crooks family

Samatha contacted me via FB wanting to schedule a family session.  Since it is Fort Irwin with husbands out on rotation training others  and we were getting ready to move we had to try and find a day that would work for everyone.   We discussed locations and what she was wanting and we agreed on the Painted Rocks in the evening.  It’s always early evening or early morning to try and avoid the intense dry desert heat.

Katie, my awesome assistant, and I headed out to Painted Rocks with a nice cool temperature of 106 degrees.  I am always a bit nervous before a session but even more so with this one since I had yet to photograph anyone at this location.  Luckily, this family made it easy and it didn’t even look like they weren’t hot and melting.

I love the candid shots.

I was able to get a few posed and candid shots of Samatha and Mike while the boys explored.

Samatha had some help getting to our next spot.

The boys were all over the place climbing rocks and enjoying the location so I just followed them and tried to capture boys being boys.

It looks like they’ve spotted something.

I wanted to take advantage of their willingness to be photographed (it doesn’t happen often with kids) so I had them take turns with their dad. 

 

When Samatha and I were corresponding before the session she mentioned that one shot she really wanted was with the boys hanging upside down.  We did this one a couple of times to make sure it was captured just as she envisioned.

The boys kept laughing and trying to get back up.

We had to try again.  Success!

The sun was setting and it was time to move to a different area by the rocks.  We had to work around some obstacles but you would never know from the pictures.   It’s hard to not get lost in the rocks but it’s nice that they wanted a shot such a special area.

What the rocks are all about…

It was now Samatha’s turn with the kids.   

I hope you have enjoyed the images as much as I have.  Thank you for asking me to capture your desert images and especially for your patience knowing that this was right before / during a cross country move.