Three years ago! I can’t believe it. It hit at least 98 degrees here today with a heat index of about 108. It was hot and there was no other way to explain it. I am getting ready to shoot a hockey game in the morning (no, hockey season is not over for everybody just yet). My kids went separate ways tonight. My daughter hit the pool with friends and my son hit the movies with his friends. Both cool places and I got stuck in between. So with the A/C cranked up high, I was sorting pictures while getting ready for tomorrow.

I found these pictures from 2005. I took them at the end of May in 2005 during a family trip to the mountains of NC. Yep, that would have just been a couple of weeks ago and then three years. It hit 98 here today yet we were wearing jackets and honestly freezing when these shots were taken. Now the northern mountains of NC are generally 10-15 degrees cooler than the piedmont but wow. 10-15 degrees cooler than what we have now would have still been hot!

Still, old pictures are great! These are just snapshots for sure, but I still love them. They are my kids…

I had to post a few more pics from this session. It was a load of fun. The girls were a little timid to begin with. We were shooting adjacent to a park with many homeless residents. There was a character there who was preaching the word to anybody who would listen. Actually, he was yelling the word at those who would not listen. When we arrived he was standing over a young couple having a picnic. How for the love of God they were able to ignore him I do not know, but they did. We watched from a distance while waiting for the girls to arrive. Eventually he got tired of preaching to them and moved on to a group of homeless. Soon he was on the other side of the square. Then the girls arrived.

They heard him first and then saw him on the other side of the square. They rolled their eyes and I know thought this guy was not playing with a full deck. The mom leaves and we begin with some shots to get them used to the camera. They start having fun, doing some silly shots and are starting to relax. Then in the distance we hear the sound of God getting closer. I look over to see that we have been selected as this preachers next audience. He is literally screaming at us so loud that you could not distinguish what the man was saying. The girls looked over and turned white. They were out of the park and across the street in seconds. I could not help but laugh. He must have had one of those wireless collars like I have for my dog at home because he got to the edge of the park yelling and then went away never crossing the street.

The girls relaxed and we got some great shots.

Yesterday we worked with two young ladies. BFF (best friends forever) I was told. Talking to them I learned they have been best friends since the first grade. It really showed because they fed off of each other all day. Sometimes one would start a sentence and they both would start laughing before anything was said. I’m sure it had nothing to do with me sweating or my balding head….

This shot started at 2pm in downtown Raleigh. It was very warm and the sun was REALLY strong. Very hard shadows were being cast everywhere. This time of day is often referred to as the worst time of day to shoot portraits. I could not disagree more. It does present a few new challenges but nothing that can’t be handled. Finding a tree to shade the face. Maybe the shade from a wall for fill and using the open sky as the key. When you stop and look, there is always great lighting.

I’ll upload a few more from this shoot tomorrow.