Our Polar Express

We have an awesome heritage center near the downtown area of our town. Several historic buildings...and trains. We've been coming here for years, especially for photos, and the boys have always loved the trains. So today, just a few days before Christmas, I asked them if they wanted to help create some magical photos like the Polar Express. 

It has been cloudy ALL day today, which was perfect because I knew I wanted to add snow in post-processing. It looks a little weird to have snow falling with a bright shining sun. And wouldn't you know, just before sunset, the clouds broke and there was a gorgeous sky with pinks, blues, and purples. Normally absolutely perfect for a sunset shoot...but not if you were counting on the clouds to make your fake snow look authentic. Oh, well. We were already out there and shooting, so it is what it is!

The boys wore their "classic" Christmas PJs and their moose slippers. They were thrilled at being allowed to wear their slippers outside! They don't have dressing robes otherwise we would have brought those...very authentic to the Polar Express illustrations. 

We did bring along our "Harry Potter" lantern that I got for Ethan's wizarding birthday party two years ago. The boys still play with it when they play Harry Potter. It was perfect for this. (I did add the light burst in post - the actual light looks really dim in real life unless it's super dark!)

This shoot was really easy and quite fun. They didn't have to look at the camera and smile very much.

One more thing I brought was the actual Polar Express book. We love, love, love it and I'm so glad we got to capture a photo like this together. 

Even though I am glad I got in the photo, I really love this next one because of their expressions!

After I was done shooting, I was ready to pack up and go, but the boys wanted to play "Polar Express" before we left. It was really mild outside so I agreed...and kept my camera on. They did the whole thing...here they are helping the little boy onto the train before he misses it. This was more movie than book, but it was really cute to watch them.