I like to tell stories through my photographs, but if I’m honest, there are lots of stories families hope are not so obvious in my photographs. The Coleman family came to me this summer after having spent a week together on a combined family vacation. That would be the grandparents, their three sets of married children and all seven grandchildren together in one space sharing one schedule for one entire week. That’s a whole lot of togetherness! Finding creative ways to cozy the children up to each other at this point was a challenge. So let me paint the picture behind the camera for you…..six adults waving hands wildly, calling out their children’s names in funny voices, begging and pleading for their attention, and promising payouts of candy for smiling faces. The magic moment that was rewarded with all seven sets of eyes upon me was when one brilliant mom pulled the family-sized bag of M&M’s from her purse and began shaking it over my head. The tears and squirmy bodies stopped ever so briefly. Click! And six satisfied parents scooped up their children to head back to their respective homes and declare the vacation over for another year.
