Family Portraits

Why does taking a family portrait have to be so frustrating? I wrote an end-of-the-year Newsletter for people we haven't seen in a while (particularly David's side of the family who we haven't seen in 3 years and some of which are not on facebook). So at the end of the letter I wanted to include a family picture. Like, one where ALL of us are in it. Um.....the last family picture was taken in February at a family reunion. I felt like we needed something a little more recent to accurately reflect our family. So, this morning I got the tripod out. I got our prop set out (a wheelbarrow). And I found a sweet spot with nice lighting and background view.

Practice pose. Decent right?

I knew it would be a challenge to get my husband to take a picture. He hates posing. We've gone through this many times. I know how he is. So I tried to make everything as painless as possible. Everything was cropped just right. All he had to do was stand behind it and walla! Done.

So, my plan was to feed him a good meal. Make sure he was in a good mood, and then pop the question. And then try to get him to change into a brown t-shirt so that we'd all match. I got it all picked out. But then during lunch I realized the lighting had changed. It wasn't overcast anymore. The sun had come out and now there would be awful shadows where I had everything set up. No problem. I moved locations and had the kids test-drive it for me.

 Ugh. The sun was too much in their eyes and they were all squinting and wanting to put their hand over their eyes. So I knew I had to switch locations again into a shady spot. Only now, they were cold and wanted to wear a jacket. Okay, so they could wear their jacket and then right before we would take them off. No problem.

 

 So we got it all set up again. All we needed was the husband. He was on the phone. So we ran around and caught some chickens to put in the picture. That would be cute. But husband was taking a long time and Orion had to let his loose.

Finally husband comes. I begin to tell the kids to take their jackets off and he says, "Just let them keep them on. I wish I had a jacket too. We gotta hurry. I need to get to work." Ugh. Okay. Whatever. Let's just take the picture.So I got to take three shots. All of which had flaws. Eyes closed. Sun spots on forehead. One person looking away. Cheesy smile. Half of Orion's chin is covered by his jacket. Oh well. I'll take what I can get.

 

Wishing you all a LOAD of God's blessings this Christmas and New Year! 

(Get it? Load? Wheelbarrow?)