I Heart Photographing Family Parties!

 I consider myself a beginner/amateur lifestyle photographer. A lifestyle photographer does a lot of candid shooting, and tries to capture emotion in a natural setting. Family get-togethers are the perfect place to practice because there is so much going on and a lot of emotion to go with it.

The following is the posthumous birthday party of my late mother-in-law. We recreated her favorite recipes and remembered our favorite times with her, and the kids did what kids do.... had fun!

And there is nothing lovelier to photograph than children or all ages....

(I really only posted the above photo to publicly mock my son for his choice of attire.)

And where there are kids, there is lots of action, like hula-hooping...

...one-on-one...

...and one of my all-time favorite events to photograph.... pinata time! It's kids, color and emotion all at the same time. Some of what I love most about the following photos are the expressions of the kids in the background, patiently waiting their turn in line...

...and we can't forget about the pinata spoils!...

As far as real food goes, there were grilled hamburgers and hotdogs...

...and, among other things, made-from-scratch strawberry cupcakes. This was a project I was supposed to finish, but I ran short of time and ended up having to leave for the 16-year-old girl's basketball game in the big town. Because there was no other option, with great trepidation I printed out the recipe for the cupcakes and fresh strawberry frosting and left the 14-year-old boy to his own devices. He succeeded capitally, even choosing to apply the frosting with the special frosting dispenser! Look....

The recipe's HERE if you care.

All in all, we had great time...

...and we're looking forward to the next excuse to get together!

Thanks for listening!

P.S. My sister and I are finally getting skinnier!

See how we're doing it HERE! :)