What do you do when you have to do a session on a certain day but it’s raining?  Well, there are a lot of possibilities: a covered outdoor area, indoors, a studio session… a rainy session outside.  But with little kids, it wasn’t a great idea to be in the rain, and it was so windy the sand was flying around in the air and smacking you in the face!

I arrived a little early and took inventory of the house.  A yellow room and a light blue room with tons of windows, a covered porch downstairs (that was way too windy), a nice spot across the street, but would require the family to stand in the street to take photos, a 4 foot area in the front of the house that was pretty and shielded from the wind (but remember… it’s raining), and finally, the steep front steps where the top step was covered from the rain.

I created a plan of action.  We went with the light blue room indoors because the window sills were nicer.  We moved all furniture out of the area and I took a picture off the wall (you can see that photo at the bottom of this post).  I took some inside, and then kept checking outside to see if the rain held off at any point.  We literally hopped from inside to outside the whole session, getting different family groups in each area and making the most of it!  I really wanted a full family photo across the street (there were very few cars out, and we had a lot of time to clear the road before a car came along), but it just was too rainy to get everyone out at the same time.
Indoors, I decided to use a fill flash by bouncing my speedlight against the ceiling at an angle.  I also chose an ISO that would blow out the windows behind them making the windows look totally white.  Normally I’d love to see what was outside, but it was so stormy and windy, and their clothes were so bright and cheery, it clashed.  Basically, we made a makeshift studio!  I loved how much light filtered in from the windows!This was the small area without crazy wind out front.  I absolutely loved this area too!
And finally… the top step!  It was only big enough for small groups, but the white railing really made it work.  I cannot get over how much I loved their clothing choices!  I’m so thankful for a family that was so flexible with the weather!