Photoshoot tease

On Friday afternoon we headed to downtown Durham to do an urban photoshoot, hoping to commemorate our time here in Bull City. But, uh, did you know that people hang out downtown? We literally parked the car, got all the children out of the car, and then promptly put the children back in. We decided we'd be much more successful at pictures on Duke campus, where we had a chance of seclusion. 

It might have been different if we had brought along, you know, a photographer. But we didn't. It was just us and the camera versus the children. We were unprepared to do that while innocent bystanders were trying to enjoy their dinners on the restaurant patio, or whatever it is one does downtown. We felt way too conspicuous to even set up our tripod—let alone push the timer button, run back into the frame, and chant, "Look at the camera! See the flashing light? That's pretty! It's going faster now! Three, two, one, smile!!" Not to mention how the little ones take every opportunity to run amok if we dare shift our focus off them for a split second (in all honesty, Rachel and Miriam are (mostly) beyond that, thank goodness).

So, yes, Duke campus it was. We hung around by the chapel and took our photos there (much different from the year we took them at Duke Gardens, right?). 

Here are a few I snapped with the point'n'shoot while Andrew was wrangling our Rebel:

I kind of wish I'd looked at these before we made up Zoë's little picture collage—because she's actually kind of smiling in some of these pictures—but, oh, well.

Here are the kids all together (with Zoë mimicking Benjamin's every move (heaven help me—I didn't need two Benjamin's, but she's quite determined to follow his every footstep)):

Here she is saying, "Ooh!"

She was only remotely happy for pictures were when there were dogs or squirrels to watch. If dogs and squirrels were absent, she was downright miserable. And most of the time she was moving so fast that we couldn't catch a good picture of her in the quickly fading light.

But we managed to get a few good shots, and a few is all you need.