A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of being hired to shoot the Summit High School Spartan Marching Band. For that session, I was hired by the band booster club to capture a day-in-the-life of the band and all of it's members.  It was such a fun session to shoot, and included somewhere around 125 kids.

After photographing that game, I received an email from a father who said he loved those photos. He wanted to hire me to come back and shoot another game, but this time with the focus on his two children.  The catch was that he didn't want his kids to know that I was there to just photograph them. He was afraid that knowing I was there to photograph just them would cause them to be uncomfortable and not act naturally for the photos.  So my very first undercover photography operation was born.  It was tricky, and I'm pretty sure they were on to me by the end of it, but I think I was able to capture some real candid moments for this family.

The father said these photos were important for him and his wife because their older son was a senior this year. This was the only year he would be marching in the band with his younger sister, who is a Freshmen.  Marching Band is really important to them and something that they wanted to capture and remember always.  As someone who is primarily a photographer of young children, I've been a little unprepared for the emotional impact that shooting some of these older kids lately has had one me.  It's a beautiful reminder of how short these years are and how quickly they go out into the world on their own.  I hope I was able to capture some moments for this family that they may cherish in the years to come.