New Years with Seneca and Ryder

We spent New Years in State College with Kristen's Cousin and his wife, Jeff and Lisa. I shot their wedding this past summer and we've been to the Happy Valley a number of times over the past couple years to visit. We like hanging out with these guys, but I think it's also good for our soul to get out of Philly and lose the attitude for a couple of days. It's just a different pace that reminds me of all those years I lived in Indiana, PA.

Also visiting were Jeff and Lisa's friends, Rich and Lynn. They have 5 year old twins known as Ryder and Seneca. Jeff and Lisa have been big fans of these kids since the day they were born. We'd heard plenty of stories, but it was pretty cool to hang out with these two for a couple days.

I like kids, I like photographing kids. Kids generally like me, and kids always like getting their picture taken.
(except wedding portraits) The joke of the weekend was something that Seneca said to her parents the first night. She said, "Jim is crazy, he likes to do what we do, except he's not a kid". Funny stuff. These two were seriously fun though. I kept waiting for their perfect disposition to flutter, but it never did. They are just really good kids who seem to like being really good kids. Ryder is the ladies man. He used to be best buds with Jeff, but now he's moved onto Lisa. Seneca just rolls her eyes as Ryder talks about the beautiful ladies.

It was a pretty simple New Years, Happy-Valley-Style. We went down to College Ave to check out the ice sculptures, reindeer and ice ramp. It was seriously about 5 degrees so our tour was brisk. The rest of the time was games, hot chocolate, football and cards.

New years day the guys took a hike with the dogs. I love these shots of Ryder running through the woods. I grew up in the country before moving to the mean streets of Wilkes-Barre. I used to spend entire days out in the woods with my dog. The light, long shadows, leading lines and a little mystery... My favorite shots of the weekend and exactly the kinds of images I like to make from time to time.