blue lily photography / family photo session

this past august we had the incredible opportunity to go out into the woods with blue lily photography. we formally introduced ourselves (truthfully, it was like meeting old friends, so it was a pretty casual intro) at ALT summit and decided to make this family session a stop in their whirlwind year of events; i feel over the moon excited and flattered they wanted to photograph me and my family. as you can guess, wendy and tyler are not your average puppet-holding cheesy family photographers. they are a married hard-working duo who have taken the art of family photography to a whole new level (and around the world / see their blog for a travelogue and gorgeous images).

the two are completely cool and comfortable and have the talent of instantly making you feel at ease (and really happy). (even if you are terribly nervous in front of the camera and jittery about how you're toddler and / or husband will behave.) somehow, amidst their non-stop schedules, they did not make us feel like we were smushed into a busy time-slot between ireland and tokyo and back again to kyoto, japan (when in fact, that was the reality). wendy and tyler were right there with us, in the moment, genuinely excited to get to know us and photograph us to the best of their abilities. i had confidence they were up to the challenge. we met up with the photographers right before sunset with armfuls of props; a box of library books, a world globe and some sheets for a makeshift tent. the tent concept was their awesome idea.. we brainstormed a bit and i thought the whole reading in the tent, in the mountains was more than perfectly suitable for our family.  a little like our trip to yellowstone, but without the bears.

they came equipped with everything else; including cheerful ready-to-roll personas, hefty cameras fearlessly swinging from trusty straps, (their secret recipe for family-essence-capturing folded into their back pockets) and that quintessential patchwork quilt. we chatted, they snapped photos, we made friends. the light was gorgeous, the make-shift scene was seamless and my boys were actually having a great time. they made benji laugh non-stop. (having two of their own, they are so good with kids. benji kept asking tyler, so what are we going to play next?! he thought it was a mini game night in the mountains. his teddy bear got in on a lot of photos, which i ended up loving so much. i highly recommend bringing along your kids' lovie.) and, almost on the dot, an hour later we were on the ride home, in terribly good moods. a family photo shoot–done and done–without a hitch. completely painless is how i described it to wendy. she explained, we are all about making the photo shoot experience short and sweet and fun. mission accomplished.

dan and i even stopped for a treat at the next ski resort. i already loved blue lily and i hadn't even seen a single shot yet. the two photographer perspective is such a genius way to get more bang for your buck and more smiles per click. toddlers are not so easy to snapshot, however they make it look oh so easy. once the photos dropped in my inbox, my jaw did as well. the images speak for themselves. thank you, blue lily. lets do it again next year. p.s. they not only take rad photographs, they offer workshops and are speaking at ALT summit again this year. just another big reason for going. now, onto the highlights of our time together. (it was so tough to narrow them down for a post!)














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