Cotton fields, Lousiana Bayou, Alligator and Two-Year Boy

So what does a two-year old boy, cotton fields, a Louisiana bayou and an alligator have in common...

A PORTRAIT SESSION AT FROGMORE:

This is Jonah checking out a cotton bole. It appears that he thinks it is quite interesting, but really he was not that impressed with cotton. He was much more impressed with the alligator that Randy (my husband...Jonah's new friend) kept telling Jonah about.

I asked Randy (cotton ginner) to find me a good cotton field for Jonah's Cotton Portrait Session. Between me being sick, rain, and Jonah's boo boo on his eye, this session had been re-scheduled several times...so the cotton field choices where getting limited. They limited to begin with due to Hurricane Gustav, but even more so since we were into the middle of harvesting season for the cotton.

At this point, we were telling Jonah just to look...smile...whatever we could get and Randy would take him to see the alligator that he had spotted in the bayou when he found this particular cotton field for us.

One of the many aspects that I love about photography and portrait sessions is that often the end results do not reveal to actual mood of the event....but the image that mommies, grandmothers, aunties and the like want to see of their little ones---the storybook (fairytale version). After all many of life's moment are tough and hard to deal with, but in the end when we look back at the momemts we remember the sweetness of the age and portraits seem to make them all the more sweeter.

So for just a little more background behind these images: Jonah was not in the mood for portrait at all. He did not like his overalls. He told us that his mommy takes his pictures...which she does quite often as a mommy should. He didn't like being barefoot...okay yet get the pictures. What I love about this is after I finished editing and I looked back at the final images, I realize how there's no way anyone would know all the behind the scene events that I mentioned had I not just revealed it...

Trying to pick cotton...

Okay, finally Jonah sees the alligator.
His mommy was a little afraid of this whole idea of an alligator. Well, I have lived her for a while now (near the bayou) and I have seen a number of young alligators in the bayou...which seem quite normal as long as they are young, small and above all stay in the bayou. Recently, I ran across one in my yard...yes, that's what I said. MY YARD...CLICK HERE TO CHECK HIM OUT. Now's this is the sort of alligator that I am afraid. He scared me sooooo much! This was less than a week later.

Where did the alligator go? Randy says they are just as afraid of us...and again that's fine as long as they are this far away. If they are afraid and very near and very big, I don't want to be any where around them!

After he hid in the water, he came up. Do you see him?

okay...I cropped it a little closer

To read Jonah's mommy's take on cotton portraits and the alligator, click here.

Jonah was much happier after spotting the alligator, but he did want to continue looking for them. I love this one. This is another one of those eyelash images that I have grown to love so much.

As you can see the sun in going down, we photographed until it did. I really like these of him by the bayou. They don't have much to do with cotton portraits but they are so sweet of little Jonah.

Sweet...

After the alligator excitement, so how another we talked this little two-year old boy into sitting by the cotton...I do not remember how, but we did.

I am just glad we did. So of these last ones are some of my favorites.

This is how Randy walked Jonah back to the car. It quite a little walk.

Jonah has spotted his mommy!

Last one: A Storybard of Jonah by the Bayou.

Now that we have all contributed to Jonah's knowledge of alligators including watching them in the natural habitat...not we have to teach him they are dangerous too!

~~jami~~