Highland Extended Family Photos | Hawkes | Whitney Beth Photography
If you’ve had extended family photos, you know what a feat that is, in and of itself. Trying to get everyone’s schedules lined up with a date your photographer has available requires a good deal of patience and flexibility. That was why, last Christmas, when everyone was around and in town, Phoebe told all of her kids and grandkids to mark down “September 24th” in their calendars as picture day. Genius, right? Everyone knows to keep that date open and available for nearly a year. The plan seemed foolproof – I met with Phoebe and we picked a location and time and that was that. Until I got a phone call from a frantic Phoebe, while the whole family had done their job and kept that day open and free, something had come up that was out of everyone’s hands; Homecoming.
Three of the school’s that the older Hawkes grandkids attended had Homecoming scheduled for that night. Which wouldn’t be that big of a deal, except for the fact that we had kids coming from Kaysville, Orem and Provo. We needed to change our start time to 4 instead of 6 and find a location within 10 minutes of the freeway near American Fork.
If you’re not familiar with American Fork, there isn’t much to choose from that offers a “woodsy” backdrop, big enough for the entire Hawkes family, that close to the freeway. I spent an afternoon driving around the area with Phoebe and her husband, Brett, trying to find a place that would work. All the parks and places I had recommended to me were too far from the freeway. Phoebe even began knocking on random people’s houses asking if we could photograph in their yard. Her boldness led us to meet the nicest women who showed us a trail/park that was at the bottom of a hill that she likes to walk. It was perfect. because of the steep hill cradling the park it kept the harsh sun at bay.
The day of the shoot I got there a little bit early and started photographing family that was already there. we only had an hour to get everything we needed. Everyone cooperated so well that we finished the shoot in less than 45 minutes and all the high schoolers were able to make it to Homecoming on time. Phew! It was a whirlwind of day, but the photos turned out beautiful! Some of the smaller families took advantage of me being there to squeeze in a little mini shoot! Feel free to browse a few of my favorites from that day.
