Clayton - Cleveland Children's Photographer

It was a warm summer evening and I was on my way to photograph 4 year old Clayton.  About 2 months prior, I received a phone call from his mother Camille who had been referred to me by another client.  Given the referral, I assumed that her son was a senior in high school needing senior pictures.  As we continued chatting, Camille described her son as being "unagreeable with the camera."  I said, "Oh that's not a problem.  I can generally get a chuckle or two out of my clients." Camille then went on to say that she will probably have Clayton's grandmother stand in for her at the shoot because he tends to be more agreeable around her for pictures. "Oh, and sometimes he covers up his face when there's a camera around," she said.  

Cue car screech

"Hold on,"  I said.  "I'm confused.  Exactly how old is your son?"

"Oh, he's four," she said.   

As I burst out laughing, I explained that I thought she was calling me about senior pictures! "It's all adding up now," I said.

Before pulling down his grandmother's street, I tried remembering what I was like when I was four. This is the picture that popped in my head:

Obviously . . . I was thrilled.  I remember the photographer telling me that I could not bring my stuffed cat into the picture. And it made me sad.  By winter, however, I had matured.  I had matured enough to match my stuffed animals' outfits to mine. This time I brought Kermit. Kermit's vest matched my skirt so there was no reason why he shouldn't be in the picture. Although the photographer begged me to put Kermit down, I kept shaking my head no. When he finally gave in, I couldn't help but smile :) This was the result:

As I pulled into the driveway, I saw Clayton running around the yard with his water gun.  His grandmother was gardening.  Life was good.  So, I brought out my camera and began taking pictures of Clayton . . . just being Clayton.  Here are a few of my favorites:

After he finished running around the house, he stopped to chat for a while.

Then . . . he started rolling in the grass. LOL!

Clayton showing me his tricycle.  He thought I was too tall to ride it.  I begged to differ.

A quick shot as Clayton ran by me again.

Clayton loves playing with sticks.

It was getting hot outside so we went inside to play.  

Clayton and his grandmother working on a project . . . with sticks :)

Clayton inspecting things with his magnify glass.

Inspecting the stick before construction . . .

I love this next picture!  Clayton reminds me of an old man.  Clayton was trying to pick out his Halloween costume from a magazine.  I remember doing that in AUGUST as well :)

I imagine he'll be making this same face when he's in his twenties reading about political scandal in the newspaper.

Clayton's talking to his grandmother about his chores . . . trying to remember what they are :)

Cookie time!

Pure delight!

Clayton was showing me a craft he's been working on in the kitchen.