A Hopeful photoshoot

Remember how last post I went to the garden with Tessie? Maria and Tess had some friends along who I was taking pictures of too. The first is featured in this post: Hope!

She and Tessie have been good friends for years, so of course Tessie jumped in for some of the pictures.

 Maria's friend Nicole was also there being photographed, but she'll be the subject of the next post.

 Hope is very fun, and we make horrible puns every time she is around, saying "We are Hopeful!" etc. (Did you notice the post title?)

When she leaves, we're seriously Hopeless. 

Nicole's pictures to follow!

More pictures of sisters

Last Thursday it was Tessie's turn for a photoshoot! We walked downtown one morning and took some fun pictures while antique and consignment shopping.

 The baby of the family is on her way to Freshman year of highschool in a couple of weeks, which makes me super proud of her, but definitely also makes me feel old!

We also took some really adorable sister pictures. Bia and Tessie have been a great team and the best of friends since they were old enough to interact with each other, and their relationship is very special. I was happy to get a few good shots of them together!

On Friday we completed the photoshoot by taking a few pictures with her contacts instead of her glasses in at a local garden. What a pretty, pretty sister I have!!

We all just love the baby of the family—she brings so much happiness into our house, and we can't imagine life without our number seven!

Bonus picture, with brother-in-law!

A summertime photoshoot

On Monday my family went to a nearby nature park to take a walk, and Bia and I decided to take the opportunity to do a nice summery photoshoot! She has been a great assistant in the past (see here and here) but hadn't got any time in front of the camera yet. We wanted to change that!

Bia is the writer and the bookworm in a family full of writers and bookworms, and is a quiet and calm presence in the house. I thought her spirit showed through well in the photos.

This one is my favorite!

The two of us lagged behind the others as we stopped for photos here and there, and despite it being blindingly sunny that day, the sporadic clouds cooperated well!

The nature park wasn't far out of town and was a really nice place, full of interesting scenery and wildlife. Our walk wasn't long due to the heat and errands that had to be run afterwards, so I'm looking forward to going there again sometime soon.

I was so happy to be able to get Maria on the other side of the camera, and I'm very pleased at how the pictures turned out. Photoshoots for no reason are lots of fun, because there's no pressure to get anything right, and it was nice and short too. Next will be Tessie's turn!

A very American vacation

As mentioned in the last post, Othman is in South Dakota for a two week vacation! 

We've been doing all sorts of very American things since he's been here. Like having Norman Rockwell-esque family dinners. Compare:

On the topic of food, he's also been introduced to the great American tradition of church potlucks. Plus he rediscovered his love of Culvers, and even went out to my favorite hole-in-the-wall-no-one-speaks-English Vietnamese restaurant with me. 

Vietnamese Pho!

He's been driving our '97 Toyota pickup truck running errands as well as my family members all over town, since he's one of the few in the house who can drive stick shift!

So that means he gets to do fun things like waiting in hot high school parking lots for my littlest sister!

With all this driving and with the big Midwestern skies we see lots of clouds, like this aptly shaped one we saw on our way to pick up my big brother from the airport.

It looked more like an airplane about 30 seconds previously, but my phone was slow.

He's also been practicing the great American sport of photobombing:

And the second great American sport of chopping firewood!

My brothers Gus and Thomas and their friend James were in charge of getting and chopping enough firewood for bonfires throughout our family reunion weekend. James performed the duties of resident expert and gave us all (including me!) lessons on how to chop effectively. It was such a satisfying feeling, and despite my sore arms I'm waiting eagerly for the next chopping session.

He also participated in the aforementioned family reunion that gathered all of my dad's family, complete with matching teeshirts. More on that later though. 

From brats to backyard bonfires, I think we're doing a pretty good job exposing my Moroccan boy to the best of the Midwest.

Happy birthday lil bro!

Yesterday was my brother Gus's birthday, but I was in Sioux Falls with Othman all day running errands before picking big brother Patrick up from the airport, so I didn't have time to blog! Oops.

But Gus's 23rd seemed like a good day, not least because a large contingent of our family arrived (from Alaska and Texas) for our family reunion! Beer and bonfires ensued, so who can complain about a birthday like that?!!

This summer has had some ups and downs but here's hoping that 23 is a fantastic year for you Gus! Happy birthday!!

Photographing a high school senior

Today and yesterday I had the exquisite pleasure of taking senior pictures for one of my sister Maria's best friends. For you non-Americans, we have a tradition of doing photoshoots with students in their last year of high school to commemorate the end of an era. I really love the tradition, because it captures kids at a very special but sometimes overlooked time of their life. However, photoshoots with professional photographers can really break the bank. So when I was a senior in high school, I had a couple friends take my photos and was really happy with them. That meant that when Katie asked me earlier this month to take her senior pictures for her I was first of all happy to pay it forward, and secondly just thrilled since I knew how fun it would be. 

(Spoiler: I wasn't disappointed.) 

My sister Maria and Katie have been friends since they were 7, and I've joked that she's my "adopted sister" for many many years by now.

And this girl is just beautiful. I mean with a smile like this:

and eyes like that:

what more could you hope for in a model??

Last night we walked to a nearby campground to take those outdoor evening pictures, then this morning we strolled in tiny downtown Brookings and ended up finding lots of beautiful backgrounds.

And even some that weren't especially beautiful themselves, but made good backdrops.

  

She was all sorts of fun but also super chill throughout the shoot, which made for some really nice pictures.

And WOW those big blue eyes just awe me.

Thanks Katie for giving me the opportunity to photograph you! Hope your last year of high school is everything you want it to be.