Reid's 1st Birthday Party! | Riverside Photographer

My good friend and fellow photographer, Carrie Johnson, asked me to photograph her son's awesome first birthday party. Carrie is busier than nearly anyone I know - she's the mom of two young boys and runs two very busy businesses. How she had the time and energy to plan such a great party is beyond me, but she definitely pulled it off! The kids loved the Spiderman bounce house and the clown who did face painting and magic tricks. We also all left with great candy treat bags, so all in all, it was a great day!

My Boys. Father's Day.

I've never attempted a real, and I mean REAL, session with my son. However, he's finally getting to the age where I thought that I might be able to get a few shots of him not completely hating my camera. I was right. On Father's Day the three of us went out for a nice walk in Riverside and I brought my camera. I was prepared to do a "real" session. I know the last thing my husband probably wanted to do was brave the 90 degree heat at 3pm on "his day" and try to keep our toddler from screaming or protesting photos, but he was a trooper and humored me. I promised him that it would be worth it. You know, in several years when Reid is all grown up. At first when I asked them to do certain things, well, that just didn't work out. So, I told them to play. Will was getting stressed and was ready to leave because Reid just wasn't having it, but I treated them like I would any other client. "It's okay. He's 2 1/2, just let him walk around for a while. Just let him hang. Okay, now go run and play with him". Guess what? Success! I was able to stand back and snap away as my boys played. It was a great mommy moment for me. Thank you, my lovely boys, for gifting mommy with these precious photos. On Father's Day :)

We saw a ton of wildlife - frogs, lizzards, turtles in the pond, hummingbirds, and lots and lots of rabbits! Reid loved searching for them :)