once again my kids completely lucked out for our holiday photo. my super talented friend, stephanie beresford, wanted to try out some new camera lenses and did a little shoot with them in the backyard. i have no idea when we did this… just that it was “some time” during the pandemic (i think i have permanent corona brain, which has left me unable to remember when anything happened) but it WAS in 2021. theo’s hair is even longer now and lucy has more of a “middle school” air about her, but beyond that they look the same. after all that these kids have had to process in the last two years: the corona, home schooling (especially “math with mama”), me being in school and FREAKING OUT over autocad and sketchup, endless door dash, multiple horrendous shootings, me too, BLM, all the wild fires and smokey air, the loss of our beloved GG AND our grandma on the “i” street, my vacuum being in the shop for so long (which has lots of ramifications for MY mental health and subsequently theirs) and just the loss of “normal life” (i keep imagining them sitting in a bar in their forties chatting with someone about this pandemic period, “how crazy was your mom during corona?”) i just couldn’t put them through further trauma for a more recent photo… i’m an AWESOME mom like that!
(theo by our cottonwood tree)
(lulu on the front porch)
and stephanie, a true professional, didn’t swear at them or make them cry or even bribe them. i don’t know how she did it (mostly because i was asked to leave since my smile inducing tactics weren’t really appreciated or needed by either the photographer or the subjects) and it was an easy, even pleasant experience for all. MANY, MANY THANKS miss stephanie for saving my children from even more 2021 anguish.
* while stephanie does really beautiful portraits (of both humans AND animals) right now she is focusing on her gorgeous western images. check out her website: stephbphotos.com or follow her on instagram: stephanieb_photos
