I was fully prepared for this little man of mine to be the epitome of a photographers child, refusing to cooperate, growling at the camera, and so on. However, his spit fire, silly personality is hard to tame, even for him. We had a few melt downs when we had to do our own walking, but for the majority of the time, my favorite parts of his personality shined throughout our shoot.

Since he is very much the shoemakers child in the sense that I NEVER pull out my camera at home, I decided that an 18 month photo shoot was necessary. He’s changed so much in the last 6 months, which was the last time I took photos of him…outside of my iphone of course. Not to mention, I’ve had a vision in my head with the old Ford truck hood that I’ve been wanting to bring to life for a while now. If I’m being completely honest, I kept hoping a client with a little boy named Ford would appear in my inbox, but I couldn’t wait any longer so my little boy had to do. And he did quite perfect if you ask me! :) He even dressed the part, understated casualness, denim and barefoot, a baseball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes (which he loves looking directly at and then laughing as he squints and turns his head away).

This shoot became even more important to me once I saw the photos. During a typical shoot with clients, it’s always important to me to embody any and all emotion that is being shown. Even if it’s not a highly emotional shoot, such as a wedding or birth, the moments are just as fleeting and just as important. Especially with a growing child whose personality changes and expands every day. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day routines that even if I’m witnessing these changes take place, I still overlook them or get too busy to acknowledge what is happening before my very eyes. One day, he won’t suck his thumb anymore. One day, his baby curls on the back of his head will be cut off and will never return the same way. One day, he’ll be too big to let his Momma throw him up in the air or too cool to give his Daddy hugs and kisses. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to tell me when that last time will come so that I can soak that moment up a little longer.

One day, all I’ll have are the faded memories and, thank God, the photos.