At the beginning of this month, I headed down the street to photograph some friends (who also happen to be our neighbours), Evan & Heidi, and their two adorable little kiddos.
Evan, Ava, Myles, Heidi
Evan & Heidi decided they wanted to do a lifestyle session inside their home, which I loved for two reasons: One, it was FREEZING COLD outside (April is supposed to mean SPRING, come on, Canada!). Two, I absolutely LOVE the real life feel of a lifestyle session. To me, photography is meant to capture life as it happens and how it happens. While there is definitely some planning that occurs for lifestyle sessions, it's basically a sneak peek into the real lives of real people, and there are so many memories/traditions that are visually represented in the end result photographs.
Follow along for a small glimpse of this family's life together...
This is how Heidi's morning begins... she does some reading, and Ava cuddles with her on the couch right after waking up.
Still sleepy...
According to Heidi, this is a completely accurate portrayal of how Myles feels about socks... the socks seriously only lasted for like 5 minutes of the photo shoot before he ripped them off his feet!
Time for changing...
Getting dressed!
Ava loves painting with her daddy...
Sometime you should ask Evan for a detailed description of his artwork...
Ava sporting her paint shirt!!
Evan & Heidi have this plexiglass banister that the kids just LOVE to fingerprint. If I'm not mistaken, Daddy is the instigator! You'll have to ask them if you want to see some of the outtakes...
If there's one thing that isn't lacking in this house, it's books!! They all love them, they all read them! Some can read better than others...
Like father, like son... especially when it comes to their curly blonde hair!
For a while, we played this game of Myles crawling toward the camera, sometimes getting really close to me before his mama would pull him back. This picture is nothing spectacular, but I like it! :)
I don't actually know if this is a regular occurrence or something special for the photo shoot, but Ava just LOVED jumping on the bed!!
Baby claps are the cutest thing...
Sometime amidst the chaos of having two toddlers, these two still make time for each other.
Heidi chose this time of year for their family photos, as it would be close to little M's first birthday, so of course we wanted to get some additional photographs of just him. Oh, and be sure to look at those amazing eyes!
Happy first birthday, Myles!!
Such a bright eyed and happy little guy!
Some comfort from mama.
Ava just LOVED being a model for a few photos!
So serious...
Evan & Heidi are both quite musical, and I get the feeling they're going to pass that talent off to their kiddos. Here, Myles learns how to hold the guitar left handed... haha!
They pretty much have a band between the owl percussion and the out of tune kid guitar.
Because sometimes photo sessions are really hard work and just make you incredibly tired.
Rocking her baby boy to sleep...
A mother's perspective. Additionally, check out those eyelashes!!
Heidi says that she and Myles sometimes spend time in the mornings looking in this mirror in his bedroom.
Sleepy boy...
Evan reads to Ava in the cozy recliner before she heads to bed.
I love how comfortable these two are together...
There you have it - a day at home with Evan, Heidi, Ava, and Myles. I really hope you've enjoyed the sneak peek into their daily lives just as much as I enjoyed being a part of it for an hour.
And one final shot of the whole fam jam together...
I hope you'll continue to follow along with me on my journey of photography, pursuing my goal of visually documenting the simple, yet beautiful, pieces of life exactly as they happen.
Oh, and let me know if you're interested in having me come to your home for a photo session - I'd be honoured to have the responsibility of capturing your everyday life in camera!
<3 Athena Marie
P.S. Sorry (sort-of?) for all the black & white images... they just felt right for blogging about this session!!