After a lengthy battle with traffic, I met the team at Carbon Canyon for one of the most fun-filled afternoons I’ve had in a while. These kids were bursting with energy, enthusiasm, and curiosity. I probably spent more time playing ball or on the playground than I did shooting. Dub-L was fantastic with the kids and gave them marching orders when necessary, which wasn’t often.

Thanks to the family for letting me spend the day with them. I had a great time! Click the pics for embiggening.

One of the things I like to do when I’m shooting children is to bring a smaller camera or two that they can use. Kids love gadgets, and most of them have used a camera of some type from a very early age. Letting them play with the small camera, and occassionaly my larger camera, often gets them on my side when nothing else does. To that end, I thought I’d share a few of the pictures the kids took whilst we were running around yesterday.

Thanks to Chris and Perla for making the drive out and letting me shoot their great young family. Oh, and little Christopher: it was a pleasure to take pictures with you as well!

Without further ado, here’s a sampling of what we took. For those of you reading this at 22:00 Sunday, I’ll add more a little later.

This is one I like to call “Who’s this lady think she is, trying to get my Cheerios?!?”

Click previews for larger versions.

Edit: More shots are available here.

I met the Gills at Corona Del Mar for some shots in celebration of Danger’s 9th month. We lucked out and had pretty good light, although it would have been much better without the incoming storm blocking the sun.

Here are all the shots I have in the gallery for now. Click away to see larger versions.

So, the idea for the shot on the left was that dad (blue) + mom (yellow) = Danger (green). As soon as blue and yellow walked away into the background, green went straight for the sand. He looked thoroughly annoyed that he had this sticky stuff all over his hands, but he went for it time and time again. Too funny.

Edit: I’m pretty sure the photo on the right was shot by Becky, so kudos to her!

A parting, contemplative shot for you.

Kids are like secret agents. You might see one on the street and say “hello Gary”, and they’ll just keep right on moving because they have a mission they need to accomplish. They don’t need to tell you why they need to do it; they just know they have it, and it’s going to get done.

I had the great pleasure of meeting and photographing the Riley family today, and their two-year-old son Jack fits this secret agent thing perfectly. Several times he looked right at me, and you could tell his eyes were saying “hi Mr. Cameraman. I see you and your big fancy camera, but you know what? I have GOT to play with this toy train right now. Nothing personal, it’s just that if I don’t get this train moving, the lima beans aren’t getting to market, and I’m not going to let that happen. So you and your camera can come back later.”

In other words, kids have priorities, and your camera isn’t it. It’s what makes shooting kids so much fun. Below are some sample pictures from this immensely enjoyable shoot. A larger set, as always, is available in the gallery. As I write this, not all the gallery items are up, but will likely be up by tomorrow night.

A big thanks to the Svobodas for letting us shoot at their house!