Portraits: Sisters take on the beach

My girls can come across as quite docile when they meet someone new. Let me assure you, however, they are far from calm and quiet. They're nuts! And now I have evidence.

I have to admit, I envisioned this beach photo session in Corolla, NC, with the docile, I-behave-like-this-only-when-I'm-shy version of my girls. They would be sitting together, offering up huge smiles as the sun set over the dunes. Yeah, right. I didn't get a single shot of them sitting together with both looking at the camera.

But what I did capture was much more exciting and natural: two sisters finding a deserted sandcastle, playing and jumping and tackling each other. These photos are exactly how I want to remember them—perfect in the way only two wild, curious and sweet (and disobedient) toddlers could be.

Below: Cricket in mid-air, using her full body weight to shove Nora face-first into the sand. (Yes, she succeeded before I could stop her.)

Tiny toes in the surf.

We can't keep this one out of the water; she literally runs straight into the waves.

The closest I got to traditional portrait.

Jump!

A little bit of cooperation from Nora.

This photo of Cricket was one of the last frames I took that evening. She was finally exhausted enough to pause for a moment and let me take a non-action shot as the sun dipped behind the dunes.

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