Full of Honesty

I feel like there are few things in life more unpredictable than toddlers. And, I can say this because we've lived through toddlerhood once and are currently in the midst of it again. They are seriously fickle creatures, and you just never know what you're going to get, including when you photograph them! My beautiful, sweet 2.5year old daughter is no longer interested in being agreeable or smiling for pictures. She will sit for a second, but she wants a toy, or a flower, or a treat, or then is crying she doesn't want those but rather something else indecipherable, and her "cheese" face has now turned into a fake smile while looking the other direction. Then, she's up and running away as fast as she can. Being able to capture these couple of gems was a struggle and took a whole lot of patience. I think we are going to skip family pictures for a few more years, year 4 or 5 seems to be when they can at least follow directions better, well for most kids anyway.  ;) These toddler years full of whining, tantrums, and wanting independence are tough, man!

Also, I thought it would be fun to share with you some painfully honest before pictures and the afters. Normally I only shoot outdoors during the golden hour (the dreamy light is unbeatable!), but when you have a cranky toddler and are trying to scope out locations, you learn to make lemonade from the lemons you get (hello neon grass - yuck!).