I'm not a "kid" person.
If you know me at all, this is something you learn about me very quickly.
When it comes to photography, however, there is nothing I enjoy shooting more than small, carefree spirits, unhardened by adult experience and uninhibited by self-consciousness in front of a camera.
I spent most of our 2018 annual campout on the coast chasing around the youngest generation of family members - each with their own unique personality and distinct characteristics that I hope I was able to capture during our few days together.
When I first arrived, there was only Lula.
She was busy.
Very busy.
But it didn't take much wandering before I found clues to the whereabouts of the other children.
Lo and behold: a group engineering project underway on the shore!
Turn my back for a few minutes...
...and come back to this!
Micah, Zaylee, and Asher all wanted a turn, too!
Then it was back to the building project.
Well, for most.
They were sand from toes to top by the time they were done.
Bunch of hams.
As the afternoon waned, they discovered The Log.
The Balance Beam. The Pirate Ship.
The Launch Pad.
The sun was starting to sink before their hungry bellies got the best of them.
Campfires in the evenings...
and games and crafts in the afternoons.
The traditional trip to the Prehistoric Gardens just up the road wielded claw-grip dinosaur heads.
There were bubble gloves for everybody...
...Emily and Dillon stopped in with lazer tag...
...and there was another trip to the water's edge.
But for the most part - perhaps the best part - was that these kids were able to entertain themselves, with no electronics and a minimal amount of fuss.
(The phone's a toy that served as a visual determination of who was "It" in a lively game of tag.)
Not gonna happen.
This is actually a composition of about a dozen different shots, down two kids who had gone home before the photos were taken. It's all part of the fun of hanging out with them darn kids these days.
