Kari Campos Photography | Chicago, IL

For the past 10 months or so, whenever R and I made a trip to my aunt and uncle’s house in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, my camera was in tow.  Afterall, family get togethers are a great place to take pictures, especially when your cute cousins are the perfect practice subjects. Thanksgiving? Camera there. Early Christmas celebration? Camera there. Birthday parties, Easter, cookouts? You name it, my camera was there. I think my aunt could see my passion for photography and also my progression, as I shared my best shots following each get together.

Back in the spring was the first time she mentioned that she’d like me to take portraits of my cousins. Yes please! With their hectic schedule and mine too, we were finally able to get together on Labor Day for a photo shoot, marking my first ever session!

Hannah, Emma, and Christian are the fun trio that I get to call my cousins. Although the age difference between myself and them is large, I think it makes it fun. I feel like they are more of my nieces and nephew than cousins. Hannah, at eight years old, is such a smart little lady. She’s growing fast and has morphed into quite the wonderful big sister. Emma, at five years old, is a ball of energy.  I love her raspy voice, the way she giggles, and her zest for all things fun. Christian, at two years old, is fun and fearless and, well, two. He was so fun to photograph on his own, but if he was in a picture with both of his sisters, he wanted nothing to do with it (hence, my one good picture with all three of them smiling).

So, without further ado, meet my cousins…

And because this one makes me laugh out loud…

For a look at more photos, you can check out the slideshow video below:

Thanks Hannah, Emma, and Christian for making my first photography session such a fun and successful one. Love you guys!

If you live in the Chicagoland area, be sure to check out the Pricing/Availability page for an exciting offer!

Okay, I’ll admit it. I couldn’t resist putting up a photo from my first session on Monday. So, while I continue with the edits, enjoy the adorableness that is my little cousin Christian.

I feel like I have so much to share since I last wrote a true blog post on the website. R and I are finally getting settled into our new place, so I feel a sense of normalcy (whatever that might be) sinking back into our lives. Normalcy makes me happy. I don’t do too well with hustle and bustle and non-stop go, go, go.

 So where to begin?

I suppose I’ll begin with what’s most on my mind this morning. Yesterday, I shot my first ever session. My aunt and I had been talking for a few months about getting together to take portraits of my little cousins. Well, the summer pretty much got away from both of us, but we were finally able to get together yesterday for a session and Labor Day barbeque.

I wanted to approach this session (did I mention it was my FIRST; okay, okay, I know I did) as if I were a professional photographer. “Act the part,” I told myself. So that’s what I did. I did quite a bit of prep work leading up to the session. During the move, I continued learning and practicing (though I neglected to blog about it). I visited blogs for inspiration. I watched video tutorials. I even wrote a note card of settings to default to and poses I could capture just in case my mind went blank at the session. I prepared my camera bag the morning of, charging my battery, formatting my memory cards, cleaning my lenses, and ensuring the settings on my camera were what I’d likely want.

And I think all the preparation paid off.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous or scared that the session would go horribly wrong. But I’m happy to reporst that, overall, things went well during the session. The skies were mostly cloudy (less crazy light to deal with) and my aunt picked a great park to take the shots. My biggest fear was knowing how to pose the kids. I knew I didn’t want super posey pictures. I like candids and fun shots best. And while I think it’s something I still need to work on, I think the poses we came up with worked. The biggest curveball I was thrown was my littlest cousin, who is currently two (if you catch my drift). But I think I did the best I could do given his demeanor for the day. And I had fun!

By the time we had finished up the barbeque, I was anxious to get home so that I could download the images and see what I came up with.

You should have seen my smile.

I was so very pleased with what I shot, and I can’t wait to share the images once I’ve sorted through them and made some minor edits (by the end of the weekend I hope).

First session? Check!

Hopefully, many, many more to come!