Family Lifestyle Pictures & 2nd Birthday: Colorado Paint Mines
2nd birthday pictures at Paint Mines in Colorado
I just recently learned about the Paint Mines located about 1.5 hrs southeast of Denver and knew I had to check it out! I figured it would be the perfect fun unique location to take a small family road trip to and get pictures to commemorate my daughter’s 2nd birthday. Well, with toddlers…nothing really goes as planned. She had much more fun looking for horses and cows out the window along the drive then she did just walking around the Paint Mines. I think it would be safe to say that she actually hated the Paint Mines. It was pretty rough terrain with lots of steep inclines and muddy trails. So we pretty much had to carry her the entire way. She didn’t appreciate the beauty in the unique colors and textures of the landscape. It was a fairly warm sunny day, but the high winds really aggravated her off too. She whined pretty much the whole time and had no desire to explore the Paint Mines. I even brought some Minnie Mouse balloons and a couple fun toys to entertain her. That lasted about 3 minutes. She looked at us like “what the hell are we doing here?!” I was pretty certain my photo shoot was ruined. We soon left and when as we made it back to the car a massive explosion of poopy diapers followed…yuck! Not that you wanted to know that, but it helped explain her sour attitude. She was at least happy to be back in the car and out of the wind so there was no way we were going back out there. When I imported my pictures the next day I was praying for at least one good shot. I loved her outfit and didn’t want our 3 hours of driving to go to waste. Plus it would be a while till I had another weekend off to spend the time setting up a photo shoot. Well, I have to say, considering the circumstances I am beyond pleased with what I was able to capture in such a short amount of time! The majority of these shots were taken in the first 10 minutes, as you can quickly see her mood turn grumpy towards the end. I never would have been able to capture these pictures without a super fast camera and lens, and of course fast shooting skills and the balloons helped too! I even managed to capture a decent selfie…in the reflection of the balloon. We did just have family photos (with me in them too!) taken in the fall, so don’t worry I’m not always left out of our pictures. But it is time I start planning our next family photo shoot, hopefully somewhere with much more fun terrain for a toddler…and poopy free!
trying to make it fun with props
2nd birthday pictures at the Paint Mines
Paint Mines in Colorado, pictures by Denver photographer Nicole Nichols Photography
dad plays with daughter at the Paint Mines in Colorado
Dad and daughter go for a walk at the Paint Mines
dad embraces daughter along the Paint Mines
family selfie in the reflection of a balloon
a cold toddler is not having fun