the sweda family of santa barbara

Kelly and I met at  Field Trip last year, well that's not quite right, we "met" in InstaLand sometime the year prior, but became true friends after spending some real time together. Because she and her darling family live in Santa Barbara, they were a natural choice for me when I was considering a live family session for my class this year. I also liked the idea (from a teaching perspective) of working with a dynamic family, one with step-children and half siblings, ranging in ages from 4-14,  in a location I had never worked, under the bright hot California sunshine (alright, so I could have lived with less overhead sun, but we dealt with it). And lucky for me (and all the rad peeps who signed up for my class) they were totally game for driving into El Capitan Canyon and casually having their family portraits made in front of 40+ strangers. I wasn't sure how that would all go down, but I'd like to think these photos don't show anything other than a beautiful loving family in a gorgeous area of California. And while I would also like to take credit for that, at least some props are owed to this crew, because they were just completely relaxed and up for whatever I threw their way. And for that (and the pizza Will made me a few nights later, but that's another blog post) I will be forever grateful.

and so my love affair with all things California continues...