Photoshoot {Kaplan}

"Excuse me? Um..." the words that she allowed to pass from her lips and in my direction were simple and clearly laced with nerves.

"Could you please take a photo of my family?" Her tone was kind, and, with my camera in hand, I certainly wasn't going to turn down her request. I gave her a gleeful smile in return to what she'd asked of me, and I nodded.

"Of course! I'd love to!" I exclaimed. At this point, I had no idea what I was truly getting myself into. There was no way for me to know how big or small her family may be. It was impossible for me to have any sort of awareness when it came to whether or not her family would treat me well. I supposed, however, that I'd just have to take the risk and figure it out. What was life without a risk here and there, after all? At least, that's how I viewed things.

"Gladly! Just lead the way, ma'am," I said to her. The smile that had formed before was still plastered on my face. It was a genuine one, and therefore, it wasn't difficult to keep its presence. This woman was attractive and looked to be around my age, but in the moment, that wasn't what I could allow myself to think about too much. I had to focus on the task at hand. This woman had asked me to take a photo of her family, not to tell her how attractive she was.

Normally, I charged people for my photo sessions. It was really the only way I could make any sort of monetary income, after all. I didn't have another stable job, so this is what I focused on. For some reason, however, I felt that I shouldn't charge this woman for my photography services. She was so kind and so genuine that it just seemed like the right thing to do by creating her family portrait without making her drop a single coin on the photograph.

The woman's beauty started to distract me for a moment, but I knew that I couldn't focus too much on it. She wasn't going to be the only part of the picture, after all. The rest of her family would be in attendance as well. She may have been more gorgeous than most of the clients my age who approached me, but I didn't want to get too distracted from my work. Maybe, just maybe, she'd decide that she wanted to remain in touch after the fact. Then again, I felt that there was a very, very slim chance of such a thing happening.

"I'm Cyrus, by the way. Cyrus Lawson. It's nice to meet you." I said this to her in a kind tone, as I had with every other thing I'd said thus far.

I was ready to follow the woman to the location of her family so that we could get the photo taken when it finally came to my realization that she was carrying two, rather large and heavy-looking grocery bags. Feeling obligated to at least offer my assistance, I decided to ask if I could lend her a hand.

"Do you need help with those bags? I'd hate to make you carry them by yourself," came my words. I hoped I sounded kind, as my words were meant to be. I wanted to be helpful, but I also wanted to make an impression. If I wanted to make this woman notice me, this seemed like one of the best ways to do so, in my opinion.

The woman was kind, as well as grateful for my assistance, which I so gladly provided her with. She'd introduced herself as Merida Riptide and thanked me for my offer of help, handing me one of the three bags she was carrying. I smiled in response, telling her it was not a trouble at all. When she handed me the bag, her cheeks looked as if she were blushing, but I didn't mention it. Perhaps that was just the way she looked, and I hadn't noticed before. Some people had naturally red cheeks, after all. I'd captured that in plenty of photographs.

While the two of us were walking, I realized that she truly meant it when she said it wasn't far. I could hear laughter and shouting resonating from our destination when we were close enough to the house with the red roof that she'd pointed out to me on our journey over. When she opened the gate of the yard, she gestured for me to follow her and I did just that, my camera still securely in my hand. I didn't ever really let my camera leave my side for long. If I did, I'd miss so many great opportunities, and I couldn't allow for that to happen.

Upon entering the yard, I was soon surrounded by a crowd of many different children. Cearly, Miss Riptide had quite the large family, but it didn't bother me in the least. In fact, I loved children. Not only were they usually quite the adventure to photograph, they were always enjoyable to be around, in my opinion. It didn't take long for the woman's cheery voice to come out once more, speaking to her children this time. She was quite kind in the way she spoke, and I liked that about her.

"Hello, everyone! I have a surprise for you! This is Cyrus Lawson the genius photographer and I asked him to take a family picture for us because it is a special day for everybody!" she told them. That was when one of the little girls who'd approached us had a smile of mischief upon her lips and rolled her eyes. Clearly, this one liked to cause trouble. Then again, I was a bit of a trouble-maker as a child, so I don't blame her for being one, too.

"A photographer? Ugh, I thought you finally found yourself a date!" the little girl said. The other children burst into a fit of laughs but Merida looked quite embarrassed. This time, I could tell that the redness of her cheeks was not completely natural. The woman scolded her daughter whose name was apparently Debbie before getting the attention of her children again with a stern cough.

"Maybe we should... um... get back to business? Why don't we all gather around the porch and pose before our neighbour is driven here by all the noise? I bet you don't want the angry miss Birch in our family photo!" she expressed to her children.

When she said this, I nodded in response and spoke as well in an attempt to ease her embarrassment that had surfaced with Debbie's comment.

"That sounds like a plan to me!" I said, spotting where the porch was and making my way over there, motioning for the children to follow. "How about you all come over here so we can get ready for the photo? I want to see all of your beautiful faces!"

I turned and smiled to Merida when I said this, hoping that she'd be glad that I'd attempted to assist her in rounding up the children.