Best of 2011: Portraits

It's been a good year for portraits. Tons of friends and families, and friends with families.
I've found babies are especially fun to photograph.  They're ridiculously spontaneous.

It was also the year I finally started getting decent portraits of my best friend, Ann.  I've been trying to photograph her for years, and they've all been less than satisfactory.  Either I was making it too "arty" or she was too conscious of the camera, and subtracted some of her personality from her face in order to "pose."  Somehow, we both became comfortable enough, and I got some we both really like.
I also managed to get a couple good pictures of my father, who is also hard to photograph well.

this is my mother, working on pottery late at night.  I doubt she even knows I took this picture.

 smooches,

 smooches,

smooches!

 The thing I've noticed about photographing new mothers, is that their attention is so completely not on themselves.  Their life seems to be one unending vigil, overseeing their child.

 charming isn't she?  I love how her face looks like rubber.  We were in the middle of her engagement shoot and all the smooching was making her giddy.