Matthew and Mary Catherine are related to me somehow (by marriage, not blood). I just can't think of what you call your wife's sister's husband's grandchildren. Matthew just graduated from high school and Mary Catherine is entering the 11th grade. But we first made their accquanintance when they were very small children - maybe 4 to 5 years old. My wife's brother-in-law would rent a beach house for a week each summer and we would spend a few days together with them.
They are visiting this week and my sister-in-law asked if I would shoot some beach pictures to compliment the beach portraits they had made when they were very young. I had asked Matt to strike that pose with his arms around Mary Catherine. But before doing so, he mockingly wrapped his big hands around Mary Catherine's neck, which sent her into a giggle fit. Once he did get his arms wrapped around her, neither one was very comfortable with the pose so we didn't shoot more than a couple but I did manage to get this one while she was still laughing. Although the framing on the right isn't ideal, I just really like the playful spirit they both are displaying here.
In the end, my sister-in-law opted for these two individual shots of each of them, and they will be produced as 16X20 prints and go on the wall to either side of the childhood shot taken of the two of them together on the beach many years ago.
These were lit with a single Canon 430EX II flash in a shoot through umbrella to camera left. The flash was fired with a Cybersync radio trigger. The trick on this type of shot is getting the flash and surrounding abmient lighting balanced and I was very pleased with this and all the other shots we got this evening.
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