A Walk to Remember

November 6, 2013

As a portrait photographer, I am always the one taking pictures for others. It takes some courage to jump on the other side of the camera and see myself in the pictures. We had our first on location family session taken by Qian Rong Photography. Qian is one of my photographer friends. I will be taking his family photos in Spring 2014. It was such a wonderful experience. Unlike me, Qian does not plan for a session. He observes available light, interaction between subjects, and shoot on the fly. His specialties are candid family shots and sports pictures. He edited 12 images from the session. I told him that I would like to take a stab at editing the session myself and he was so generous to give me the raw images. Photography is so subjective. We both know that every photographer has his/her own editing style and our styles are different. I love his shooting style. Anyone in Overland Park, KS want family pictures should give him a call.

I almost never wear any makeup, but this time I hired a professional makeup artist/hair stylist to package me. Kayla is my go to girl for makeup and hair. She does wedding and fashion editorial work. She also owns Shades of Style Salon in Oak Groves, MO. She not only worked on my hair, but also French braided Audrey’s hair. We both loved her work.

After hair and makeup. My entire family, including my in-laws met with Qian at a small park in Kansas City. I picked out this location long time ago after visiting it with Audrey and Wesley. It was already pretty in the summer. With fall colors, it’s even more beautiful. We started the session by taking a couple shots of Billy and myself. Qian could read my mind. He knows that I do not have any pictures with my kids or Billy, so the key is to capture my interaction with Audrey, Wesley, and Billy. He did not ask us to pose at all during the entire session. At one point, we even thought he disappeared. That’s what he wanted – allow us to play, have fun, and ignore his existence, so we could totally relax and enjoy a wonderful time. I am so happy with all the photos he captured for my little family. Thanks so much to Qian! I also learned a lot from editing my own family session this time. I created some new Lightroom presets myself. At the end of the session, I also took a few behind the scene shots of Qian showing Audrey and Wesley photos on his camera. Grandparents really helped entertain the kids and I got a few shots of Wesley doing his new happy dance! We forgot to take a picture of just me, so I used my human tripod to do a self portrait to end the session. I set everything on my camera and gave it to Billy. He knows where to focus (my face) and snapped a photo of me in front of the bridge. I couldn’t ask for more after this session. Now I also have memories documented on photos with my little family. Wish I could do this every year.

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