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Carlisle Family Portrait Photographer: Irot Family

As a Carlisle family portrait photographer, I get to explore all different types of locations across Central Pennylvania and beyond! During this extended family photo session, we visited Yellow BreechesKings Gap Farm & King’s Gap Mansion.

close up photo of two goats with their heads touching from kings gap farm central pa lifestyle animal photographer

Why Rhinehart Photography?

Sysha shares, “The number one thing I appreciate about working with you, Lisa, is how you take the time to clearly communicate with and understand everyone. You definitely put everyone at ease and how you made us all laugh. You provide just enough structure to keep everyone on schedule, but you’re also super adaptive and open to spontaneous ideas. What sets you apart from other photographers is how you intuitively showcase what makes each family and group dynamic unique in surprising and creative ways.”

I love just blending in with the group (I was barefoot and in the water myself here, haha)!  I also love showing emotion and action, here I use a slow shutter speed to capture the kids energy and motion:

unique creative candid Carlisle pa family portrait photographer kids playing in creek yellow breeches kings gap

Making a Splash at Family Gatherings

Sysha shares, “My dad lives in Texas, my brother and his family are in Virginia, while the rest of us are here in Central Pennsylvania.  We try to get together a few times a year, primarily for holidays and birthdays.  The most meaningful interactions we have as a family come about as we are reminiscing about funny memories over family dinners or going on outings with the kids and observing their hilarious interactions, complete randomness, and boundless energy.”

Here is some of that energy on display!

best candid outdoor lifestyle photographer kid throwing stone into water at yellow breeches wearing red shirt rock splashes

Happy Kids

There were so many smiles during this session. I love being a Carlisle family portrait photographer. 🙂

vibrant authentic award winning family photographer central pa two boys with arms around each other holding up peace sign and smiling

Carlisle Family Portrait Photographer

Sysha shares, “The kids especially like water play, so we knew beautiful Yellow Breeches would be a fitting setting and, with its proximity to the farm, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get pictures there.”

While lifestyle photography was our main focus, I did make sure to get several portraits along the way, the entire group, each individual family, each kid and couple, and all of the grandkids of course.

authentic vibrant award winning best photographer central pa lifestyle kids standing in front of creek at yellow breeches smiling

Kings Gap Farm

Scott shares, “I leaned heavily on my daughter Sysha’s judgment for locations. She chose locations that would provide opportunities for the cousins to play and for the adults to interact.  Those places included a nearby creek and Kings Gap Farm owned by Sysha and her husband Alex.”

Kings Gap Farm is a small family farm that specializes in pumpkins, flowers, and veggies. They also have a roadside stand half a mile from the Kings Gap Environmental Education Center entrance.

kings gap farm Carlisle pa family portrait photographer family standing in front of entrance smiling wearing green

Bring Your Pets!

I love when families choose to include their pets in their family session. After all, pets are part of the family too!

Here is my most popular blog post on Google right now, 12 Tips for Including Dogs in Family Portraits, if you are interested, haha!

dog running through grass at kings gap farm lifestyle portrait photographer

Tractor Time!

I hopped on the flatbed with the rest of the family!

Sysha smiled, “Alex constructed the two greenhouses and the parking lot for our operation. He’s a project person who’s always thinking of the next step forward and working the long and hard hours to get there.”

authentic farm lifestyle photographer central pa man driving tractor pulling flatbed

Flatbed Ride

Ruffy had the best time riding along on the flatbed. Just look at his smile. 🙂

farm lifestyle photographer Carlisle pa woman holding dog on lap riding on flatbed being pulled by trailer at kings gap farm authentic candid

Cousin Love!

Scott shares, “I learned and appreciated the importance and connectedness that families give each other from my upbringing.  Kristina and I have reinforced that feeling among our children and grandchildren. Those memories with my brothers and sisters and our cousins and our collective children are always joyous events with happy stories of past encounters with each other. “

These cousins will have some great memories to reminisce about when they are older!

Carlisle family portrait photographer three kids with arms around each other smiling at camera

A Relaxing Ride

Love this photo of the feet hanging off the edge of the flatbed with the grass and fields below. I loved the chance to slow my shutter speed a bit to capture that motion blur.

two pair of legs hanging off edge of flatbed being pulled by tractor sandals with grass and fields below

Farm Life through my Lenses!

I have several different lenses at my disposal that I kept in my handy backpack throughout my shoot.  Here I’m using a telephoto zoom lens, so you can see all of the detail on the hen, without being distracted by the background:

close up photo of hen telephoto lens sharp detail farm photographer vibrant authentic colorful

Fun & Games on the Farm

Kings Gap Farm requires a lot of hard work to maintain on the part of the Surcica family, but there’s always time to play (like on this giant handmade seesaw!). The boys had so much fun.

farm lifestyle photographer kings gap farm boys on giant wooden seesaw with tractor tires and hills in background

Swing Time

During lifestyle family sessions, I always make sure to capture the kids in their natural elements. I love this photo of her having fun and swinging. 🙂

kings gap park family photographer girl wearing green dress smiling swinging on playground outside

Goat love!

It doesn’t get much sweeter than this: candid best award winning lifestyle farm photographer central pa kings gap farm girl touching goats head

A Man of Many Talents

Alex and I worked together on “macro photography” when Alex was working for Penn State several years ago.  He created the Digital Museam of Natural History which now has an impressive 58,000 followers!  His photography is incredible, check it out here.

best family photographer husband and wife outside surrounded by trees smiling at camera wearing green

Veggie Enthusiasm

Sysha shares, “One cool thing about the greenhouses was how the kids were so enthusiastic about all the veggies, eating tomatoes off the vine and zooming around to find the biggest zucchini. Who needs candy when you have a greenhouse full of veggie surprises, haha!  I’m pretty sure Leo took a few rogue bites of under-ripe squash in his enthusiasm.”
farm lifestyle photographer two boys walking in greenhouse picking tomatoes off vines

Praying Mantis!!

Sysha shares, “We had an explosion of praying mantises in and around the greenhouses over the summer. It was fun to watch them grow from week-to-week. I love seeing them reach and leap to travel from one plant to another and how they turn their heads to look at you. In fact, they’re *still* out in our greenhouses, much bigger now, hanging out on our chrysanthemums and popping out when customers least suspect it, haha!”

A praying mantis!  A sign of a very healthy farm, for sure!

farm lifestyle photographer central pa praying mantis on zucchini held in hands

Follow the Leader

I always love the chance to take photos from a creative angle like this one here where I was photographing from below:

vibrant candid authentic award winning family photographer farm lifestyle girl wearing green dress walking on log while mom follows behind in middle of forest

The Gang’s All Here!

Scott shares, “My nuclear family lives in fragments around the country.  My son Pete and his family live in  Roanoke, Virginia. My daughter Sysha’s family lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  Pete and Sysha’s mom – Kristina lives in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania and I live in Austin, Texas.  We come together for family gatherings during holidays such as Independence Day which was the calendar excuse for the gathering for this photoshoot.”

Carlisle family photographer traditional portrait photographer central pa family sitting outside smiling at camera kings gap

Wild and Free

Scott shares, “As I grew up my mother made sure all such events were recorded in photos – and as the get-togethers build over the years those photos and recollections of past gatherings produce a family sense of togetherness and shared experience.  The inspiration of this occasion recorded by Lisa Rhinehart was to find a way to make these family gatherings indelible in the family consciousness.”

He continues, “As the get-togethers build over the years the younger children begin to identify with each other –  by measuring each other’s physical, emotional, and intellectual growth over the years and happily share their stories from past adventures or stories about life between family gatherings.”

kings gap farm lifestyle photographer kids running outside unique wide angle photo with large trees

Shared Experiences

Scott says, “Every embarrassing tale of growing-up or touching tale of heartfelt talks between us becomes food for further discussion at each new gathering.  The strength of our family life comes from our shared experience over the years.”

I love this photo of all the cousins together looking out into Kings Gap.

kings gap park family lifestyle photographer vibrant bright fun authentic kids sitting on rock with their arms around each other

Irot Family Slideshow!

See even more photos from the Irot family lifestyle session set to music in the slideshow below!

Hungry for More?

4 thoughts on “Carlisle Family Portrait Photographer: Irot Family”

  1. Gleaming photography nicely done by whatever means! Thank you. I felt pulled into many of family pictures and sensed the fun of the togetherness. Sysha seems motivational within this effort and I appreciated many of her observations.

    Also, this is the first time I have seen any pics of the farm and it follows many of Scott’s detailed descriptions made during our phone calls over the years.

    Brother Scott once had a penchant for photography, too; and, one year gifted pictures inciteful of the personalities he claimed for his brothers and sisters, mine Scott claimed was ‘austere’. But that’s OK, Scott. Love to you all.

    1. Thank you so much, Bruce! I apologise for only just now seeing this very articulate and heartfelt comment! I’m so glad you felt drawn emotionally and visually by these photos– that is my #1 goal! I love that it’s allowing you to do this from a distance. Thank you so much for sharing!

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