Expecto Patronum! Expelliarmus! Wingardium Leviosa! These are common phrases in my house. My 10 year old son is thoroughly obsessed with Harry Potter. Complete with the most intricate and in depth birthday party I have ever thrown for either of my kids, and 2 halloweens in a row. Wands, robes, spell books and Harry Potter lego sets are all over my house. So when he begged me to give him his own photoshoot there really was only one option.
4 years ago I started a journey with my son and at the time I had no idea what it would turn into. I just simply wanted some time with my son in what was a very difficult time in our lives. I wanted something that was just he and I and no matter what had happened that day, it was 10 simple minutes where none of that mattered. Time to just relax and share something I enjoyed with him. I started reading to him every night and the first book of choice was, you guessed it. Harry Potter. Yes I created this now thoroughly obsessed monster. It is 100% my own doing. But do I regret it? Not one bit.
Peyton has been begging me for months to do a photoshoot for him. "Mom you always take pictures of other people but never us." He tells me. And he's right. Almost every picture I take of my kids or family is on my cellphone, just a quick snapshot in a busy life. Well now the schools are all shut down and we are stuck at home so I figured why not. I have the time, we have all the props, (except for a robe which was so graciously given to us by a friend) there really were no more excuses. So I took him out into the woods behind our house all dressed up as a Gryffindor student and let him play around while I took pictures.
He knew I was going to add things to them to make them more magical but he didn't know what exactly. I am not the most proficient person with photoshop and so some of these really challenged me as a photographer. As a photographer everything I send out to clients has standards. I am my own worst critic and frequently harder on myself then I should be. The mom in me wanted these to be perfect. I know they are not, there's things that could be better. But my son doesn't know that. Watching his whole face light up as I showed him each one made it all worth it. To him they are perfect. He loved them and that's what really mattered. I learned things and grew as a photographer, my son got to play in the woods and pretend to be Harry Potter, and we got some good pictures of him that he loves. And I did truly have fun adding some of the magical effects. He loves foxes almost as much as he loves Harry Potter so of course I had to make him a fox patronus. Wand sparks and magic in all different colors, floating feathers and even one dark wizard picture because I had to do just one for fun. So enjoy the pictures of Wizard Peyton. We certainly did.
