Aaron, Xavier, Ezra, Serapine and Niobe, aka Carla and Glenn’s Crew, cam over to our Aberdeen home studio for some quick family portraits during our model search weekend.  The five kids were an absolute breeze to work with because they are all well mannered and they look after each other.  It’s great to see them taking care of one another but still enjoying themselves.

We did a few individual shots of everyone before we crammed them all together on a bench to get a group portrait.  I loved how a similar pose on all three boys presents three different personalities in the portraits. Take a look at this shot of just the boys. You can clearly see the different personalities in the boys.

Aaron, the oldest, was very interested in all the studio equipment and had lots of questions for me about how it all worked.  I love when kids take an interests in their surroundings so I was more than happy to answer all of his questions.  I hope they come back more and maybe I will even have him take a few photos of his siblings.  Aaron is very mature and is very intelligent.  When talking with him, you tend to forget that he’s still a young man.

Xavier had some great emotion in his photos.  First, he has a mohawk, which is so much fun! And it totally matches his personality.  He’s very much a straight shooter and he says what he’s thinking, which I love.  I love the complete honesty that comes from his lips and wish I could just spend the day with him and see the world as he sees it.

Ezra was full of giggles the entire day.  He had to wear his baseball shirt because he wanted me to know his team is named the Orioles just like our local pro team.  Ezra loved the funny sayings I had them say and would crack up giggling before he get the whole phrase out.  I loved his giggle, it just lit up the room.

The two youngest, Seraphine and Niobe, are both girls and I wanted to get some pictures of them together.  With so many big brothers, I think they share a special bond of being little girls.  Seraphine was quiet but listened to all the instructions we gave her.  She was a great listener and I loved the innocence she brought to the scenes.  Niobe was interested in just about everything except getting her picture taken   She loved the toys we had, she just didn’t love them on the paper backgrounds, she wanted to play with them on her terms   Luckily, her big sister was there to help us.

After the individual portraits, we got everyone together for some group portraits. First, I grabbed a picnic bench from outside and we crammed all five kids onto it for a “feet portrait”. Our feet portraits have become very popular and I think this is one of my favorites. I like the way all of the feet are staggered just like the kid’s ages.

For the final group shot, I had an idea pop into my head and I was frantically searching for some duct tape but to no avail. Luckily, Carla made a call to her husband who was able to find and deliver a roll to us. It is very convenient having them so close. I imagined a scene where Aaron was being over taken by his younger brothers and sisters, a la Gulliver’s travels. Everyone was on board, even though Aaron was a little apprehensive, I think he was afraid I was giving his siblings an idea to try at home, I know Mom was paying close attention

I had such a great time with this family. They are all great characters who have a really strong bond between them and I loved trying to get that to come across in their portraits. I recorded a video of their session and I’m happy to share it with you below…

Antwon and Tony came in to our home studio in Aberdeen as part of our model search program. From the moment they walked in, they were fun, polite, and charismatic. Since school had just ended, we talked about their summer plans. They were both excited to have a fun summer ahead of them.

Both boys are very good looking and just have a great look about them. They took direction so well and I was able to get a variety of test shots in a short period of time; I was very impressed.

Antwon was done getting his picture taken until I pulled out the crate. Then he jumped right up and wanted a picture done with the crate, he said it looked cool. Antwon had a great confidence about him and I love how he swaggered on and off set knowing how good he looked the whole time.

I am really looking forward to working with both of them again soon so I am sure you will see them around the website quite a bit.

Kyan and Kady came back for some birthday portraits. This time though, they came to the studio in Aberdeen, MD and we had a few surprises in store for them. I first went to their home for Christmas portraits last year and I was very excited to get an email saying that they wanted to come in for another session.

Kyan just turned 4 and Kady just turned 1. Their birthdays are actually only a few days apart and they have this great chemistry together. Kyan is very patient with her and he can make her laugh on command, it’s great! For the portrait above, we were trying to get Kyan and Kady to sit together but she was having nothing to do with it. Instead, she was running around Kyan and tapping him on the head, I think she was playing a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. It was really important to me to capture their interaction with each other. Kyan is a great big brother and Kady really adores him.

Kyan has great expressions. He has a great smile and is a great giggler. One of my favorite things to do with him is have him make serious faces and silly faces, he’s just so great at it.

I had a concept for this scene for a while now and finally had all the props to pull it off. Kady was a great model for it and she LOVED the bubbles. Her big brother was off to the side being a big help and manning the bubble machine.

Apparently, the bath was very comfortable

Mom said that she wanted to do a scene where Kady was getting to eat a birthday cake and was a complete mess. I think she nailed it (with a little help from Mom, watch the video below to see what I’m talking about). We had such a great time with this scene that we are currently working on a special cake smashing/eating session as a stand alone session or as an add-on to our Small Wonder program. More details to come.

It was great getting to work with Kyan and Kady again. Kady has grown so much since I saw her last in December. Back in December, she could barely situp on her own and now she’s walking all over. I love to see the progression of so many children coming through my studio. It’s important to capture those moments.

As I’ve done with many of my sessions, I made sure to record this one and I’m glad I did. While you watch the video, watch how many times Kady walks off the scene and Mom and Dad have to bring her back. Almost every time she walked off, she would give me “five” and slap my hand. It became a little game. Another fun thing to watch is the cake scene, you don’t generally see parents encouraging their kids to get messy

I’m currently looking for children ages 0 to 7 years old.

Shawn Grimes Photography is in the process of testing new backgrounds, props, ideas, and techniques. We are looking for fresh faces to aide in this process and…We want you!

We will be conducting 15-30 minute TEST sessions on:
Saturday, June 13th, 2009
Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Please call or email for more information or to setup an appointment for your child’s test session
410-734-2770
shawn@shawngrimesphotography.com

Models may be called back for a free photo session. Images from the free session may be used for studio samples and marketing materials. All free sessions include a $20 print credit toward any photos ordered from the session. Additional compensation may be paid to models based on image usage.