I met Iluska through a local business networking group. She is a former teacher from upstate New York. And since I am also a former teacher from New York City, that definitely gave us something to talk about and bond over. 🙂 Now that they moved to Oregon, she has started using her art background, as Mrs Ricefield. She offers classes and camps for youngsters to explore art. How great is that? Her husband Masa is an engineer, so he does a different kind of creation. They have two daughters, 18 months and 5 years. I saw a photo of them together and they are just darling, and it sounds like they are great friends too. Maybe someday I’ll get to photograph them too.
We did our session in a little park in Lake Oswego called George Rogers Park. There are some athletic facilities (fields and tennis courts) but also this little historic monument and garden area close to the river. It’s lovely! Trees, paths, benches, flowers, a teeny little beach, and a perfect wooden bridge leading to more trails in the forest. (Love the evergreens of the Pacific Northwest!) We wandered around to different areas to take advantage of all the different backgrounds and scenes.
Masa was a little reluctant for our shoot–he didn’t feel very confident being in front of the camera and thought he couldn’t take a good photo. Now friends, that is my favorite challenge! I believe–I *know*–that everyone is photogenic and can have beautiful photos. It’s just a matter of finding the right photographer and getting into the right mindset. So during our session, we all laughed and joked (and took one silly-on-purpose) to help everyone relax and have a good time. I also made sure to show him a few shots on the back of my camera so he could see how great the photos were turning out and build a little more confidence. By the end, he seemed happy, and a little relieved and surprised to get these nice photos of them together and individually. Mission accomplished!!
