Heather Neal Photography

What a gorgeous family! We planned on doing this fall family session at Burr Oak Woods however I had a session there the week prior and noticed there was a sign up informing visitors that there would be a “Managed Hunt” the next weekend. Since they would be closed to the public (and also we didn’t want to get shot!) we had to decide on a new location so I recommended another favorite of mine…Belvoir Winery. This turned into a “Happy Accident” because I think the fall colors were brighter and prettier here anyway. This family with two energetic but very sweet boys was so much fun to work with and wow are they handsome?!?

This family session made me so happy. I did a session for them last year as well. They wanted pumpkins in it if possible so we decided to try a little local pumpkin patch. Seemed like a great idea however pretty much every negative circumstance that could present itself that day did. It was a full-sun day which was not only less than ideal in the “wide-open” pumpkin patch because of the bright light, squinty eyes and shadows it causes, but also it caused everyone’s skin to pick up an orange color cast from the pumpkins. It was muddy so positioning everyone was limited in the few “good spots” that we found and although I managed to get some shots and sweet candids it just didn’t go as perfectly as I like for my sessions to go which isn’t something that I’m used to thank goodness.

This year’s session more than made up for it in my book though! Although it was another bright, full-sun day, we found some beautiful places and easily got more than enough beautiful, frame-worthy images! Even the furry member of the family cooperated! 🙂

I’m gonna be honest here…I never know what to expect with extended family sessions. There are always several things going through my mind just before the session. Does everyone get along? Does everyone even WANT to do this? Are there going to be several toddlers all with different parents trying to get them to cooperate and the chance of everyone looking even close to my direction at the same time is zilch? I am almost always pleasantly surprised and everything always goes great, but this session in particular was really all I could ever hope for with a large family. Perfect weather, perfect fall colors, perfect outfits and just the right amount of cooperation and goofing around and having fun. I couldn’t help but imagine hanging out with this family on Thanksgiving and how much fun it must be. My favorite moment from this session was the last set of images below. Someone wanted to recreate a photo where the wives were piggyback on their husbands so we did and I took the first shot. Then they said “No, we were facing sideways last time” so they turned sideways…but not all in the same direction which resulted in a lot of laughs…and the second shot which is one of my personal favorites. 🙂