Family Photos in Bad Weather
As our sleepy little home slowly awoke this past weekend, we were greeted by some classic Vancouver Island late winter weather! You could hear the howling wind as it streaked and weaved its way overtop and around our house, and without looking outside I knew that mother nature was certainly adding some precipitation, because that's Campbell River in late February! The kids had already been up bouncing off the walls, with an energy source only known to the young as I slowly poured my first cup of coffee and settled into one of the chairs next to our living room window.
I surveyed the outside world safely behind my double pane window, watching as the nearby trees swayed back and fourth almost in a rhythmic dance coordinated by the blustering wind outside. As I watched the rain slowly fall onto the maple tree in my backyard, I questioned how we would have any ability to have a family adventure outside and maybe dissipate some of the stored energy in the kids. I vaguely remember asking myself "how on earth would I take a family photoshoot in weather like this?" After setting up breakfast, I opted to let our family guard dog Huxley #greatpyrenees outside to conduct his morning patrol of the backyard. After breakfast, a second cup of coffee, and the dishes washed (by washed I mean placed in the dishwasher) it was time to let the hound back in. Opening the basement door to let him in, I was amazed how perfect the light outside was falling evenly across all the different objects and structures, the rain had subsided to a lite mist, and the wind was a little more manageable. I quickly yelled to the kids to get their rain gear as I ran upstairs, as knew exactly what we were going to do today... We were going to fly a kite!
We managed to dress in all our typical island winter attire: Rain boots, Rain coats, and some gloves before heading over to the field next door. My daughter was super excited as she had only gotten her kite a week earlier as a birthday present from her grandparents, and hadn't had the opportunity to fly it yet. As like most of our family adventures, my fiancé did most of the work related to getting the kids ready and setting up the kite, as I slowly walked in circles taking pictures of the proceedings. Within a couple seconds the kite was launched high into the sky, and screams of enjoyment and laughter could be heard across the field as the kids ran back and fourth playing with the kite.
We all took turns flying the kite, seeing how high or low we could make it swerve and dive back and fourth. At one point our youngest was holding the handle flying the kite when he accidently let it go and their was a sudden dash to catch the string as it started bouncing down the field being dragged by the kite dancing in the wind on its own accord. Finally catching the string and handle, I let out a short laugh and received the "I told you so" look as my fiancés words echoed in my head "I don't trust him holding that by himself..." as I slowly retrieved the kite that had now crashed back into the ground.
After a short search to recover a missing support arm lost in the panic of crashing the kite, it was lifted once again back into the sky. Despite the fact that the cool wind continued to blow and bluster around us and a lite rain fell through out our time outside, we managed to forget all about this typical late February weather while playing outside and just simply enjoyed our family time together. We eventually succumbed to the weather and headed back indoors, but only after packing up the kite up and trudging back across the street. As the kids hung up there raingear, I could hear them laughing about who had the most barrel rolls, or completed the best tricks. After serving the kids some hot coco, I poured myself another cup of coffee before sliding back into my chair in the living room and again resumed watching the trees dancing in the wind. A small smile spread across my face, as I thought about our little adventure outside, the energy consumed, the memories made and best of all, the amazing family photos I had just captured in what some people might consider "bad weather to take family photos in".