Family photo session in Villa Tasca, Palermo

We met with Greta and her parents on summer evening in July for their family photos. I've photographed this family several times already, first when Greta was a a baby, and it always touches me deeply when families come for a repeat shoot. We picked villa Tasca park because they often spend summer evenings there, so Greta knows and loves the park and has several favourite spots there. As her mom told me that she's very much into exploring and researching now, I offered to bring a little basket and magnifying glass for her research. They also brought some books and a blanket to sit on.

We started with one of their favourite spots - tree stumps and hammocks. There was a game of sticks, drumming, bouncing and jumping on the stumps, rocking on the hammock with some tickles.

I saw some interesting looking bushes with blooms and beautiful light, so I suggested we move there and let Greta play with magnifying glass. She was really excited about this new toy, so for a while it was difficult to do something else. Which was not a problem, I find it's the best thing when your kids find a game or activity they really enjoy during the shoot, because this is when they show their real emotions and character, and the photos of such moments are always cherished by the parents. We had a lot of different spots and plants to explore, parents were looking for new leaves or sticks to add to the basket and everyone had fun.

To change things up, I proposed to the parents to do some reading. Since the beginning of the shoot, as we were moving around the park, I was looking for nice spots that would provide beautiful background, so we went to this lantana bush with flowers and dry grass around it for reading photos. Tall grass always looks great in background, it has such a nice texture, even if it's dried up, which is often the case here in the summer. In this particular family shoot, dry grass also became an amazing game that resulted in gorgeous photos, but we'll get to it later.

Reading was followed by some climbing in the sports corner, some running and a bit more exploring with the magnifying glass. It was nearly sunset, not much time left till dark, and we had beautiful light, the best light you can have for photos, so we discussed with Greta and her parents what she'd like to do. She liked the idea of battling and tickling with grass stalks, and it was an absolute winner. Everyone had lots of fun, Greta was laughing and giggling all the time battling her parents, the light was amazing, and the photos show it all. This is probably the most precious gift you can give to yourself and to your kids, photos and memories of you having fun together, that will show your kids what a great childhood they had, and remind you all of that love and laughter on warm summer evening.

We finished the shoot with a dad-daughter chase and said our good byes, the family stayed in villa Tasca to have some pizzas for dinner, a perfect ending of this beautiful evening. I have so many favourites from this shoot, scroll down to see more!