Going Home Part 1

First day:  There's a new member of our family: Aaron, my brother's son. My mother and I have flown to Illinois for the baby's Baptism, and on the first day of our visit, the only activity we have planned is to bask in his cuteness. Aaron doesn't move all that much at the moment, so it's easy to sit my mother down with the baby in her arms for the first time while I find the best angle to catch the light. My mother's attention is all on Aaron, and it's one of the only times I'll be able to  frame images without having someone turn and smile for the camera. The rest of the weekend will require planning around naps and meals and my 2-year-old niece's energy, but at the start, the trip is a quiet introduction to a new little person.

 

Second Day:  The second day of the trip is the time to get reacquainted with people we don't get to see all that much, since we live in different parts of the country. My mother gets a tour of my brother's house to see whatever upgrades he's made since her last visit and all the new toys my niece has acquired (on this visit, the big addition is a trampoline in the garage). The other ritual of grandma's visit is the bags of presents, toys and clothes, that she brings the kids. Each item is examined and explained, including the multiple christening suits for Aaron that my mother has bought -- he only needs one, but she's bought several styles and sizes. I only brought a 50mm lens with me, and I find myself hanging back as everyone else talks or plays so that I can fit them in the frame.

 

 

 

 

My niece is well-trained to say "CHEESE" with a wide grin whenever she sees a camera (and then she wants you to turn your camera around so she can see the picture), and though she's very cute, I'm trying to see my relatives' relationships in the frames, not just cheesy smiles. I see history, too: my brother juggling his daughter's Play-doh the way he used to juggle as a kid, my mother coloring with Bella the way my grandfather used to color with me. I'm either shooting from the floor or from the stairs, watching my niece crash a photo of my brother and his son and then insist on dancing. Aaron, meanwhile, is most interested in his mobile.