Southern Utah Family Photographs: Adoptive Family, the Stucki's (with slideshow)

I am particularly passionate about promoting families who adopt since I myself was adopted when I was 14 years old.

I will be frank. There is nothing easy about foster care, foster to adopt and even adoption on its own. Any Age. It is heart wrenching. Hard for everyone. But let me tell you, rewarding and beautiful in so many ways, that it makes the hard times seem like a required class, that can only make you a better person.

I recently photographed a very unique family. The Stucki Family. Lara and Sam by age traditionally would be parents who might be sending children off to college and perhaps even looking forward to their first grandchild. Instead, they have one fabulous older son (biologically) who is 18 years old and in college. Then, they made a decision to have a large family.  Over the past seven years, they have foster to adopted three children and recently adopted three more children from Ethiopia. All six of these children are under the age of seven.

This was a very busy sitting! Working to keep attention and moving very quickly to capture each smile. Regardless of how busy the photoshoot was, I was amazed at the connection these children had with each-other, their big brother and their parents. They could not stop hugging each-other. It was wonderful. I always have many questions for families like this. Lara and Sam answered my questions and did not hesitate to be frank about the sacrifices and hardships they have had to endure in order to have this family. They are also equally strong about how grateful they are for these children and what a blessing they are to them. They are not shy about expressing the fact that they would not ever exchange tough times, it was necessary so they could have these children. One of their small daughters I had met that day, held my hand as we walked across the street to their car, after the sitting was over. She looked up at me in the most sincere way and said "I love you." I drove away from this sitting with tears in my eyes. Thank you Lara and Sam for hiring me. People like you, make this world a beautiful place to live in.

I hope you enjoy the slideshow:

Family Photos in Southern Utah: The Wells Family Slideshow

I love this family. Kyle Wells was a good friend through highschool. I think it is always a blessing to get to reunite with people you knew in highschool and then see them years later; mature, happily married to someone lovely and with several, beautiful children. This was the case with Kyle.
These kids had me laughing to myself while I worked on these photos all week as I remembered the little things they said to me. While I was posing them for the first shot of the sitting, I told Kyle and JoEllen to get close so it "looks like you like eachother." The kids looked up at me and said dramatically. "OH! They LIKE each-other alright!"What a great and honest exclamation!
Another one of my ULTIMATE laughs of the night came when we were finished with the sitting and I turned to the kids after they were sitting in their car and said  "I had such a fun time with you! Thank you!" Immediately after, Kyle walked up to me and paid me the photo fee, when from the background his daughter yells, "We don't have to pay her! She had FUN!" It was the icing on top of the cake. I laughed all the way home, I couldn't wait to tell my husband.
So yes, it was wonderful photographing and sharing time with the Wells. They are a genuine, beautiful family. Thank you Kyle and JoEllen for hiring me, I truly appreciate it.

I hope you enjoy this little slideshow. After the slideshow, the gallery of images will appear and you can click on the image to scroll through and view each photo.

-Sharee

Mullins Family Photos - Making photoshoots fun, for Everyone.

Getting a man to spend time posing for photographs, gives him a strange feeling of uneasiness. I tend to get this from woman who ask me to photograph the family. "I want to but, my husband hates to get his photos taken." This is true for most all men. Then comes the struggle;  GETTING him to the sitting.  He finds it completely frustrating as his wife or mother dresses him. Even the idea of spending money to have a photographer take photos, sends a man spinning into chaos.
For me, the great part of all this knowledge is, I don't really care anymore. My goal is to have the ladies to let go, and the men to come to the sitting in a, sort-of decent mood.

I was watching Bolt (The Disney/Pixar Movie) today and up came the scene, "The Dog Face" and I suddenly realized that the scene where Mittens gets Bolt to do the dog face, sounds allot like me when posing guys. I feel like I know what they are thinking.... "Your a degenerate creature of darkness" and I reply back with "Yeah, yeah, granted. With that said, all I'm asking you is to tilt your a head a little!"

Here is the scene:
http://youtu.be/iWNAwgiJ5tM

I photographed once again at the Brigham Young Home yesterday. This is a frequent spot for most photographers but new for me. See my post on that subject.

The family, the Mullins, are neighbors of mine. The father is my Bishop of the ward (my church) I go to (just a little pressure, to get this one right). Jordan, one son, is leaving tomorrow to serve a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (double pressure).
Five men and three ladies (and a friend) all showed up. With a little guidance, and laughing with them, they eased up. It was really fun. If one makes the comment most all photographers hear, "I hate getting my photo taken." I say "Yeah, most people do." Then I tell them to trust me and everything will be alright. It's a good conversation to have. It is always my rule to let the family play.
If I didn't let this family play, I think they would shrivel up and die or explode, truly. It is their personality to play and so I had to let go, and go with the flow! It all worked to my benefit.

We had a lot of fun yesterday and I don't think anyone thought I was a "degenerate creature of darkness." :) At least I hope.
Thank you to the Mullins, I had a great evening, hanging with you!

Wait for the slideshow to upload and then hit play or click on the link below.
http://shareephoto.myshowit.com/mullinstfamilyphotographs

Focusing on Capturing Emotion and Not my Insecurities

I have photographed Connie, a dear friend and her family, for years. They have always been pleasant with me. Even better, they appreciate my style and approach. But Monday, was where the photo stars were in perfect alignment of what I value in technique, putting away my pride and focusing on the art of capturing emotion of a beautiful family.

Being from Southern Utah, I have only photographed at the Brigham Young Home in Downtown St. George, twice. Monday was the first time for Connie's family. My resistance to photograph here, was out of sheer pride. This is a popular location, and with our over-saturated market of portrait photographers, I am VERY eager to separate myself from feeling like another photographic drone.  Since I have retired I feel less inclined to have the same worries I used to.
I had a BLAST photographing at this location!
Shame on my insecurities and pride.

Any location can become unique, based on the photographers skill to make it original. That is the freedom of personal style.

TECHNICAL Craft
I photographed Connie and her family at 7pm in the evening, it was beautiful evening light. I shot at 400 ISO and the images ranged from 5.6 to 3.5 Fstop at about 125 to 60th of a second. I used my Cannon Speedlite with the Gary Fong light diffuser. I shot about 140 images, deleted about 15. I narrowed the slideshow down to about 44 images. And YES, I always shoot in RAW with my EOS 50D. I processed the images in Lightroom and did one or two touchups in Photoshop. I strive to have sound images so I limit my time on the computer, yet I still spend at least a couple hours processing, editing the sitting, making slideshows, putting logos on the web images and getting this blog prepared.

My Approach to Capture Emotion and Play
The children ran about and played. I stay away from the traditional "porch group shots" simply because I think they look LAME. I focused more on creating natural, relaxed poses, with point of focus compositions. I shot whatever seemed to come natural and worked to mold the family so they all look their best together. The kids seemed to immediately, feel comfortable with me. I seized the moment and brought them in, talking softly and giggling with them. I relished, that they were ultra relaxed with me. We played for a while and then immediately focused on a few family poses. Connie and her husband have quite a bit of trust in me, so they backed off and became silent observers as I played and photographed the children. Afterward, I let them play as a famly and would occasionally gather them in together. It proved to be a good experience for everyone.

The most important thing here, was that the family felt secluded, relaxed and themselves, this way, I could focus on emotion. I love being able to ANTICIPATE a moment. To allow my personality be a tool to help the family loosen up, and truly be themselves. To create a portfolio of happy, intimate images.

I am glad I put away my insecurities for this one. The images are beautiful.

The portrait slideshow will take a minute to load. I hope you enjoy! It is beautiful, with a song by Ben Folds, called The Luckiest. http://shareephoto.myshowit.com/huntfamilyphotographs2

I photographed the area after the sitting was over about 8:30 pm For this I bumped up the ISO so I could have more depth of field, since I had no tripod on hand. Scroll down to see those images. 

What do these three images have in common?

SPRING TIME!

At my place.

BREATH IN! AHHHH! I love the smell of spring. I love being able to open my windows, air out the house. Plant the bulbs for beautiful cutting flowers. Pick out the seeds I want to plant in the back yard. Yes, we plant nearly 75% garden in our back yard, because we have no grass. YET. Why not turn it into something functional, till we can afford to landscape? Here are three images that I shot that seem to have nothing in common, yet they all speak, SPRING TIME to me. 

Getting a "warm weather haircut" from Grandpa "The Barber."

Everyone seems to only go to beauty salons these days. If your a guy, go get your hair cut in the "MAN SHOP" from my dad.

Kids Playing in the mud while we plant the garden. I love it when they get dirty.

Every kind of play out there involves sanitizer and safety pads. 

Let your kids play in mud and get dirty. It will be good for them.

Plum tree blossoming. Smells good!

Nothing social analytical about this shot. 

I guess, I could say. "Learn to can jam from your fruit trees. It's fun and makes a good 

Christmas gift."

What do you and your family do in the spring time?

What kind of spring shots do you capture, that best describe how you live in spring?

Dirtier is Better - A Tree Cutting Tradition

When it comes to kids playing, it is TRUE! The dirtier the better. We started a new tradition, cutting fire wood this year. Last week, we got a BLM permit and cut cedar wood up on Utah mountain. It was a blast. We piled the truck full of cut cedar wood, which I believe is the BEST smelling fire wood. The kids played and played in the dirt, ate dirt and threw dirt. We later built a fire, roasted hotdogs on long sticks over the fire, made hot-chocolate and sang Christmas Carols. It was a blast! We had fun and the kids totally exhausted themselves. It was great!
Later that evening while coming home we drove into town and found a neighborhood filled with Christmas lights. We drove around looking at all the amazing set-ups and light formations. It was the PERFECT  & INEXPENSIVE tradition, I plan to carry out each year.
I can't NOT mention that it took a bit of work. First our truck broke down that day and Laramie had to repair it and we had a hassle with the BLM map as well as the load of laundry I had to do that evening. But, with all the "reality of what it takes to make a good tradition," I am pleased with it and my 7 year old son told me over and over, how much he enjoyed the day. Now, that statement, despite my own feelings, says it all to me.
Here are the photos from our day trip tradition.

Clean Face BEFORE the dirt!

Clean Face BEFORE the Dirt!

Another perfect moment between these two! It melts my heart.

YES! I love the DIRT MOUTH and PANT covered in DIRT! They look so happy.

The Tree that became our "Smell good" firewood and the kids looking for good, clean dirt!

Riley Slack - Living with Ataxia-telangiectasia

I met Nancy last month, she is the grandmother to Riley Slack a 3 year old little girl I recently photographed. Riley has an extremely rare disease called Ataxia-telangiectasia. It is a disease that seems to surface at the age of two. Riley, who seems to be healthy and bright and energetic and full of all kind of toddler mischief. Will begin to loose her ability to walk and talk. She is also prone to respiratory illnesses. Children with A-T are prone to cancer such as leukemia, and A-T patients are sensitive to radiation and so therefore can not tolerate radiation therapy. If Riley is lucky enough not to develop Cancer, then she will most likely be confined to a wheelchair by age 10 years old. Most children with A-T die in their teens or early twenties from respiratory failure or cancer.
But this is not all.

Riley has an older brother. Dylan Slack who passed away from complications from A-T in March of 2010 at age 5. By the stories I have heard and photographs I have seen, this sweet little boy was greatly loved.

I have not yet met Dylan and Riley's parents. I have seen photos of them at Nancy's home. I have heard their story through "Grandma Nancy" and of course I have spent some time with Riley. I have been to their website and read through it a time or two. I have been captivated and amazed by this family and their story. They make me want to be a better person.

You see, Ryan and Stephanie Slack (Dylan and Riley's parents) are young and beautiful. They are intelligent and loving. They’re also both genetic carriers for the disease. A-T is an extremely rare recessive genetic disease wherein both parents must be carriers and most likely never exhibit any symptoms. In an instance where both parents are carriers, they still only have a 25 percent likelihood of having a child affected with A-T. Ryan and Stephanie had TWO children with A-T.    

Although both parents are dedicated to be self-reliant and both work so they can pay for the medical costs, these medical expenses have become overwhelming and continue to increase as they care for Riley. Through it all, they have worked to maintain a positive outlook on life and continue to keep hope as they care for Riley's health. To help with costs, the Slack's have set up "The Slack Family Blog" explaining more about their story, with information about donations and regular fundraisers.

There will be a fundraiser this weekend. December 3rd and 4th, Friday and Saturday night @ 7:30 @ Desert Hills High School, "the Kalamity" dance team is hosting and performing a fundraiser for the Dylan and Riley Slack Fund, to donate to medical costs for the rare A-T disease. Only $5!

If you would like to donate to the Dylan and Riley Slack fund. Please visit their blog to find out more about how you can help and to learn more about Ataxia-telangiectasia.

For now, I hope you enjoy the photos of this darling, HAPPY, little girl, Riley.  I had a blast following her around as she did some serious inspection of the downtown St. George area.

I wish her family the very best as they love and care for Riley. She is a joy.

Sharee

Much of the medical information regarding Ataxia-telangiectasia was taken from the Slack Family Blog and the A-T Cure Team Website.  

Pretty Fall Photos by Sharee Jones

Ahh I love fall. Here are a few choices of my latest images that were sent to print. I thought I would share a few of them with you. :) Happy Fall and Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

She likes those farm cats!

It was early morning rainy day and we were on a country dirt road and I took this shot as we pulled over for me to take another photo...

This was the shot I took...

The smiliest boy I have ever seen...

I love her eyes...

This shot is now a 16x20 on my wall...I love it!

They both posed so well...

Another 16x20 for my wall...