I have always loved this quote by Michaelangelo:

"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it."

This truly applies to every session for a photographer, some sessions more than others.  As a matter of fact, some stones (sessions) have gems of incredible beauty inside.

This was the case during a session we had just recently with twin (not identical) three year old boys.  The energy these little guys had! (Yes, I can hear all you parents of young boys this age laughing!)

In my brief time with them though, the one thing that immediately jumped out was how much they cared for each other through their rough play with each other - it was just how they communicated it.

As we worked (quickly!) through their session, the typical silly, fun, goofy shots happened such as these:

But as always happens, especially the more I interact with them, about them, they start to open up and show their sincere faces, and then the magic happens - and we get this...

When I clicked the shutter I was pretty sure I had the shot of the session - you just get to feel that after a while I guess.  

When I finished the images for presentation to the family, I had that image queued up to show first.  I briefly discussed with mom and grandmom how much fun we had and reminded them of all the silly fun we went through to get the shots.   I'm not sure if they thought I was trying to let them down easy with disappointing images or not!

Then we darkened the room and I brought up that image completely finished and ready for canvas.

Grandmom had such an immediate and strong emotional reaction Shannon and I glanced at each other with concern, but then she just started talking about how incredible the image of the little guys was.

It reminded me of something very powerful - that quote at the top of this story by Michaelangelo.  But more than that, a family can already see inside that stone to the sincerely beautiful story of their own family.

As a portrait artist, my job is to capture the beautiful story that they already know is in there.  What an honor!

Hayward