Atlanta, GA Family Photographer | Family of Six
No one ever warned me when my kids were little that one day it would be close to impossible to get everyone together for a family picture. Well that day has come. After years of vacations at the beach, togetherness has taken on a whole new meaning and we have to grab the moments when they present themselves.
This month we celebrated the graduation of our oldest child who received a masters as well as specialist degree in school psychology. Even though the occasion was momentous, few of the family could attend. After traveling back to Denver where she permanently resides, she was back in Atlanta for a wedding so we had to seize the day.
Years ago, I would plan the outfits and have a major shopping spree to make sure that everything was crisp and coordinated. No detail was left untouched - hair, makeup, accessories, shoes - you name it, I had it covered. Fast forward nearly 20 years and my oldest reminds me that we should take a picture for our Christmas card while everyone is home. It’s Atlanta and it’s close to the temperature of the surface of the sun! It wasn’t a bad idea though and in true form of the mother who birthed her, she had come with a suitcase of clothing options just in case.
Friday night at around 8pm we declare that the next morning is picture day and the color is blue. We will go into the backyard and set up the camera in the creek and get it all done before the heat of the day begins at 9am. After some grumbling it is decided and we all wake up the next morning with intent. Here is the problem. My middle child is home just for a few days from the University of Georgia and has only packed shorts and t-shirts. It’s time to go shopping in dad’s closet. My youngest is in a power of wills about his hair insisting that I cut it but I remind him that I am retired from that job after 20 years of cutting EVERYONE’S hair in the family. They are adults and can afford to pay for their own grooming now. He is relentless but I stand firm even though it kills me to look at. Every picture tells a story and this one will be no different.
We walk down to the creek and set up where we have so many times before. My tripod in the middle of the creek propped up by large flat rocks, a light stand and strobe vicariously swaying in the wind and several sharp pebbles that I have to run across each time I hit the shutter button. That was about 20 times by the way. With pants wet up to my knees, we move to the next location, a tall grassy ant-hill ridden field. Not as bad though seeing as I can at least run in front of the camera without too much injury. 30 minutes later, we are walking back up the hill ready to create a mess in the kitchen which is so typical of a summer’s day in the Fornuto home on a hot summer’s day.
I download and look at the images right away. We really have mastered the art of family portraits. It is not the perfectly planned session of years ago, but it is a true representation of where we are at this very moment. When Bella flies back to Denver tomorrow, Cecelia leaves for Vienna later in the month and the boys head back to UGA it will be something that can be checked off our list.
If there is one thing that I have learned as I have gotten older is that life is fleeting. Months go by like days. It is important to spend quality time with each other and it is nice to have documentation of your family - even if you are not your most perfect self. Perfect is overrated. Family is everything.