Autumn Portraits with the Arroyo Family in Big Springs Park

by dav.d

Hooray! I’m going to be sharing another autumn family photography shoot. This shoot was with the wonderful Arroyo family. We met up at Big Springs Park in Provo Canyon.

Autumn family portraits in Big Springs Park
Autumn family portraits in Big Springs Park

It would be an understatement to say the park was busy. It was a Saturday, in autumn, during the awesome color leaves moment. I had to circle the parking lots twice! I might have accidentally started some parking lot rage.

Happy family. Happy photo.
Happy family. Happy photo.

When a location is popular, it means we get to be patient. I also get to work on my Photoshop to remove people from the background. The valley section is surrounded by mountains an colorful leaves, but filled with small groups of people that I painstakingly remove with great pleasure.

Perhaps the perfects location for autumn portraits
Perhaps the perfects location for autumn portraits

The Arroyos were great to work with. I work with the mom at my day job. She’s in the HR department, so I was on my best behavior. And the whole family is bilingual, so I tried to practice a little bit of Spanish. I’m not sure how well that went. The kids were great to work with.

The kids rocking the autumn portraits
The kids rocking the autumn portraits
Mom & Dad's autumn portrait
Mom & Dad’s autumn portrait

I shouldn’t play favorite, but these two photos are perhaps my favorite. The vertical view works great! I’m hoping they have a perfect wall at home for a huge print of either of these photos.

I love this tree! The last time I was photographing in this area, someone had a hammock up and was enjoying the tree. This time, no hammock! So we had the tree to ourselves. We shot the family and then individuals of each of the kids. Because of the branches, it acts as a natural chair or platform for the kids. This way mom and dad are on the same level as the little ones.

The perfect tree for a layered family portrait
The perfect tree for a layered family portrait

Spot Number Two

The day before the photo shoot, I did some scouting of the location. I wanted to see where the best autumn leaves were located. And I found the best leaves ever! However, the spot was a little cramped. At the end of the post, I’ll share a behind the scenes look at where we photographed. It might surprise you.

This is perhaps my favorite photograph. This little one was so done with the photography. She was playing with the autumn leaf and doing her best to ignore me. She did give some serious side eye, and that was the best photo ever!

That death stare is the greatest
That death stare is the greatest

We photographed the different pairs in the family. We photographed the boys, the girls, the parents, the boys with dad, and the daughters with mom.

The boys and autumn
The boys and autumn

The sun was virtually set by this time, and we were going over our planned time. It happens. We were having so much fun getting great photos that we just needed more time. Fortunately, with my lighting I can keep pushing the camera’s shutter button and get a few more photos.

Sisters, sisters
Sisters, sisters
Behind the scenes shows the parking lot

Surprise Location

I just had to share the behind the scenes view of these last few photos. They were right next to the parking lot. Perhaps this is why we can no longer trust photography.

The sun was setting and the parking lot was starting to clear out, but we had at least one spot to put my lighting kit while we photographs the Arroyos.

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dav.d photo
dav.d is a portrait photographer based in Utah.