My Family

For those that may be curious here's my family. This picture was taken two summers ago during our family reunion. I basically told everyone sometime during the weekend I would randomly drag us outside with no notice and take the picture. I'm not a fan of the family pictures where everybody dresses up in matching clothes and takes themselves out of their environment. This was taken in front of one of the few still standing barns behind our house. I thought it an appropriate location. This picture did have to be photoshoped a little but I also did this a little different. Instead of compositing all the perfect pictures of everyone I picked the random and most telling about their personalities. I thought this showed our family better. I'm in the bottom left hand corner.

I did try to form a gentle compromise style wise. The last family picture I made I didn't pull any punches. I photographed the family at the end of a long day tearing down parts of the farm after a fire started some of the demolition for us. We were all filthy, tired and looking fabulous. I still remember my little sister Tianna's reaction upon seeing it. She looked at it then back at me and said, "I hate you!" with her smirky grin. That was when I knew I had succeeded in capturing our family in a way that showed more than people usually want to show willingly about themselves.