da DARBY boyz.....

One of my favorite "hobbies" / art-forms is PHOTOGRAPHY!  I love, love, love to take pictures, and for years have enjoyed torturing my own 3 sons by forcing them to be my "subject matter".  

**Before you view any of the below pictures that I took of the kids... be well aware that each of my 3 "models" were paid for each of the following photo sessions with either: a Yum-Yoos yogurt, a sucker, or even a marshmallow! 

For a solid year now we have taken the same back road to school each day.  On the way to school there is this abandoned house that most people probably either over look, or perhaps even wonder when in the world is it going to be torn down...  I on the other hand, all but drool over the endless possibilities of all the cool photo opportunities that this DERELICT house, and a small barn/shed behind the house have.  

For such a long time I have thought, I really should take the kids photos there, and I have even worried that we might just drive by one day and it would not be there anymore, due to being bulldozed over... Sooo finally one day in October 2010 I took the boys there after school with a yummy yogurt  promise/bribe as my lure...

I love how these photos turned out, and YES even though I had the boys pose "serious" for several of the photos, they are still "happy" kids :)  The "bad-boy" look just seemed to fit a graffiti abandoned home better than cutie smiles in some of the pics, ya know...

Amazing part about the above photo... I told Caden to take off his glasses for the photo, and he put them in his pocket... apparently while he was squatting down they slid out of his pocket.  This was on a Friday after school... Moments later a HUGE tarantula looking spider hairy and all crawled up his leg, and he freaked out, we actually all did a little... anyway, in all the fuss we left, changed clothes, went and got yogurt, and had a fun but rainy wet weekend.  Come Monday morning Caden can not find his glasses for school, anywhere!   After searching the house, car, backpack, and school... we hesitantly returned to the 2-4 foot tall weeded, abandoned house lot, and searched for Cadens green striped like grass blades glasses... AND FOUND them right about where the spider was!  Talk about miracle!!

The below set of photograph were taken (by mommy) of the boys over Thanksgiving 2010.  We love going to spend time at Pops hunting cabin out in the middle of nowhere!  It is such a retreat.  The boys really enjoy spending time outdoors.  We often go on walks just exploring the area around the lake.  The rural, and lake area combine to make an awesome canvas for photos.  Add 3 handsome boys, and you instantly have a masterpiece.  (check out the awesome trees, and roots by the lake... they are all over the place around here!)

These 2 photos of the boys up against this cool old barn I took in Stuttgart AR.  Just a little walk down the road from Pops & Dede's cabin.  We came back a different day to this location to do family pics.

Love the 3 boys, 3 bins, and the #3 on the door! This was one of my favorite locations as well. These were right next to the barn above....   I left the pics in color because the rust on the roof was just too cool to turn into black and white.  In the photo below... I also dig how the bins get smaller, and the boys get bigger as you look to the left...