get away from “the business”, I think you’ll agree that the shots below were worth it. Enjoy.