west

this is absolutely my favorite kind of shoot. i followed west around his dock, in his front yard and on his sunny living room floor. we played and talked and i snapped away. west was in his environment, and he was relaxed and simply being himself. he loves spending time by the lake and on his scooter and with his beloved remote control car, and that's exactly how i wanted to capture him. it was early in the morning, and mom stephanie peeked at us through the window from time to time in her cozy bathrobe. she must have been savoring one of her numbered quiet mornings before her twins are due! there were no threats or bribes to sit still and smile! - she just let him do his thing and i did mine. carte blanche...i so dig it!

i've known west for awhile, as he and my lucy have been buddies since before they could talk. it's difficult to imagine there was a time when they didn't talk. very difficult. we carpooled to tennis and birthday parties a few times this summer, and those two chatted away like chip and dale. each time i sat in the drivers seat wishing i'd had the foresight to invest in a miniature tape recorder. the first five minutes of one of their latest conversations was focused on the various boo-boos they had recently suffered. west said, "well, i falled on the dock and my arm broke. it was a really bad boo-boo. well, it didn't really break. but it hurt....see???" lucy hastily followed up with, "well, i tried to open the gate in our yard and it cutted my bleed out.....see???" neither kid commented on the other's part of the conversation, or commiserated, or even acknowledged the other had spoken. they spent that time plotting what to say next that could possibly trump the current tale. at one point, there was a brief lull in the conversation. then west looks at lucy very seriously and says, "soooo, lucy - you brush your own teeth?"... "yes.".... "YOU DO???".... "yes, you DON'T?" west goes on to describe his toothbrushing habits in detail, followed by lucy's rendition of her own daily ritual. by the time we had reached our destination, they had covered shoe tying, pants zipping and their individual bedtime customs. they were so serious about these topics. this is their world right now: so sweet, so simple, so innocent. i know it won't last forever, pretty soon we'll get to "listen in" only by reading their texts and checking their facebook pages. but to me, these images will always bring back this delightful time. i hope you feel the same way, steph. thank you for a wonderfully laid back shoot!