Being a photographer I struggle with taking "portraits" because to me a portrait is usually totally different than what my client is expecting. I want to capture life. I want to capture genuine emotions, the good ones and the not so good ones. Some of my favorite photos of my own children are of them having meltdowns. The raw emotion is so beautiful to me. I'm weird, I know.

My kids are definitely photographer's children. They love getting their photo taken but sadly they learned the word "CHEESE" from someone and now it's hard to get a photo of them where they are not making that horrible "CHEESE" face. I would like to yell at the person who thought saying cheese would be a good idea. I hear it all of the time and it makes me cringe. You do not look nice when you say cheese! I would rather you say nothing at all than say "Cheese". Glare at me, stick your tongue out, do anything but say "Cheese" it will be more genuine and real.

I'll be doing a session and the parents will say, "Say Cheese" I tighten up because it is hard to tell someone that the word that they are asking their child to say will more than likely make your child look like he/she needs to poop. Me saying "poop" is a much better option if you actually want a smile.

This past weekend we were at the park and my kids were having a ball on the tubular slides. They asked me to take their picture while on the slide. I looked up in the tube and was so happy that I had my fisheye lens with me. I started out laying in the slide and was slammed in to every time that they came down, OUCH! After being hit my fair share I figured that I could lay on top of the slide and take the photos. There were many strange looks that I got from parents who were playing and taking photos of their own kids but totally worth the looks as it as I bet none of them have any  pics like these of their kiddos!

Thanks E & W I had fun too and can't wait to blow a few of these up and give them to my hubby for Father's Day.