Kel Ward Photography | Salem Photographer | Portland Photographer: October 2012

10/30/12

Salem Portrait Photographer | Brown Eyed & Carefree.

This little guy was my youngest son's first friend.

They met before my son was even a year old (he is nearing 7 now).

I babysat this fine lad when he was a toddler

and we had many fun adventures.

Although his family lives halfway around the world (okay, it's not even halfway across the country, but it feels like it's halfway around the world!), we make an effort to see them every year. My son and I were fortunate enough to travel to New Mexico to visit and

photograph him this past summer!

I love his big brown eyes. Always have.

I get funny faces from him every year and I love it.

You know, just rocking out on his stick guitar, in the middle of the

square in Santa Fe. Oh to be this carefree!

I am pretty sure this was not a grumpy face, but rather a

contemplative face. I just love his profile.

You have to love the tooth gap. It screams SEVEN YEARS OLD to me.

Mr. Serious.

Or not.

I am insanely jealous of his lashes. People always say that boys have the best lashes, but I assure you...he got them from his mother.

I am not even sure what it is about this photo that I love so much, but I feel like his eyes tell a story and I swear I get a shot like this (unintentionally) every year. Look at those perfect lips (also from his mom), freckles spattered across his nose, and the perfect shape of his face. He's not smiling. He's not frowning. He's not doing anything...except telling a story with his eyes.

Until next year, Mr. H!

Click click misses you!

10/26/12

Salem Family Photographer | Life Stories: The Pumpkin Patch

So, what does "life stories" mean?

Well, I just joined a group of photographers in a project called Life Stories. On the last Friday of each month, we tell a personal story in photographs. Each blog post links to another photographer's blog post, until it makes a full circle. Because we're often so busy with clients, this ensures that we document the lives of our

own families, at least once a month.

So, for my first month I'm doing the pumpkin patch, of course! It is a tradition in our family to go to the pumpkin patch every year. We started when our oldest was just a baby and have gone every single year since then. We've lived in various parts of Oregon, as well as in New Mexico, and we've always managed to find awesome little family owned pumpkin patches.

This is "our" pumpkin patch, here in Salem. It's located at Fordyce Farms. There are bigger and more exciting farms out there, for sure, but we love this one. It's never busy and there's still plenty for the kids to do.

First things first...find our pumpkins!

It didn't take the kids long to find the perfect ones.

Yes, my oldest son, Kayden, is wearing my yellow polka dotted rain boots, which are 2 sizes too small for him. I offered the up, jokingly, but he was happy to wear them! He is awesome like that. The kids all took "coffee" in commuter mugs, as it was a cold day (ahem, hot chocolate).

Karson, my middle son, looks awfully comfortable, doesn't he?

The rule is that they have to carry it themselves to the wheelbarrow without any help. As the kids get bigger, though, so do their pumpkins! Oscar found the perfect pumpkin, don't you think?

My handsome boys!

This is a tradition. I have gotten this shot every year for the past 4 yrs. At the same pumpkin patch. This is, by far, the most

cooperative they've been for the shot.

Wait, who is that crazy lady in the pink hat? Why that is ME!

Our photography community recently lost a special woman, who was also a mother. It was a very sad day for so many people and it really hit close to home for me. I decided that from that point on, I was going to be in more photos with my kids. I hate having my photo taken (HATE. IT.), but you know what? It's not about me. It's about capturing memories for my kids. I'm always there, but looking back, how are they going to remember that without photos? They won't care that my hair was a mess, that I wasn't wearing make up, or that I'm 40 pounds overweight. They'll just care that I was there.

So, is this the perfect photo? Oh, heck no! Aside from my own flaws, one kid has his eyes semi-closed, one is covering his head, and the other is squinting, but for US it is perfect.

And hey, now they have a photo of their PARENTS. Together! In the SAME photo! (yes, I let my 10yr old use my super expensive camera)

There they are! Five glorious pumpkins.

Soon to be jack-o-lanterns.

I love it when the kids decide which photos NEED to be taken. I usually humor them and then they never get seen. Not this time! I loved the clouds and the drama mixed with some humor.

The pumpkin patch has a corn maze. I don't like corn mazes. They freak me out. Not only do I get lost, but I am quite certain that monsters live in there. So...they went through the maze with Dad.

What on earth did I do while they were in the corn maze?

Duh!

I took photos!

The farm still had some flowers in bloom!

My kids were in there somewhere. With the monsters.

Finally, they got to play on the hay pyramid. It has tunnels on the ground floor, as well as up on the "second story."

Jumping off from high up is obviously lots of fun. The landing area is padded with lots and lots of hay, making it quite soft. It does not, however, keep me from getting nervous about their jumping from so high up.

And after the jumping they went and checked out the animals (alpacas, horses, goats), and then went on some pony rides. I, however, had already put my camera away, since I thought we were dong. Oops!

Next in line for the life stories series is San Francisco Bay area family photographer, Laura Morita Photography.