Ian and myself have been toying with the idea of having a family shoot of his own family from the beginning of summer, but you know life happens with numerous weddings to shoot together and independently, and we never found the time.
However last weekend Ian asked me to find a date that following week, so we meet and we finally do these images. We met and as soon as I said hello, all his four kids ran around me and then away from me spreading in all directions. Josann, Ian's wife, gave me a warm smile as always, and Ian is Ian, we are colleagues, we say hi without uttering the word really.
Off we went for 'a walk' with the kids. A walk with kids is never a leisurely walk. We were altering between, walking, running, jumping and well trying to keep everyone in sight and out of danger. Suddenly everything is a hazard...and I might be a bit too relaxed with kids since I don't have any of my own, so I am not exactly alert of any dangers. We reached a nice plateau where there was some shade, and off the kids went...and myself as the photographer was left behind. My only alternative was to run, engage with them and also take shots!
They ran, screamed, fell, got up, continued running...and somehow I got the shots. We even managed some family shots....and the beauty of kids offers a vibrant set of various photos were the kids are being kids and the adults well...are being parents, trying to look good whilst scolding their kids. It was exquisite to shoot such a lovely family. All individual kids had their unique character and expressions.
Paolo the eldest and only male amongst his siblings, was the shy but not so quite one. He collected sticks whilst we were doing this shoot, however he also wanted a photo for school so at one point he did look at the camera.