The Bantz Family

This morning I had the joy of spending an hour with the Bantz family. I met Don and Jana through my wife Amy a few years back. In fact, I just dug up this iPhone pic of them with their son Cameron at last year’s Brevival:

The game plan was to get a casual family photo in their backyard. Unfortunately, the spot where they wanted to shoot was riddled with dappled light and harsh shadows. We only a limited time with Cameron’s fiance to get the shot they were looking for, so I didn’t have time to set up the proper lighting to handle that kind of situation (it would take a lot of power to overpower the sunlight). We found a safer spot in the shade and got this:

I also went for a more extreme look and used that bright natural backlight to get some cool lens flare (I also love the dog in the background of this shot):

The other shot that they really wanted is the one at the top of the post. They wanted to recreate an older photo (which Don is holding in this one) of Don with the boys, who are now men! I also got them to shoot some indoor family shots while we were at it: