A sunflower field photoshoot for three families at the same time has got to spell “fun, craze, and happiness”! Let me also try a little different format of storytelling.
I know, I’ve just posted my own family’s sunflower field photoshoot and I thank the big wave of friends and clients who came to check it out! A 🌻 to each of you! The new photo session is different in that it was shot on a professional camera and involved not one but three families at the same time, bringing the count to 6 adults and 7 kids, a total of 13 people in the wild!
This sunflower field photoshoot actually took place first, a week prior to my family visit. You may recognize Olga from her family’s goofy session at their summer house in Poconos. To no surprise, they must have ignited their friends to catch some more fun action before the summer was over. She informed me that two more families would like to join for a new adventure, as one big happy group strolling through the sunflowers! Turns out, they’ve been friends for two generations and after one family bought a summer house in Poconos more than a decade ago, the other families followed. What an admirable bond! That’s what I humbly hope to eventually build in our new habitat… One Long Island family already visited and was impressed. 😉
Although I am still discovering new cool spots in the area, Olga’s suggestion for the location—Sussex County Sunflower Maze—wasn’t new to me. I came there earlier with another client but the sunflowers weren’t blooming yet. We had more luck this time but truthfully, still not in their peak. I just had to think of good angles and a tight encompassing framing.
I’ll try a different format for this story, breaking up the visuals into narrative segments. Let’s begin.
Our sunflower field photoshoot started with the painted plywood cutouts where you stick your heads in. This is a great ice-breaker and sets the mood right for the kids for a silly act two!
I then spotted an old plastic playground set. There are only a few such activities around, which I find regretful. I cannot help comparing with the Cherry Crest Adventure Farm with their amazing corn maze. Granted, the scale is massive there so they score some super cool activities in those mazes that keep you busy! I suppose the Sunflower Maze, created just in 2010, will catch up. Anyway, this plastic prop ought to serve me so I loaded it up with the kids (adults skipped their turn). A keen eye would spot the suspicious difference of one of these shots with the cover. Photoshop. Yep, the seventh wonder wasn’t cooperating for this shot so I got his happy head from another image. If it doesn’t look too realistic—I didn’t try hard. Flying tomorrow to shoot a wedding in Ohio and need to get this out.
Then I asked the kids to imagine themselves being captains. I wonder what happens when a ship gets six of them navigators…
The kids got warmed up and prepped for a little more boring but needed part of any sunflower field photoshoot—family portraits! To be a bit easier on them, I mix traditional with kooky. I like the latter more… so parents, don’t fret—you’ll see the normal ones in the rest of the set.
The next shot helped me later when I came back with my family. What I asked them to do there was to rock right and left, making even the teens loosen up and giggle, much less a toddler! I repeated this sure strategy while my friend was getting the shot.
We then moved through the weeds to another cluster of sunflowers. Watching the city folks maneuver through the grass was something. Lost the count of “ooh”, “ay”, and “ouch”. The younger girl was a trooper, though. So was the older. Gotta give it to them, the girls in general did radically better throughout this whole sunflower field photoshoot.
The tickling sensations turned into a fun photo-op.
This was my failed attempt at “stick your head out of the grass”. Neat concept but I dropped the idea. Something was stopping from getting their bottoms lower. Ticks, I guess.
Back to the sunflowers, then! That was easy.
Now, doesn’t this little guy remind you of someone (other than the cloned head on the cover)? Kids were struggling with the sun.
Then the piggyback hour struck!
I felt like treating some images less bubbly and it started right in the field. À-la children of the corn, I was tempted to shoot a few portraits down from the ground level and add something different to the sibling relationship. This could develop into a cool standalone concept for another sunflower field photoshoot. No time now, we went on.
As the stamina was slowly fading, the kiddos needed a boost. I asked them to race. First themselves, then cheering their parents (no escaping this time). Cartwheels were performed with various degree of success. Bridges were turned into secret tunnels. The circus came to town.
And that was the apex. I drained them. Dads and big sisters to the rescue!
I bid my farewell. This sunflower field photoshoot turned into a perfect late summer activity and opportunity for all my clients living around Poconos or visiting from NYC, Long Island, or New Jersey. The blooming season is over and I’m sorry that some of you missed it but comes next year, shoot me a message. I may come up with an idea!
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