A Two-Year-Old and the Hottest Day of the Year

A friend of mine asked me to take a picture of him, his wife and their son for Grandma's 60th birthday. I had no idea Labor Day 2007 was going to prove to be the hottest day of the year.

We knew we'd need to keep the shoot brief as the toddler's attention span was good for about fifteen or twenty minutes, if we were lucky. Turns out, it was good for about ten minutes, but only in thirty second bursts, so I had to move fast. I had the lights set when they arrived and everything was ready for them to just step in and go. We tried for the traditional family portrait but the shot at top was the one that is hanging on Grandma's wall.

One thing I felt pretty bad about was how hot it was in my studio that day. I couldn't believe it. After about ten minutes of trying to pretend that we weren't all sweating like crazy, I brought a fan in to put low in front of the family, which made for quite a few fly-away hairs that needed to be cloned out, but the benefits of the airflow were very much worth it.

All in all it was a great session and they got a shot they love. I was told it made Grandma cry. It doesn't get much better than making grandma's cry, does it?