My kids don’t mind snapshots all that much, but when I pull
out the matching clothes, they cringe…
I have no idea, whatsoever, why it always seems easier to
get the perfect shot of someone else’s family, but it does.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
I love snapshots. If you’ve ever
visited my home, you understand that. I
call the living room, “my gallery”. The
walls are covered in snapshots of life.
But I like a good, posed portrait, too, and as I was perusing the living
room walls, this morning, it occurred to me that the last portrait of all of my
children, together, that I loved enough to order a 16 x 20 and hang above the
fireplace, was from almost three years ago.
Miah is about six months old.
Grace looks like a “baby”. All of
the boys have changed. We needed a new
picture.
And so the preparations began, and by the time everyone was
dressed in those aforementioned matching clothes, to much chatter about how
cool that is (from Caleb) and how not so cool that is (from Grace), we were off…
I feel as if I have all but exhausted the good portrait
taking spots in this town. We tried some
different places today, with mixed results.
I’m still not sure I have a portrait I really, really love, but I do think
I have something with which to update the mantle appropriately.
Let me share some things.
#1 I am looking
through the lens. If the sun is in the
kids’ eyes, I don’t always notice… until
I start shooting… Then I can’t help but
notice:
#2 I have come to
terms with the fact that even if the sun is not in the kids’ eyes, Caleb will
squint or look away… in pretty much
every shot. He’s just cool like that:
#3 If, by some
miracle, Caleb manages to open his eyes; some disaster will befall one of my
other children. Today, in that split
second of opportunity, Grace sneezed:
#4 I am pretty sure
at this juncture in our portrait taking relationship, Seth and Ian are afraid
of me. The two of them almost always
manage to pull out a smile, even when the rest of their siblings are
impossible:
#5 Speaking of Ian, I
have been having terrible Mom guilt over the fact that his latest birthday
pictures were taken outside… in the middle of a snowstorm. There is something less than professional
looking about his portrait that is currently hanging with all the rest. I think it is the winter coat and look of
sheer frostbite on his frozen smiling face.
I decided to do a few retakes, today.
They will never pass for December 26th photos, but I’m OK
with that:
#6 By the time we
near the end of a photo shoot, you can almost count on me forgetting about the
sun again:
This is my favorite from today:
When we got home, Grace changed her clothes, immediately,
and Miah stripped down in the living room.
Don’t count on matching outfits for them next time around. The boys will all probably need to be
reminded of the value of changing your clothes more than once a week. I guess I can continue to buy them matching
stuff…
'Catch ya on the first day of school… maybe…
L.
Happy Birthday Miah!
