Last weekend I had the great pleasure of photographing little Sophia. She was celebrating her fourth birthday with her dad and he wanted some really fantastic photographs of her. We worked out a game plan that would get them exactly what he wanted.

I chose a park location I thought would have enough interesting things to keep her busy but not too much to distract her. Sometimes little kids can't help wanting to go play and if there's a really exciting playground then kids would rather do that then sit through getting their picture taken. I also brought with me quite a few props: apples in a basket, leaves to throw, a little pumpkin (which I let her keep), a giant #4 balloon ( I let her have that too), beads and blankets. The staples really.

I selected Francis Park in Lansing, MI for our shoot. Upon arrival I found our first hiccup; the gate was locked. I redirected him to the riverside parking area. I thought at minimum we could shoot there. Luckily, as we parked another photographer with her client was walking down the path from the park. I quickly ran up to her and asked about her experience inside the park. She informed me that they didn't have any issues.

With this news I ran back to my clients and told them we could walk to the park. It was a gorgeous autumn day so none of us complained.

While the dad filled out the model release form I snapped a couple of photos of Sophia on the rocks with the ducks and autumn color behind her. It turned out to be one of my favorite photos from the session.

When we finally walked to where I wanted to start shooting, we found 2 other photographers already there photographing clients. This was a big park though and we just found another area. Through our talking on the way in I learned that my client wasn't really wanting "fall" styled photographs although he wasn't against it. His little girl was wearing a cute pink shirt and luckily we've had a really warm fall in Michigan and the rose bushes are still in bloom. I put her in front these pink beauties and got a wonderful spring look.

As little Sophia ran around the park we watched and laughed then offered up posed ideas. She was great! I would ask her if she was a model because she was so good at stopping her playing just in time for a wonderful shot.

This session was a mini session which is a schedule 30 minute time frame. Most little ones work well in this amount of time, even up to an hour. If we go much over that, they start to get bored. Sophia did a great job and it's such a joy capturing the free spirit of a beautiful young lady.