Another October.
Another chapter.
A park near Lake Minnetonka. A beautiful pergola. And a family I’ve been photographing for close to ten years.
From two to four.
I photographed their wedding. A couple of years later came one boy, then another. Around every October, we get together and add a few more photographs to their story.
This time, we used the pergola for a few portraits, put the boys on a bench, and wandered toward the water.
I like to make a variety of photographs: the whole family, the boys together, each boy on his own—and always a portrait of the parents together.
A little space to explore.
Down by the water, I liked the reeds with their white tips. They gave us a beautiful setting for the boys together, then a portrait of each one.
A shadow on the wall caught my eye, too. I tried to bring the whole family and the reeds into that shadow photograph.
I want each boy to have his own photograph, too. These little moments become part of the same family story.
Out on the covered boathouse, I let them run around and just be boys. I photographed the candids as they happened.
The story in between.
While dad and one brother were talking, the younger brother was jumping up, trying to reach a leaf. I love the storytelling in this photograph—the little things happening all at once.
A familiar little moment.
Seeing dad hold his son up to the leaves reminded me of a photograph from years earlier at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: a much smaller boy reaching for red leaves.
It was their first boy then, and the same boy in dad’s arms this October. A little bigger now, still reaching for the leaves. The memory came right back.
We made several family portraits. The one beneath the pergola was one of my favorites. Another October, and a few more moments worth keeping.