And, by “park” I mean the Chicago Botanic Garden! White seamless is pretty awesome, but I’m not sure I could have asked for a better backdrop than this.

And, the kids! Cute, fun, full of energy, and for the most part, willing to take some direction… these guys were a blast to work with, and I think it really shows! We actually had postponed the shoot for nearly a year to let a few things fall into place, and it was worth the wait.

We lucked out and got a beautiful overcast sky.  We got to the park early enough so that we nearly had the place to ourselves… rose garden, Japanese garden, waterfalls, lakes, this place has it all! I’m already planning another shoot there this summer… and it’s 6 hours away!

I honestly had a tough time choosing the best photos from the session because there were so many! But, IMHO, the best of the best are below…

You learn something new every day…

In my last YLSNED, I mentioned a lesson similar to the one I learned last year about always being prepared. For this shoot, I had everything charged, backed-up, etc. We were out for nearly two hours. I knew I had more than enough material to work with when we finally decided to pack it in and head home. But, we weren’t out of the park yet…

I had all my gear packed up and slung on my back well before we were out the door, and I missed a golden opportunity because of it. D’oh! The little girl was lolly-gagging behind us as we marched down a long exterior corridor lined with trees and flowers towards the exit. The Sunday rush of people was well under-way at this point, too. As we got near the exit, the mom and I turned around to see the little girl 50 yards back, smiling, clutching her dress and swaying in the middle of the corridor as throngs of people  passed her by. I had a perfect line of sight to her… Oh, what I could have done with my telephoto lens and a semi-slow shutter!!!

Live and learn, I say. Live and learn.