For at least a year now, I've been telling people: "I don't really do family shoots." Why, you ask? Well, to be honest, they're kind of.... difficult. Convincing toddlers to stand on the right side of the sun and trying to get babies to smile are just not my favorite parts of photography. This year, I was set to do ONLY weddings, bridals, and seniors, no matter how many people asked me to photograph their families.

But then, I started my own family.

People tell you that having a baby changes everything, and boy, they are right. Even my views on family photography have changed. My husband and I hired a fantastic child photographer, Lara Betts Hopkins, to do a newborn shoot for us. I was psyched about having all these photos of my little Caroline all naked and sleepy in cute hats. But you know what? My *favorite* photos weren't the portraits at all. My favorites were the ones that really captured moments of our daily life: Caroline being nursed or changed, or the dog sulking while I talk to the baby, or my husband making funny faces and smiling at her. Those are the moments I really want to remember, and those photos made me reconsider my whole attitude towards family photography. Enter the Flints. We've been friends with Kathryn and Kevin since college and have loved getting to see their boys grow up. I was honored when they contacted me about doing some family portraits, and psyched when they jumped on board with my new plan... instead of just shooting regular portraits, we'd do more of a documentary-style, day-in-the-life shoot. We planned several fun activites, and I hung out at their house from 3:30 until about 8:00, shooting whatever happened (they fed me dinner, and invited my husband and Caroline stop by for the meal as well, which was a quite a treat). It was so fast-paced, I felt like I was shooting a wedding. And it was FUN.  The boys just played and played, and I snapped away happily.  I much preferred this approach to meeting in a park somewhere and trying to get them to stand still and smile, and I think they preferred it too! Now, to be honest, these are not classically photojournalistic. I did interact with the subjects, and at the end of the night, we did a quick set of regular portraits all together.  Still, I think these photos do a pretty nice job of capturing a "slice of life" for this beautiful young family. Kathryn and Kevin, I hope you enjoy these photos! I sure enjoyed taking them.