Every year I do a New Years Day photo shoot of my boys in front of a black background, shirts off.  Very simple, yet very fun.  I love to get different expressions and see how they’ve grown through the year.  I normally do them each individually.  I don’t usually try to get a group shot, because it is just so hard to get a nice shot of them all together.  But this year they actually sat nice together and let me take a couple shots of them together.  I am repainting my kitchen/dining/living room this week and cannot wait to have one of these shots blown up into a huge canvas for the wall.  What do you think?  Do you have a favorite?  Which one should I use this year?  Leave your comments!

I thought I’d post a few pictures from the senior session I had last week.  Justin was such a sweetheart to work with, he looks tough but don’t let that fool ya.  And he has the cutest freckles!  What I have found with my guy seniors is that they do not like to smile.  They want to look rough and tough.  Inevitably, mom is standing behind me speaking words of encouragement:  “Come on!  Just smile.  No, no, no…smile with your teeth, like you really mean it.  That’s not your real smile, come on!  Just do it for me, you look so cute when you smile.”  And on and on and on it goes.  I stand there and try to catch that fleeting smile, all while trying to make the poor guy feel comfortable and not embarrassed.  Not always easy.  I’ve also found that converting some of the pics to black and white helps with the “tough” look and give the guys something different to choose from.  Here are a couple of my favorites from Justin’s shoot, enjoy!