This time of year is slow for shooting, weddings don’t generally start till April and right after the holidays portraits are not a big thing on the to-do list since either people had portraits done for the holidays or they are still reeling from the credit card bills. Whatever the reason, this is a good time to dig through the pictures I have already taken and have another look at them, bringing them out in the fresh air to breath so to speak.
Last summer Tara, the wife of my long time friend Rob asked me to do a small family session. I guess she wanted something other then the portrait studio look and she knew I liked shooting on location. They were heading to a wedding the day of the shoot, so they all were done up in their best and looked great. We started out thinking of hitting up a local park to get some “picnic” like shots, but mother nature had a different plan for us and decided to bring in the showers to rain on our parade.
The day before I was driving around in the country and had noticed a field of freshly harvested hay, luckily I had remembered the location because we used it when the rain started in the park. We all jumped in the car and headed to the field I found the day before with our fingers crossed that we would make it there before the rain did.
When we got to the hay field, I could not have asked for a more dramatic scene. The dark clouds were coming in from the east, and the sun was coming in from the west which created amazing light and contrast. I really like the mixed setting of the storm coming in behind the family looking like they were… well heading to a wedding, having a little play time in the middle of a harvested hay field. All in all I was pleased with what I thought was going to be a washed out family session and I hope you enjoy the no so new picture.
