The Kids Half Year Photo Shoot

It's fall, so it's the time of year that I start taking insane amounts of photos of the kids. The start of photography season is usually early September for the kids "Half Year Photo Shoot."

You're probably wondering, "why do you care about half year?" For a few reasons:

1. We take tons of pictures on the kids' birthdays in March already.
2. The weather is usually better in September than it is in March.
3. We have hardly anything going on in September, but we usually have tons of stuff going on in March.
4. Schools usually take students pictures in September, so it's nice to stay on track.
5. I love all excuses to take pictures of the kids.

That about covers it.

Anyway, there's always something that goes wrong with our photo sessions and this one is no different. I prefer to take the photos outside, usually in our backyard because we have a lot of open space. We don't really have any kind of devoted photo studio in our house, although I'm looking to possibly work something out in the basement, if I can de-clutter it enough!

I waited a little too long this year to do photos. What I usually make time for in early September was pushed back until almost October. Early September is preferable because it's still warm or at least mild. But on an almost-October morning, we started the day around 50 degrees. The sunlight is perfect in the morning, but the cold was not. So, we waited until afternoon, when it was nearly 70 degrees out, but the sun cast too many shadows.

Waah waahh waaahh.. I just like whining. I don't think the pictures came out horribly, but I wish they'd come out better. Here they are:

Aww smiley headed kids!

I usually start by taking pictures of just Quinn. Mitchell almost always needs about 10 minutes to get out his energy before he'll, possibly, stay still for pictures. But not today! Today he came right over and stood next to Quinn and yelled "Cheese pizza!!" LOL.

I love the hugging photos. Expect one from every shoot.

For the first time ever, Mitchell wanted to participate. He took direction. He smiled. Quinn loved not having to hold her smile for an hour while I tried to get Mitchell to smile.

That's not to say that I didn't catch a few random shots, because, well, I always do.

This reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting or something..

I just click the shutter. I don't always direct. Hahah

Quinn had a jumping fit in the middle and I wasn't set up for it! Boo hoo!

I think Mitchell hated his shirt. He kept playing with the hem.

I think this is my favorite picture of the entire day!

I think we have a few issues at work, now that I've checked every photo out and edited them. This is where I went wrong:

1. I cut Mitchells hair too short. As cute as it looks in person, it's maybe just a tad too short and reflective of the sun.
2. Quinn's dress has really cute bows on the shoulders and in order to show them off, I pulled her hair up. I'm just not used to it, maybe?
3. Obviously, I shot at the wrong time of day. Even though the kids were in the shade, I sometimes ended up with awful highlighting and shading.
4. And the more I look at it, Quinn's dress is not very photogenic. It is super cute in person. She looks like Neapolitan ice cream with her vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate dress but it washes her out while simultaneously being washed out by the sun.

Mitchell's too short hair.

Quinn's white dress with boring hair.

Thank goodness that I got a few good shots so that the entire thing wasn't a bust. But I hate having lost this opportunity.

Probably the best picture of the dress!

So, those were the best and cutest of the whole bunch. Luckily, Halloween is coming up, so I'll have a second chance at photos of the kids.