The Photographer

I took Nate to get his 2 year old pictures made today, and I also dressed Ava in a gorgeous dress so I could get a few shots of them together. (Perhaps to use in Christmas cards.) The good thing is, we did manage to get one good shot of Nate- which is all I really wanted deep in my heart...just one good picture of my little boy at age two. Thankfully, by some miracle, that was achieved. The main problem with our photography experience today was that the photographer had the personality and energy level of a wet blanket. I could tell we were in trouble the moment I saw her come in. I called out a cheery "good morning" to her and got no response. She took her time getting us into the room, even though we were the only ones there. I told her I was a little concerned about Nate since last year he didn't want to get up on the platform. She got the backdrop ready and I placed him on the platform. He started to cry, but I coaxed him into sitting there and he did stop crying and sort of looked around in expectant wonder (but no smile.) And the lady just sort of stood there. No attempt from her whatsoever to get him to look at the camera or smile or anything. Like he is going to just do that all on his own- decide to stare straight into the camera and give a gorgeous grin? I started acting silly and trying to keep him happy and then I suggested to her that she find a stuffed animal or something to hold by the camera and perhaps get his attention. I suggested that. Me. Who is the professional photographer here? So she did hold an animal up there and said a few monotone sentences like "can you smile?" "look at the camera." This lady had no business trying to take pictures of young children. It was ridiculous. I usually spend lots of money buying prints when I take the kids to JCPenney, but today I spent $11. I got three sheets of the one good picture of Nate. I really tried to see some good in the other poses, but the way she had the camera turned was terrible (horizontal when a vertical shot would have been so much better) and the expressions on the kids' faces weren't that great. Oh well.