Beka and Mike’s Family Session

Who: The family of Mike and Beka
Where: Kakaako Park
When: early morning on Halloween

I went to college on the east coast, determined to get the most different experience possible from living in Hawaii and also to see snow for the first time. I ended up at Boston College which I L-O-V-E-D but it was ironic that I traveled 5,000 miles away and still hung out mostly with people from Hawaii. And that’s where I met Mike, the local boy/business major who even lived across the hall from me with my high school classmate, Mark. And sometimes we would get really lucky when he would bring his sweetheart (his high school sweetheart!!!), Beka, to visit. Beka was and will always be drop-dead gorgeous, and just as sweet as can be. Mike’s roommates all seemed to get a little tongue-tied when Beka came to visit.

Fast-forward a few years and these two lovebirds got married, spent a few years living in Japan before returning to live back home, and have two beautiful kids who are quite the characters. Beka and Mike wanted to have their session done at Kakaako Park, a place they love to bring their kids to walk and bike on the rolling pathways. We had to reschedule our initial session time because their son felt under the weather so we moved it to early Halloween morning. So, you’ll see some adorable pictures of little Miss “M,” the Supergirl Fairy Princess. Little “J” donned his superman cape but, true to his superpowers, he ran faster than the speed of light and I think I captured his back only as he flew up and down the hills.

Meet the family: Mike, Beka, Miss “M,” and Little “J”

This family loves to smile…

and laugh….
and love =)

Litte Miss “M” was my joy to photograph. She was not shy and loved the camera and, obviously, the camera loved her. She has a bubbly personality and won me over by the hour’s end when she reached out and held my hand while we were walking. We’re best buds now, just waiting for her call.

Little “J” was a little more shy and just took you in with these big brown eyes. These next few pictures are from early in the session because he took off like a rocket when he saw the sloping hills around us. It was just your typical morning of playtime for him.

I love kiddies. I photograph weddings and family sessions but I crack up when I photograph kids. Something about having a camera pointed at them and counting to three brings out these expressions and faces. I went through a series of ten images and they had a different funny face in each one. I can’t pick a fave…I’ll have to put them all.

Here is the concentration while eating candy faces.

Little Miss “M” was enchanting as a fairy/super girl/ballerina.

This next storyboard is a lesson on why a photographer should always give the family room to have ideas of their own. I always go in with a plan of what I want to try out but sometimes the family will bring ideas of their own. I told Beka to bring a few toys to let the kids play with and they brought so much toys, we had four grown adults carrying them around the park. I must have been talking out loud to myself because I’m scouring the park for the best places with soft light or shaded light. Because Mike said ‘hey, i know the light may be too bright, but what do you think about us running down that huge hill right there.” So we tried it and I loved the way they came out. So, kudos to Mike for this series.

If you are want to see the rest of the images from this session, please visit www.keaosphotography.instaproofs.com where all images and prints are available for purchase.