Shooting The Kids

Yesterday afternoon, my good friend, S, came to the house to shoot the kids for me. I could have done it myself, but sometimes it’s just better when someone other than mom or dad does the shooting. Less stress, less tension, less complaining from the kids. You know. Just better for everyone involved.

Oh, that’s “shoot photos of the kids”. Heehee.

Way back in December when I turned (mumble) years old, S’s gift to me was the most generous offer to take family photos for me. She’s quick to claim she’s not a “professional” photographer, but I absolutely adore the pictures she’s taken of her kids. They’re just so sweet and charming and fun, I wanted some of my kids, too. You know, just being their own uniquely quirky and lovely selves. In a way that I can’t possibly capture, because I’m too busy barking “be still, don’t do that goofy grin, just act natural”. You know, like moms do when they’re desperate to get a decent picture of their kids for posterity and don’t want to pay a small fortune to get it.

S had wisely chosen a spot and set up most of her equipment yesterday in my study. So, when she arrived today, there was minimal fussing. I dragged sweaters over the boys’ heads, held them in a head lock long enough to brush their hair, and turned them over to S to do with as she pleased. What she did with them was very pleasing. She claims it was great fun, and I’ll just have to take her word for it. But, I did hear quite a bit of laughing and giggling coming from upstairs.

There are a couple of advantages to having a friend take pictures of your kids, rather than having a professional to do it for you. Primarily, your friend already knows your family and your kids, obviously already likes all of you, and has experience with your kids when they’re actually behaving well. So if one or more of the kids are not on their absolute best behavior during the shoot, your friend knows that’s just them at that moment, not how they are all the time. You don’t feel quite so pressured to keep the kids in line, and don’t feel like your parenting is being judged because Junior refuses to take the goofy grin off his face and take a nice picture.

I can’t possibly post here all of the wonderful photos S took of the boys, because she took over 500. She, blessedly, narrowed the batch down to 14 of the best (you can see a slideshow of the best pics here), and the “rest” (because there were some really fabulous goofy shots) she narrowed down to about 200. And, before she left, all of the photos were loaded onto my laptop for us to use as we please. What an amazing gift. Thanks bunches, S.

Up next week, S shoots Papa Bear and Mama Bear. Maybe I should do something with my hair…