baltimore family photographer travels - holloway family

^^ They wanted a Christmas card picture of their family on the

beach in santa hats. How cute are they?! ^^

^^What a champ big brother is. FIVE younger sisters.^^

^^ Little miracle baby. I believe she's just six weeks old here. So precious.^^ 

While we were in Florida for Thanksgiving break (seen here, here, here, here & here) I thought it'd be a good challenge for me to photograph a family I don't know, in a place less familiar to me. The Holloways attend the same ward as Jeremy's parents so that's how we got connected. I'm so glad I got to know them a little and take some pictures for them. They are a wonderful family.

I learned a lot during this shoot. 

First of all, older kids are really good at holding still.  Or maybe not all kids are this great, but these kids were. And I liked it. 

Beach photography isn't exactly hard, but it does present a new set of challenges. I did, however, love being barefoot the whole time. I could get used to that ;)

There is a reason you only shoot during the golden hour. There's SO MUCH LIGHT! Especially on the beach. In our situation it wasn't going to happen any other time, so we made it happen. Bless their squinty eyes. Since then I've decided the few minutes after the sun sets would be more ideal because in most situations golden hour is when the sun is behind trees, buildings, etc. Maybe everyone else already knew this, or maybe I'm totally wrong. I'm still learning. No shame.

And I think the last lesson I learned was to try not to freak out when your camera does something you've never seen before. I got all eight of them lined up and posed for the first picture and went to take it (everything was working literally a minute before) and all of a sudden: nothing. Just a couple letters flashing. All I can say is thank goodness for dads. And husbands who think to call dad. And patient families.

I'm really really glad we got together and that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. It definitely paid off. 

Thanks Holloways!