Two boys, a yard and some chickens

Take a lovely summer morning, two handsome boys and an amazing backyard, and you’ve the making of a really good kids’ portrait session. Throw in some chickens, and good becomes great.

 I’d never met Shai and Adi before, but when I arrived at the house they led me straight to the backyard and showed me the luxe chicken coop their industrious father had built for the chucks. And then it was off for a tour of the hammocks, swings, jungle gym, rope bridges, climbing wall, fort and bocce court (also constructed by the boys’ father) – all in the shade of lovely trees next to an arroyo.

If I were a five-year-old kid, I wouldn’t want to leave, so it was no surprise the brothers had spent much of the summer perfecting their moves, and were keen to show me. Which was perfect for the type of documentary-style photography work I do. I could no more have got them to strike poses for me than I could have got the chickens (who spend chunks of the day wandering around the whole yard) to start singing opera.

So I chased them around (the boys and the chickens), mixing wider shots of them in their great environment with tighter shots of the brothers’ faces as they took a momentary pause, or embarked on their next adventure.

It was a sweet shoot to do, and when I was leaving their mum handed me a bag of fresh eggs from the chickens. Lovely stuff.