kathryn colby photography: you can't hold back Father Time.

My family has only taken ONE professional family portrait in my lifetime. I was about five years old and I remember the experience well. My mom picked an outfit for me to wear that included a stuffy turtleneck and an itchy skirt. My sister, Jeana was asked to wear something of similar content and to this day, we both despise the claustrophobic feel of turtlenecks and any fabric remotely the same texture as wool.
That picture was taken with the beach behind us while we leaned against an old tree. Our dog Duffy was impatient and didn't wanna sit still so we finally had to secure him w/ a leash that we hid behind the tree trunk. I remember being hot, that the bark of the tree was bothering my legs and I just wanted to get it over with so we could go home and play Barbies. That portrait came out beautiful. The colors in the clothes my sister and I wore exemplified the nature background perfectly. Although that picture was taken almost 30 years ago, it is STILL up in my parent's home. Why? Because it's a GREAT shot! We may be older, but the memory of the day and that time in my life stands still whenever I look at that picture. That is exactly what I want my clients to feel like when they see shots I took of their family. I know it's a pain to get ready for a portrait session. You make excuses. "Once I lose ten pounds, we'll do it for sure...", "I think we're gonna do it in summer 'cause then we'll be tan...", "Once the kids are done with soccer would be much better..." - I understand. But I also know you can't hold back Father Time. My grandma recently passed and one of the hardest things I've dealt with is thinking I will never have the chance to take another family portrait with her. We always had an excuse too. Now, it's too late. So if you're thinking about taking a portrait- DO IT. The next thing you know, your kids will be grown, your life will become even busier, and you regret you never took the hour or so to do it. The past couple of months I've had some beautiful families ask me to shoot them. Once they get to view their images they are always SO happy they finally did it. Here are some that truly warm my heart-

Here's that infamous professional family portrait I was talking about. That's me in the middle- the one with the irritated look because of my awful, itchy, hot clothes...