Wine country family portrait – The Bowies

It’s not secret that wine and photography are some of our favorite things and a wine country family portrait is one of our favorite ways to combine two things we love.

Whenever we get a call from the Bowie family, we know that it will be a good time had by all. They live on a beautiful sprawling property in wine country with lots of well-loved animals. Dogs, horses, chickens, and a curious cat tend to make appearances in the portraits and even become featured on holiday cards.

Now that holiday card season is behind us (for at least 6 months) it’s safe for us to share images from our most recent session with the Bowie family.

This is the image they chose for the front of their 2016 holiday card.

It’s not hard to see that they are a fun-loving family. We were fortunate enough to schedule for the exact hour of rain-free shooting time amidst a series of winter storms… it was raining when we arrived and raining when we left. And their smiles were still this wide and genuine.

If there was any shadow of a doubt that this family is uniquely enjoyable to be around, this is  front of their first holiday card with us in 2011:

 

It will probably ALWAYS be in my top 5 favorite custom holiday cards we’ve designed.

They took the opportunity to send all of their friends and family a big smile and a warmed heart.

For the back of their cards in 2011 they chose to use a shot of just the kiddos, hanging out in the horse pasture on a gigantic pumpkin.

 

What a difference 5 years makes when you have kids!

Here’s an image of these siblings in the same pasture 5 years later

It makes me almost want to go wake up my kids to see if they’ve changed since dinner. (well, almost – sleeping kids are sleeping kids).

 

 

They days might be long, but the years are incredibly short. There’s no better way to keep these precious memories alive than with great portraiture.

 

This season, the Bowie family chose to have a more classic portrait for the back of their holiday card.

 

 

I can’t stop comparing these two sessions! In 2011 we took a similar photograph – check it out.

 

 

It’s important to note the difference in light between the two sessions. The one we did in 2011 was in late September around 6pm, just before sunset. While the most recent session – at the exact same location – was in mid-October at around 10:30 am.

Speaking of an opportunity for comparison, there were a couple years in there when we didn’t hear from the Bowies. They had the opportunity to work with someone else who offered a special rate but didn’t impress the Bowies with their results…so they’re back!

We are delighted to be the photographer of choice for this fantastic family, these wine country family portraits, and we look forward to watching them and their pets continue to grow.