Aside from a few mini sessions during the stay-at-home order, I haven’t had the opportunity to do portraits in many months, so I was more than excited to take one of my favorite families’ annual portraits last weekend! If you haven’t had family photos taken lately…outdoor portraits are a great way to support local photographers from a safe distance.
Sidenote: now is also the time to book 2021 senior portraits!
Earlier in April, we took a day trip to Topeka to visit my sister. We went to the Topeka Zoo, ate at Blind Tiger Brewery, and checked out Tulip Time at Lake Shawnee. There were more than 100,000 gorgeous tulips in bloom! My favorite part was watching my 5-year-old run along taking photos with her camera.
With spring comes warmer weather…and wind! We definitely fought wind this portrait session, but the kiddos (and parents) did great. I couldn’t believe how much little Ethan smiled and posed for the camera. I’ve been doing this family’s photos since their engagement session close to a decade ago. Those photos were actually at the same park – in the wintertime! They live on the other side of the country now, but we’re always able to catch up when they come back to visit.
I took these portraits last weekend in about 70-degree weather. This weekend it snowed. That’s the Midwest for you! I’m hoping for more spring and less winter in the near future. I love this family…and the fact that they always bring grandparents to the photo shoot to help wrangle the kids and make them laugh. It works like a charm!
I loved working with this family last fall, and I couldn’t be happier that they asked me to do their extended family portraits this spring! Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial is a great place for photos – the obvious iconic memorial, the city skyline, the steps and stone, and the greenery offer a ton of variety. I was pumped that they had a few of their own ideas for fun poses. And what’s not to love about mint green Chuck Taylor’s?
Warmer, longer days are upon us, which means it’s a great time for spring portraits! I’m offering a Spring Special: book a basic portrait session by the end of April, and you’ll get five additional high-resolution edited images for the same price. The portrait session is good April-June. Contact me now to secure your spot!
We recently made our first trip of the season to the zoo! We went first thing on a rainy, dreary Friday morning, thinking it wouldn’t be crowded at all. We were wrong! There were tons of school groups there. But we still enjoyed ourselves – spring and fall are by far the best times to visit the zoo. The animals were so active! We got to see two monkeys jumping furiously from branch to branch chasing each other for several minutes, and my favorite moment was when Lil’ Miss K walked up to the glass at the penguin exhibit and the penguins immediately hopped out of the water and waddled over to check her out. We have season passes to the zoo, so we’ll be back several times this year.
My daughter’s daycare does “school” photos twice a year. I sent her to school with her Easter dress, hoping to buy a cute pose for the grandparents to hang on their wall. We ended up with four proofs – the one everyone liked the most was the one with a giant tear in her eye. She cried the entire time! So, I set up a sheet and had an impromptu photo shoot in the middle of our dining room right while we were all trying to get our Easter meal together. (The light was good!) Luckily my family expects no less of me – they were patient and supportive and kept cooking right around us. Lil’ Miss K wasn’t very smiley since I was delaying her lunch and nap, but I still got a few cute shots.
We had a beautiful day celebrating Easter with family! Little Miss K was only about 6-7 weeks old last Easter, so it was fun to see her enjoying her Easter basket and eggs. 
Photographic Rhodes 