Tumbleweed Park in Chandler, Arizona makes a great setting for family and children’s portraits.  It’s a big park with lots of options.  One of my favorite areas at the park is the old farm where they hold the Ostrich Festival each year.  This is where we shot the Basha family portrait.  The Basha boys are good looking kids and quite expressive, so I enjoyed making their portraits.

I always hope for clouds, but in Phoenix, Arizona, serious cloud cover doesn’t happen all that often.  So in this case, I had to pull out the off camera flash on a Lowell light stand with the TT1 and TT5 Pocket Wizard set which allows me to fire my flash manually in high speed sync mode.  This means I can match the background ambient light with my fill flash at high shutter speeds.  Otherwise this first shot would have been either over exposed in the back ground or the family would be severely underexposed.  The Pocket Wizards have their challenges in their communication range, but they are invaluable to me in challenging lighting circumstances.

Of course, shooting in the open shade is always my favorite way to photograph.  No off camera light needed, just pure beautiful north light.

This is my favorite photo of the day.  He’s wearing a great shirt for the shot and the texture is fantastic.  We found an old apple box near this wood pile and after checking for scorpions and black widows, we let the little man play in around and on the box.  He was quite the ham though and this little pose was perfect.

Children’s Portrait Photography Information

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Slideshow Music by Mindy Gledhill, courtesy of Triple Scoop Music
Location: Tumbleweed Park, Chandler, Arizona

Camera: Canon, Mark IV, 70-200 2.8 IS Lens