Wild in the Wild Flowers: Albion Basin 2014

I have been patiently waiting for the day I could take Luke up to the famous Albion Basin wildflower fields for a photo shoot.

Last Thursday the day arrived!

He was finally old enough and tall enough to be set loose among the blooms.

He was old enough to sniff the flowers when his photographer-grandmother suggested he do so, and did not react negatively and say she was crazy when the flowers she pointed to had absolutely no scent whatsoever.

He seemed to enjoy having a flower and throwing a flower too.

Ah yes...he is all boy.

The Indian paint brushes were still blooming nicely.

Albion Basin (about 20 minutes up from our home) has Indian Paint Brush varieties that bloom in several colors.

I knew I would need a partner in this photo session.

Bernie was able to take the morning off and go with us.

Where ever Papa went, Luke was happy to go too.

 Luke's six week old brother Calvin came along too; he spent the outing sleeping soundly in his Mama's front pack.

His photo session in the flowers is a few years away.

I will probably do separate sessions with each boy and then one with them together in the future.

For now this is the best sort of family shot we could manage.

(I flashed back to the days when I used to carry a new born in front and a toddler on my side. Whew!)

The thing about putting two boys (of any age) together in a photo shoot is you never know what they are likely to do.

 Luke spontaneously gave Papa a kiss...

Awww.

So sweet.

 

Papa had a lesson in mind for Luke.

Look at those smiles.

???

 What are they up to?

 

 OH. 

A lesson on how to chew grass like a hillbilly hick.

 

Luke caught on to the finer points of that particular skill right away.

How fun to have a documentation of the day this skill was first learned.

I'd say Luke has mastered the skill entirely including the rolled out lower lip and lowered thoughtful eyes.

Moving the grass to the side of your mouth and smiling:

Another finer point of grass chewing.

Kind of half closing your eyes and crossing them a bit is good too.

I think these two could have kept at this pastime all day.

Eventually they sauntered back down the hill still chewing their blades of grass.

Papa was quick to point out a gopher hole.

That lead to some digging and some discussion too.

Rachel is such a good sport about her father-in-law's interactions with her son.

She's got a great sense of boy humor too.

I guess I should have at least tried to chew some grass but somehow I managed to skip doing that.

The only downside of being in command of the camera is that usually I never get a photo of myself with my grandson.

Bernie offered to take some shots of me with Luke for a change.

So glad he did!

(In case you are wondering where my shirt logo went:  My shirt managed to creep up in a bunch around one breast in a most crazy looking way.  I liked the full length shot of Luke with the wink and wanted to be able to enjoy the photo without the odd shirt bunch so I just used Picasa to sort of fix it.

Good enough!)

This photo is so sweet.

It also documents why I had to wait until he was two to do the photo shoot:

Last year his head would have been just above the top of the plants.

I could of lost him in the fields!

I was switching between several camera settings as I shot.

Usually I used my speed/sport setting on auto focus as Luke was moving pretty fast.

Occasionally I switched to other setting to get more artistic shots like this one.

It had been raining every day that week so sitting on rocks was a good thing; a way to avoid getting too muddy right away.

 It was also overcast morning which worked in my favor: no harsh shadows showed up on Luke's face.

I like photographing hands as much as I like photographing faces.

I love the gestures and animation hands bring to photographs.

The slightly skinned knee blurred in the background adds a lot to the photo too.

I think getting a shadow and the sole of a foot adds animation and fun to the Dutch Tilt framing of this shot.

Hi Calvin!

We know you are in there under that cute hat!

I  can see his first little sprinkle of freckles appearing in this shot.

He snagged Bernie's sunglasses.

Bernie thinks the sunglass company should see this photo.

I love how the clouds in the sky can be seen the lenses.

Would that every child on earth could have a grandfather who could give them shoulder rides through fields of flowers.

(This kid has been wearing shades regularly since he was six weeks old. He asks for them when he goes outside and as it turns out it is a good practice to wear sunglasses for eye health.

Plus it looks so darn cool!)

Watermelon for a snack on a rock.

Goldfish crackers in an non-spilling snack cup.

(Wish we had had those back when I was snacking up toddlers.)

Again, the shadow and the sole of the foot: love it.

My mind recites from memory the old Robert Louis Stevenson poem:

 

I have a little shadow who goes in and out with me....

The Albion Basin is part of the Alta Ski resort where Luke will most like one day be skiing.

In winter this whole area is completely covered in several feet of snow.

Like up to ten feet of snow.

It is sort of amazing to consider that one day he could be skiing over this same rock.

After snack time we wandered down the headwaters of Little Cottonwood Creek.

He could of just walked over the little bridge but hey, what fun is that?

MUCH more fun to wade around in the icy stream waters.

So cold, so fun.

(Oh gads...how fast an angelic looking toddler face can morph into a total snot and smeared snack fest!.

Yish!)

Dirty, wet and happy.

He got dirtier too before we finally had to have Papa round him up and haul him away.

Life is good at age two years and four months.

And for Calvin, life is good too even while staying clean, cozy and warm.

Each season of one's life is good.