A Family Session :: The Bench Family

Oh where to begin? It's been a while since I've had a blog post (meaning it's been a while since I've had a photo session), but I'm so glad that the Bench Family entrusted me again to do their family photos!

Toni and I worked together for 2 years and that was the first time I did their photos. I remember how young the kids seemed at that time, and to look and speak to them now, it surprises me that only 3 years have passed! Seriously!

Collin has always been such a stud, and he's only gotten more handsome - especially with the glasses! He was a little more skeptical of me this time, however, and it was hard to get a smile out of him or for him to even look at me! He eventually warmed up (at the end of the session, of course) and his photos are awesome!

Alli was a little easier to crack a smile out of, but it was finding that REAL smile that was hard. Alli is such a free spirit and has a huge personality! We finally found out that if we teased her about her love of OneDirection we could get this super real smile, but I went for finding that personality in her photos and I think she needs to start a modeling portfolio ;) just saying, that girl has legs for days!

Toni and Rob are such a great couple! Whenever we would take their photos, just the two of them, they couldn't stop cracking jokes and laughing - which I think speaks volumes of their relationship. It's nice to see how laid back they can be with each other, as their love completely shone through!

When I was talking with Toni about what we wanted out of this session, she wanted relaxed, not so posed photos and described her family as "mixed". Alli and Collin are both adopted, Toni is from Hispanic descent, and Rob is, well, Rob. The thing is, this family is GORGEOUS! They don't let race or ethnicity or anything come in the way of them being a family, they are all very comfortable in their own skin and I LOVE it!! So without further ado, here are the Bench Family photos :)

I'm going to start with some before and afters, I think it is amazing how much I've personally grown as a photographer and appreciate families like the Bench's who have been repeat clients!

Here is Collin, like I said, he's just a super handsome little boy! He just looks so grown up, it's killing me!

Miss Alli, she has definitely grown in to her body and doesn't look like the little girl I used to know, but she has such a personality and is always willing to say something that'll make you laugh!

Toni and Rob are just one of those couples you are like, WOAH! They're amazing together and while a few things have changed (no facial hair for Rob - didn't even realize till I went back to these older pictures), their easy-going natures have not!

It amazes me how much this family has grown, I had so much fun at this shoot, not a single one of us was ever not laughing (except maybe Collin at the start). Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your family for so long!

 

I loved the idea of incorporating Real Salt Lake outfits, it's something they all connect with as a family :)

Those are the real smiles I was after!

This photo does Alli's height no justice! I can't believe how tall she's gotten!

Last time we didn't get any photos with the kids and their parents separately, I love these two photos!

Thank you again to the Bench Family, I loved hanging out with you guys and hope you love these photos as much as I do! 

A Little Late, But Never Better: California 2014: Part 2

So we continued on our way, and came up on a military base. We weren't sure if we could actually get through it and our GPS system was kinda going berserk. We finally found our way into a beautiful canyon in the Los Padres National Forest. We came out on this ridge (about 2 hours later) and the view...it was worth the extra two hours! Pictures can't even do it justice!!

Ok...so those are clouds. Not the ocean. Clouds. The ocean is the dark blue beneath the clouds. 

This is a panoramic, it is beautiful. This view...oh!

We continued on our way down the Coastal Highway. It was amazing! There are no words to describe! And sometimes the fog would just roll in, it was kind of creepy too.

We did eventually veer off Highway 1 again, to my chagrin, but enjoyed it while we still could.

We arrived in San Francisco at around 9:30, much too late to really see anything. We found our condo, a rennovated 1908 hotel. We were on the 9th floor, and the elevator only went to the 8th. We had to walk up this super windy staircase to get to our floor. As cool as I was feeling, I must say it was a little bit on the creepy side once I tried to go to sleep!

We went to dinner at this little diner just down the street that had been retrofitted to look like a 1950s classic diner. It was super cute and the food was delicious after none for the whole day! We were checking out the next day but planned to spend it touring San Francisco. 

San Francisco is what I think New York looks like, except I think New York would be a little more flat. It was super crowded and we were lucky to have Mike's handicapped pass (sounds terrible!!!) because we got free parking anywhere in the city with it. We first went to Coit Tower and checked out the view from there. It was stunning!

Then we went to crooked street and took photos there. We wound our way down to Fisherman's Wharf and hung out there for a little while, but didn't really want to spend too much time there. We found out where we could get on the Cable Cars and headed towards it. We waited quite a while but eventually found out a tree had fallen over on the line and they weren't going to be able to keep running cars :( next time! I kept seeing sour dough bags and was starting to crave it, so we headed back to the wharf to buy some. The shop was awesome! It was the Boudin Bakery and there was sour dough bread everywhere! 

We finally ended up eating dinner at this adorable little pub called Sutter Pub. Amazing food and great atmosphere! As we exited the fog was rolling in super dense. We had still wanted to get to the Golden Gate Bridge! However, by the time we got there, the fog was too dense to even see it :( again, there will be another next time!

Our awesome condo! It was right downtown too, completely centrally located.

The only part of the Golden Gate Bridge we could see!

Crookedest Street!

Mikey and Dave waving from the car :)

Alcatraz

Dave must've been getting ready for the Cable Cars :)

A completely turned Cable Car :)

A specialty bread from the Boudin Bakery

Crossing the street, or at least waiting to. Watching the fog roll in.

Panoramic of the bay with the Golden Gate Bridge to the left. I wanted my sunset and the clouds weren't letting me have it.

Finally a sunset, albeit not a beach sunset. A last goodbye from California.

So we headed home, making our round trip from our home back to it via I-80. It was an incredible trip and one we won't forget soon. Thank you for reading and following along :) I know this was more for us than anyone, but I'm glad that if you did read through to the end, that you did too and enjoyed it just as much :)