Last weekend, I was babysitting my 3 year old nephew, Dean. Like most 3 year old boys, all he wanted to do was watch Avengers cartoons, eat ice cream, and ride his trycicle. I chased him, he chased me. We made parachutes for his action figures (because dolls are for girls) out of plastic bags and string, went to story time at Barnes & Noble, he took a nap, I took a breath and shower, and then we went to the movies but I noticed that he was the youngest kid around, so we went to have sushi instead (California rolls for him) and geez oh geez… I need more energy.  So ya, we did what he wanted to do for one whole day. (If I have to watch an Avengera cartoon one more time I’m gonna throw a shoe at the TV…haha j/k. The theme song was kind of catchy though.)

The next day, after watching a few episodes of Phineas and Ferb (thank you, Netflix) we made plans to go to Fairmount Park in Riverside. I dressed him in his cutest outfit that my sister packed for him and we headed to Starbucks for his afternoon coffee (chocolate milk) and Crust-On (crossiant), he likes it toasted and warm but not burned. We then headed to the park with my camera bag in tow and as soon as I found the right light, BAM! out came the camera. When Dean sees a camera he stops being himself and looks away and gets super self conscious and shy. Like I do on most children’s portrait shoots, I talked to him and asked him about cartoons, school, breakfast, his favorite dessert, how he ties his shoes, his favorite song, etc. Anything to get his mind off the camera. We walked around the grounds, watched a wedding ceremony in the rose garden for a few minutes,  and then came to my favorite spot to shoot by the bike paths. The background is pretty and the tall trees allow the evening sun to filter through giving a very soft look. I snapped away. We then headed to the monkey bars and swings and played for a solid hour.

If you’d like to get some awesome photos of your kids, drop us a line!