3 Year Photo Shoot

I had my eye out for good weather on the week leading up to Joy's birthday.  On Monday, I thought we struck gold since it was overcast in the morning, but by the time we got to the location, it was bright, bright sunshine.  I brought my reflector, which has built in shade, but poor Joy still had to squint up at me, which resulted in pictures like this: (and long run-on sentences, apparently)

a little better

and the best one of the shoot

Decent. But I wanted another shot.  Luckily, (sadly a huge percentage of my photography skills come from luck) there was a storm on Saturday, so an hour before sunset we set out for some great light and a naturally defused sky.  (And now all my photography secrets have been revealed.)

Umbrellas make great props, but this one was also necessary since it was raining when we started.

We were playing peek-a-boo with the umbrella.

This is my model shot.  Too bad she hates
doing photo shoots, she could pay for college
now.

This face reminded me of something . . . 

6 months - 3 years

More silly faces.

Climbing up on the bridge was her idea.  Proof that if you let them go with their ideas, you can get some great pictures.  Also letting them see the screen with their pictures as you go helps.

And this one is the winner. 

And now you really do know all my secrets to take a toddler photo shoot.  I use a 50mm 1.8 lens.  They are the easiest, cheapest lens for anyone interested in taking better pictures with a DSLR. Didn't realize when I started that this would be a tutorial, but at least these show a little bit of Joy's personality these days.