Lifestyle Family

Summer Means U-Pick Raspberries - Fairbanks Lifestyle Photographer

It’s only November – and the very beginning of November, at that – but I already find myself ready for a bit of a vacation. Some sun, some green, maybe even some flowers. This is, of course, a long way off, but I do have access to virtual, visual vacations by way of revising some summer photographs not yet blogged. Even though I just took a break from writing this to go load the woodstove, it was surprisingly refreshing to spend an hour in early August. It turns out the backlog of personal photos from this summer and fall sitting on my harddrive is not the result of disorganization or too little free time, as I had thought, but rather – a stroke of genius! I may have just enough to keep me in visual vacations all winter long.

Today’s vacation is brought to you by the U-Pick Raspberry farm and the month of August. My friend Jeanine and I met out there with a collective four kids and picked for a solid two hours, resulting in a full gallon of berries each – which, given the kid-wrangling (and kid-snacking) that took place, I thought was pretty impressive! They (the berries) currently reside in my pantry in the form of Raspberry-Cilantro-Jalapeno Jam and Raspberry-Plum-Almond Jam – tastes of summer to last me all winter long.

Jordan & Dekar - Fairbanks Lifestyle Family Photographer

Jordan and Dekar are definitely one of my favorite sets of twins. (Which is an easier thing than most to say, since I don’t actually know that many sets of twins!) They’re turning five soon, and their parents wanted to do a really fun photo shoot while it was still summer.

And did they ever have fun! I think it’s safe to say that all four of us (me, Jordan, Dekar, and their mom Melanie) all had a great time on this late-summer evening on at the playground. To me, this session really captured so much of what I love about lifestyle photography: instead of a series of canned smiles (granted, of which there are a few, lol), the kids’ personalities shine through. I love seeing their character and spunk, their adventuresome nature and care-taking instincts.

They caught the spirit of the photoshoot right away, and 99% of the “poses” are of their own creative making (including the one in which they’re “mooning” me, lol. Little imps!).

Happy (almost) birthday, Jordan and Dekar!