Thatcher & Ethan… and MUD!
I almost always photograph my boys when we do a limited edition portrait special. Last year, we did Mud Puddle Portraits for the first time I didn’t have time to get them in. I thought it wasn’t a big deal, since I had done portraits of them just a few weeks before. I WAS WRONG! When Thatcher and Ethan saw the images from the mud sessions, they both began whining and complaining that they didn’t get to do it! Honestly, Ethan must have reminded me everyday for a month that he didn’t get to do a mud session while one of his friends did!
I definitely wasn’t going to let that happen again this year, so they got a spot on the calendar for last weekend’s Mud Puddle Portrait Special. When my mom brought them in, they were literally jumping up and down. I have NEVER seen them this excited for photos before– EVER! They got dressed and raced out the door to the mud set. Most of the children I photograph for the mud sessions are a bit timid about the mud– its cold, squishy and most kids don’t seem to like getting dirty.
Here is the one before image I got just as they stepped into the mud:
And here they are just a few minutes later:
These two images are what they each decided to do in the mud. Neither one was told to do this– we just let them go wild!
Yes, its an insane mess. It took forever to get all the mud out of Thatcher’s hair. But they had the best time with their photos and they keep asking to do it again. I love that I got images of them being their normal “wild boy” selves. While these are far from the “perfect” images of posed children that so many people prefer, they are perfect to me. They capture who these two really are– and how fun it is to just be a kid in a giant mud puddle!
