Last weekend I went out to my beloved Boone Hall to take portraits
of my most beloved boss. I’ve told you how much I loved my boss at the hotel
(her name is Elizabeth) and that I will force her to remain friends with me
forever. Three years ago, she got married at Boone Hall and has her favorite
wedding picture in front of the Avenue of Oaks as the background on her
computer. She just loves Boone Hall.
After she had baby Charlotte back in April she voiced a
deep, longing desire to have family portraits made at Boone Hall right where
they got married. This seems easy enough except for one thing. Boone Hall has a
lot of requirements (and a really hefty price tag) for having photoshoots on the
property. So much so, that 95% of photographers in Charleston don’t do shoots
at Boone Hall.
“Let me make some calls.” I smugly told Elizabeth with one
eyebrow raised. Insert here my Mexican Loves (and another beloved boss of mine,
aptly named Laura) and I was able smuggle us into the happiest place on earth
and take the first ever family portraits of the new Jones family. I’m truly
honored.
Probably Elizabeth wouldn’t want me plastering these photos
on the interwebs. She’s kind of anti-social media (doesn’t she sound great!)
and doesn’t like people staring at her or minding her business. I’m choosing to
ignore her preferences because I’m really excited about her pictures. Other
than stealing candid shots of family and friends, I’ve never shot ‘subjets’ I’m
close to personally and it’s surprisingly different. Normally I’m looking at
lots of things. How are they standing? Are
there hairs out of place? Are they slouching? and I direct these people to
look their best and stand at flattering angles. They are objects for me to
style.
In this case, I thought everything baby Charlotte did was
adorable when I would normally have stood waiting around for the baby to look
the right way. I thought Elizabeth looked so beautiful bouncing Charlotte up
and down when I would usually wait for a person to stand still. Little things
you see. I thought Brent looked most endearing when he was watching Elizabeth
and Charlotte instead of looking straight at my camera and smiling. It was hard
to be critical because I love them too much. They also brought their pup, Ella,
who dutifully sat where they told her to and only once became distracted by an enormous
stick that she stabbed a little boy with.
The other thing that made this great was Brent and
Elizabeth’s laid-back and lighthearted dispositions. When Charlotte put the
Christmas lights in her mouth and bit down, they did not rush to her rescue.
Instead they stood behind me making electric shock noises and laughing at the
caliber of the other one’s quick “ddzziitt” sound.
(*Editors note. They are great parents. The lights
were run on batteries and were not plugged into an electrical power source. Please do
not call child services.)
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