Week 41: Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jack

This was a wild Christmas. We decided that it was time to stay at our home for Christmas Day and start our own family traditions. Done. We planned to fly to Missouri the day after Christmas so that we would still have a solid week to visit Grandparents, Great Grandparents and other friends and family. Mother Nature had other plans. So, our trip was cut in half and we just returned from successfully shoehorning 6 Christmases into 4 days.

It was, however, very worth it. It was wonderful to have a few extra, unplanned, days at home to hang out, play in the snow and just relax. Our trip to Missouri almost didn't happen even after we were successfully booked on an non-cancelled flight. I won't go into the details here, but let's just say that, after many problems, lines and surprisingly helpful airline agents, we ran through the airport and boarded our flight with - no exaggeration - about 3 minutes to spare. I thought on many occasions that it wouldn't happen, but we made it. In my frustration and angst, I thought that it wouldn't be worth the trouble, but it was. We had a nice trip, saw many loved ones and are back home safe and sound.

While I had planned to do two weeks of Grandparent portraits for the blog, last week was preempted by the Blizzard of 2010. Well, it's 2011, so we are back to our regularly scheduled programming. I almost didn't have time to get this shot in and I thought the weather was going to play a role in my plan-B-ing it again. Time with family was extremely tight this year. Between Jonah's schedule, our travel time and planned Christmas celebrations, my window for a portrait with Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jack was about 15 minutes this morning before we had to run to the airport. I had a shot in my mind in their back yard by their shed which I thought would provide an interesting graphic element. The light outside was really nice this morning, too. It was, however, 18 degrees outside (it was in the 60's the first two days of our trip). The light inside their house was not cooperating and I didn't bring a flash along with me for this quick trip. After a couple of failed attempts, I decided for one last Hail Mary, leaving the front door open just behind them to keep enough heat flowing for a quick few frames.

I've been wanting to capture Grandparent portraits recently because Jonah has shown that he really knows them and longs to visit them. He's been looking forward to going to Missouri for the last few weeks and woke up from nap this afternoon, after we were home, asking where Grandma and Grandpa's house was. He did NOT want to stay home. It's fun to watch him interact with them as they get to know each other. Of course, he gets spoiled at both grandparents' homes. I guess the photo with Kristi's parents will have to wait until around his birthday when they are scheduled to come back to NYC.

Photo - straight forward sunlight shot with a rented (and amazing) 85mm lens at f/4.

Happy New Year, everyone!