Sometimes sessions go off without a hitch, and we smile through the whole thing and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.  Gavin and Finn’s session was not full of smiles.  In fact, at one point, we panicked.  Sarah and I went to the same high school and graduated just one year apart. . . we were both athletes, and though we mostly played different sports, we did both play basketball so we were briefly on the same team.  We lost contact for many years, but caught up again last fall when she booked a session for her two boys.  She had over an hour drive to get to our shooting location, and it’s a spot I’ve used many times before.  I love taking people who travel from Buffalo there because it’s so different, and there isn’t really anything like it in Buffalo.  Mind you, like I stated in the previous sentence, I have been there MANY times.  Without a problem.  We started our session, and of course with two little boys, who are very close in age, it was more like running around, trying to get little smiles and interactions here and there.  We were approached by a security guard and were told that the location was closed and that this was actually private property and we couldn’t be there.  We were actually at the George Eastman House, which is normally packed with photographers and photo shoots.  I always respond politely to people because I feel that being polite usually gets me a lot farther than being rude. . . so I kindly asked if he minded if we just finished up our session and the next time I had a session there I would properly pay the “admission” (which nobody ever does when shooting a session there because we are just on the grounds outside the house, which is open to the public).  He agreed, and so we went on our merry way trying to complete the session.  About 20 minutes later, while in a different part of the park we were approached again by another security guard who asked us to leave, and in my kindness I explained how we were given permission to finish up our session.

She didn’t like that.  And she told us that he was mistaken, and that truly, we had to leave because this was “private property” and we were trespassing.  And she didn’t move.  And she watched us walk all the way to our car.  And she stood there watching.  Seriously, at this point, I was in a panic.  Sarah had driven all that way, it was getting close to dusk at this point.  And I didn’t feel like we had gotten quite enough images yet.  We weren’t in a place that had a park right around the corner–we were near downtown Rochester.  So I put on my thinking cap, and I decided that there was a great little patch of grass area at the church across the street with a great big tree and some leaves on the ground.  So we got in our cars, with the guard still watching us, and drove across the street where we finished up.  Crisis averted.  But I’m still baffled by the whole thing at the Eastman House, since I had never run into that before.  Perhaps they’ve had issues with other photographers and have decided to put their foot down.  All I know is that I probably won’t be shooting there much anymore!  . . . or I’m going to call ahead!

All in all, we still did get some adorable shots of the boys, and Sarah was able to successfully surprise her husband with the images from the session, which was her plan all along.  And it’s always so nice to catch up with old friends!