Julia and Jaden

When I heard that I'd be taking photos of two girls and their new puppy, my first thought was, "this will be hard not to get a good photo". The next time I hear something similar, my first thought will be, "how will I get them to sit still?". Regardless of their energy, Julia and Jaden were lots of fun to photograph and, consequently, we got some great photos.

The weather couldn't have been better for an afternoon in the park. October days in Colorado are unpredictable. Fortunately, we picked a beautiful day! Stephanie (Julia and Jaden's mother) chose a nice little park in their neighborhood complete with a playground and mountain views.

We started on the playground. I just told the girls to have fun and that's exactly what they did. They were both very comfortable with the camera and even gave me some poses when I asked them to. The hard part was getting them off of the playground and onto the grass to pose for a few photos with their new puppy.

Once the girls were on the grass, the next trick was to get the dog into the photos. When that was accomplished, they all needed to look at the camera at the same time. One of the best ways to get kids' attention and to get them to look at the camera is to ask them to make funny faces. Once they do that, getting them to make a nice face isn't as difficult. One of my favorite photos of the day was a "funny face" photo where even the dog is sticking out her tongue!

After about an hour of taking photos, the girls started to get tired. If there's one thing I've learned about photographing children, it's that it's better to end on a good note rather than wait for things to go bad. We decided to call it a day while everyone was still smiling, which allowed us to go enjoy what was left of a beautiful October afternoon in high spirits.

You can see more images here.