Jenn & Raghavan moved to Portland last year, from Colorado, along with their baby Rishi. They’ve been busy raising a baby, enjoying the foodie culture of Portland, and exploring town. I met with them on a weekend morning at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden for our mini-session. The garden is open for free in the off season, which is after Labor Day and through February. It’s a gorgeous location, full of gorgeous greenery all year round.
This was their first family photo session! I am always so thrilled to provide that for a family, and I hope that it builds a habit of getting everyone together in front of the camera. Raghavan is a budding photographer, especially interested in nature. But no matter your experience or equipment, it’s tough to capture the whole family being together, being themselves. They wanted a more candid session, rather than all posed. I thought that was great, especially because with an infant, there’s really no such thing as posing–everything has to be pretty candid, since baby is the boss! 🙂 So we wandered the garden just a bit–starting at that beautiful wooden bridge at the entrance, and then moving to the ponds and waterfall areas.
Rishi was 7 months old at our session, not quite crawling yet but able to stand when holding on to something (and he started crawling a bit within a couple weeks after our session!). What a fun age to capture–his face was full of emotion as he looked at the new environment in wonder, and laughed with his parents, and smiled at the toys I waved from behind the camera. Does he not have the cutest face, with those big squishy cheeks??! I couldn’t get enough of those grins. And those little chubby hands, which grabbed onto leaves and splashed in the little waterfall. Just too cute!!
Thank you so much, Jenn & Raghavan–what fun to photograph your beautiful family!
If you have a baby who’s starting to crawl, let’s take some photos! Contact me and tell me your favorite space to explore, and we’ll create a perfect session for you and your family.