I think the Little Family were the first folks we met when we moved to Pollock Pines in 2000. Bob and my husband Jeff have worked together as foresters since then. If am not mistaken, at that time Jack was an infant, my daughter Jaz, just a future thought, and Kim was driving school buses for the district while studying for her masters. I could have gotten the timeline completely wrong, which sadly, wouldn’t surprise me at all.
I love when I get the opportunity to photograph the Littles, who, by the way, aren’t so little anymore. Well, Bob and Kim, yes, but Jack and Macy? Fast forward 14 years: Jack is a freshman at El Dorado High, Macy is a fourth grader, and Kim, the new principal for Sierra Ridge Middle School. Jeff and Bob? Still talking forestry, of course. Where does the time go?
On a beautiful day in Apple Hill, we headed off to find “the light” sparkling though the reds and yellows of fall. What we got was warm, late-afternoon light, which shifted to a soft fog that rolled in and made us feel like we were on the coast–you know, that genuine Camino coastal weather. This planted a seed for the Littles’ next family shoot, because, who doesn’t like the beach? Making memories.
Speaking of “planting a seed,” Kim and I have become so knowledgeable about forestry due to our years of association, that we once came up with a radio show concept similar to Car Talk –poking fun at our husbands’ dialogue–only instead of Click and Clack we’d be something like “Sapling and Second Growth” or “Bark Beetle and Basal Area” or even “Conifer and Canopy,” filling your brain on NPR every Sunday morning with fascinating facts about forestry.
Little Family sessions are always fun and generally a bit goofy too: images strewn with photobombs and the like (have you met Bob?) and then of course Kim’s sarcastic wit sprinkled in. They are a little crazy too. I like it this way, though it always leaves you as photographer wondering what you’ve got and–did you really get it?
The Littles always deliver. As we were finishing up, Kim mentioned to me that capturing her family in photographs was so important because, unlike her mother, who photographed Kim plenty, Kim wanted her kids to have memories of the whole family together, to “get in the picture” herself. As parents we sometimes find ourselves doing it just like we were raised, hearing ourselves sounding like our parents and then at other times finding those little pieces that we can change to make it better for our kids. Changes that will no doubt be remembered, …until our kids decide to change that for their kids… to make it better, of course.
Thanks to my husband Jeff for assisting on this one. He was well behaved this time.
For fun, here is their Squaw shoot from a few years ago, and a little historical snippet, below.
I can’t resist a little history…
