Lifestyle Session: Hello Spring | El Cajon, CA | Analisa Joy Photography | San Diego, CA Photographer

Happy April everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your Easter Sunday. To celebrate Spring I photographed three adorable children, added some Easter eggs, carrots, candy, and ended our session in some bunny getups.  Lauren and Kate were my main focus on this shoot, but their little brother tagged along and I could not help but include him in a few shots. He was way too cute to be left out! When it comes to photography everyone has a favorite category or two and one of mine is children. The innocence, their raw emotion, and the toothless smiles are some of the many components that make my trigger finger happy. When it comes to a child session you want to distract them from the fact that they are getting their pictures taken because the formality of a two hour shoot can make them grumpy. For this session, I invited the kids to my house to get their hair styled.  They were greeted with fresh baked cookies, we turned on some mini Pixar films, and they also received some Easter goodies. This was my first time meeting Lauren, Kate, and Declan and the atmosphere of the day instantly loosened them up. The girls LOVED their fancy hair (styled by Haley Bovensiep) and they could not wait to show it off. We then incorporated candy into the shoot as an incitement to keep them all posing until we lost our light. However, the candy was far from catching their attention. It was the giant carrots that made these three all giddy with excitement. I have never seen kids turn down candy for carrots and I have never seen kids eat as many carrots as these three. I think they each had 4-8 carrots a piece and they took some home as souvenirs… and these are some big ol’ carrots! I don’t know what Kelly (the mom) is doing, but she is doing something right! It was such a fun session to kick off my favorite season and I want to thank everyone who was a part of it and to everyone who submitted photos of their children. I received up to 70 submissions and although I could only pick one, I have been inspired to throw together another child shoot. I have one in mind and I think it’s going to be my best session yet!

Here’s the team behind the scenes (from left to right). My sister, Amanda always offers a helping hand when she can. Whether it’s with lighting or heavy lifting, I can count on her to be at most of my sessions. On this shoot she was my carrot distributor and my baby wrangler. My mom, Karen Rowand is a designer of many trades. She specalizes in home decor and wedding invitations, but she used her creative talents to stylize this Spring session.  Chelsea is one of my closest friends who is also a local photographer. She helped second shoot on this session and she produced beautiful shots. Kelly is the super mom who let me photograph her three beautiful children. She picked out all their outfits and brought along some of the cutest props. The curly hair and braids were stylized by hair stylist, Haley Bovensiep. If you’re a bride who is on the lookout for great hair, take some time to check out Haley! I am so thankful to work along side such amazing ladies! They are the ones who help create all the magic!