So, in case you don't know, my name is Shannon. I have 3 kids, ages 8, 6 &5. A husband named Juan and a big fat cat named Gato. He used to be named Oliver, but Juan taught the babies that cat in Spanish was gato and he's been Mexican ever since...My husband lost his job about 6 months ago & so we've recently started our own photography business. I've always had a passion for taking pictures & when my oldest was young I took most of his pics with disposable cameras. Which sucked pretty bad. lol Not being able to preview the pics before hand, well, let's just say we have a lot of baby pictures with a random pinkie finger here or there...
I am constantly trying to think of new ideas for cool photos. It's not unlikely to find us road tripping around looking for some neat undiscovered location. Not sure how much the family actually likes it, but the whole,"If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy..." idea pretty much sums up our family motto, so basically- They have no choice!! lol But if I had to guess how much each of them enjoy it I would say it goes like this: Andrew (my 8 yr old) doesn't mind it much cuz he's usually off picking up some random rock or shell or twig to add to his "collection" of stuff. I asked him once what kind of a collection it was and he said, "It's a collection of cool stuff" hmmmm...That's funny, seems to me it's a collection of "dirty stuff"- Oh well, at least it keeps him happy. Next we have Kimmy ( my 6 yr old) she is a little Spanish super model in the making! That girl can pose her butt off. Over the summer we went on a photo shoot & there were a TON of bees out. I'm talking mass quantities! Like there must have been a honey convention somewhere in town cuz those suckers were everywhere!! Kimmy is petrified of bees. Anytime she sees one she starts screaming and flailing her arms saying, "BEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!" Funny thing is, she's never even been stung by one...Must be a fear of the unknown. Anyway, where were we? Oh yea, those suckers were everywhere! Kimmy was screaming and in between her screams I was standing there, camera ready, yelling," 1, 2,3 SMILE!!" and she would stop for one second smile and pose, long enough for me to take the shot and then go back to screaming!! It went like this, "Ahhhhh!!! Click Ahhhhhh!! Click Ahhhh..." and so on and so on. I'm sure the other people in the park must have thought we were a band of crazy people, with me being the leader, Captain Insano. Then there is Bella (my 5 yr old). Bella has more energy then most & I am convinced it is because she is a super genius whose brain is huge and is developing at an abnormally high rate of speed. There's no way it could be ADHD or anything. lol There is evidence to support my theory too. You see, even though big heads run in my family, Bella's head is beyond big. It's huge. And my Dad used to always say, " Don't feel bad that your head is so big honey.  A big head means a big brain!" So, I'm thinking big head = big brain, so huge head must = huge brain. Hence where I got my super genius theory from :) So, looking back, I'm beginning to wonder if he just told me that so I wouldn't feel bad. Oh who cares? It really worked anyway. Anytime some random kid came up to me and said, "Daaaaaang girl!!!! Yo head is so damn big!!!" I just laughed and thought to myself, "Don't waste your time with this fool. He doesn't realize your head is so big so it can hold your big brain..." Ok, let's stop thinking about that. Not some of my best childhood memories. lol Back to Bella. She likes going on the actual shoots, but just so she can explore. Trying to get her to hold still for a shot is about as hard as trying to catch a fly with chop sticks. So I usually end up putting the camera in "Sports" mode and just going with the flow. By the time I get home, I have about 5 usable pics out of 50. But, what the heck, it's good practice, right? As for Juan, I'm pretty sure he loves it. Or at least he pretends. lol Picture this, 1 macho Mexican man in 95 degree weather, trudging through waste high weeds, carrying 20 lbs of photo props and 5 little girl hats with pink and purple ribbons on his head. While his wife ever so slowly scopes out the situation for the "perfect" location to take the "perfect" pictures... What's not to love?? Hehehe...I love my family!!