In attempt to boldly stay on top of the back to school activities and not feel pressured as we approached August 24, I mentioned on Periscope and in a post on this blog that we were probably going to to back to school photos the weekend before school started. I announced my plan to the kids and they grumbled a bit, but were not adamantly against it. The grumbling, I believe was in the idea of the actual photo shoot as if they were little.

After a little thought, though, Tyra mentioned that it sure would be nice to have a few photos with her friends taken with the big, fancy camera. Which got my photographer’s mind thinking about how cool these photos of 13-year-olds would turn out.

You know, since 13 is an actual teenager, but not quite in the throes of the teen attitude and still kind of playful. And since I have a photographer friend who’s kids also needed their photo taken, we made it a big family affair.

Except we all weren’t related to each other.

And it was hot. But despite the heat, everyone was basking in the back-to-school excitement and in Tyra’s words, “to be around the squad again.”

The girl squad.

With a few siblings.

The beauty of photographing my own kids is I can experiment with new camera settings.

Even though my kids are wonderful subjects, I asked my cousin if her daughter could join us. She definitely helped temper the teen sarcasm of the day.

These are the photos of my three that were approved to be shared on the blog.

And the beginning of the school year has come and gone. I’m already starting to look forward to next year’s shoot, as I will have two kids in high school. I’m thinking I need to start researching ideas now!

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