What a delight it was to take these River Forest, IL family photos! The two eldest kids are off to college this month so I’m glad we could fit in some quick shots before they set off on their academic adventures this fall!

Since moving to the Midwest we’ve gotten our share of texts saying “severe thunderstorm” every month or so. The rain out here is so different than what I’ve experienced in California or in Washington. In Illinois, it’s cloudy, cloudier, cloudiest, then KABOOM! The skies open up and dump buckets for about 10 minutes and then clear up like no storm ever happened. So when rain was predicted for our initial date and time we thought, “bummer! Wonder if we should continue anyway since it works with everyone’s schedules and it’s unlikely that 10 minutes of rain will actually happen during the session?” We ended up rescheduling anyway, and GOOD THING, because a crazy wind storm called a Derecho swept in from Nebraska through Chicago with 70-100mph winds and 13 tiny tornadoes touched down in Cook County.

Luckily, the weather for the rescheduled photoshoot was gorgeous!

Come take a look at these River Forest Family photos!

I love these sibling photos!

That Instagram eye shot! Aren’t they lovely?!

I had to sneak in to this post some cool macro photos I took at the end of the shoot, too! I love the progression of colorful flowers over the course of the season here! 🙂

Thanks for having me take your River Forest, IL family photos! I’m so glad we were able to fit them in before the beginning of the academic year, and I’m super glad we rescheduled from the day with tornadoes!

Kristen Hazelton is an Oak Park, IL (Chicago, IL metro area) and Livermore, CA (San Francisco East Bay Area) senior, family, and engagement photographer. She occasionally photographs in San Diego, CA, Tucson, AZ, and Seattle, WA. You can inquire about your own photoshoot here!