2019 marks our first time of educating our kids at home during the long summer break. Our oldest child is 5 years old and is on the cusp of reading, writing, and being an all-around awesome kid who’s on his way to Kindergarten in the fall. Sure, we signed him up for a few weeks of real summer camp, themed around dinos, space, and more. But the rest of the time, he’s with us!

In order to keep his growing brain from getting summer rot, my husband created “Daddy Camp” — it’s our job to fill his day with outdoor play, math, spelling, and my job is Mommy Art Director! It’s pretty fun and silly. Our motto is “KEEP IT WEIRD!” and we even have a family Daddy Camp song.

On this particular day, both our son and I needed a creative outlet. Together, we picked 3 washable Crayola paint colors, and went to town on his hands until he said he was happy with the way he looked. I set up a white backdrop on a rainy day, and filled the scene with a 50” Godox umbrella and a huge 85W 6500K CFL bulb (I often use this bulb that’s consistently on if I’m in a situation where there’s only 1-2 subjects and a speedlight might bother the kid).

With a little hand movements a la Vogue style, we came up with these photos and both mommy and big boy really love them! I’ll always remember this as part of his first summer break. :) The first one is going on a wall.

I try to shoot as close to the right exposure as possible, then used Refined Presets for some amazing edits.