We Get Shot

My running partner, who is a photographer, wanted to do something nice for our family and took it upon herself to offer her services to us for our Christmas picture. Note to any photographers out there: this is crazy. But it was an amazing offer, and we took her up on it.

The first session was scheduled and the fun of getting together nine coordinated-but-not-identical outfits began. Thankfully Kohls and Target are next door to each other, and thankfully Target has big spaces in which to lay down all the clothes on the floor to make sure they look okay, plus some nice lady who gave me her opinion on the choices.

The day dawned and every minute from breakfast onward was taken by Last Minute Preparations. Really. The entire day was devoted to trips to the store for clothing, baths, hair combing, etc. And it was cold--the coldest day of the season thus far. But here we are:



I really liked the set up here with the different groups of us. Loved the backdrop and lighting, too. More interesting to look at than typical group shots, but note Sophie and Patie's mad expressions. Sophie was really cold and grumpy, and Patie was tired and grumpy.

And this was the only picture of the hundreds that she took of all of us that didn't have a weird purple halo above Ben and Patie's heads. So my running partner/photographer wanted to do the shoot again. And my heart sank, just a little.

But we did it again, and the result was what you see on the photo card. Beautiful background in her back yard with beautiful lighting and no purple halos. A success.

And this one, too:

Lots of Tiny people standing in a Line placed in a Surreal Autumn Environment. Only took six head swaps and one arm swap to get it, too. I may have used this one for the card, but it came to me later, and I was anxious to get the cards done. and out. But here are all the pictures for your enjoyment, this year and many years to come. And you should enjoy this, because I'm not sure I want to go through that much pain and suffering every year. Next's year's picture could very well be the "Okay, make sure you have on something reasonably clean and meet in the back yard for a photo in ten minutes" type.