It Took A Month To Write This Post Because I Was Too Mad To Do It Sooner
In retrospect, I should have known what would happen. It's a tradition as old as Alexis, and every year SOMETHING has to complicate the process.
Each and every summer, I find a white dress for Alexis to wear, I pick a few dozen daisies from our garden, and I take Alexis to have her portrait taken at Picture People. The first few years were a piece of cake, but then one year I couldn't find a white dress anywhere. Last year I couldn't find daisies (there weren't any in our garden because we had moved and the transplanted daisies were still cranky). Both are simple tasks in theory, but in reality I just about lost what's left of my mind making it all come together.
I overcompensated this year. I maybe sorta kinda had TWO dresses stashed for months and months and months. I had so many daisies in the yard it looked like they may take over the universe. I even had a Groupon for the photographs, so once I made the appointment to make a little magic, it should have been smooth sailing.
It wasn't.
Let's put it this way--Oh, new parents. You are SO adorable when you take your tiny baby to get his picture taken. SOOO adorable! It's super cute how you bring all those outfit changes and how you ask the photographer to try again and again to get that newborn to smile because you swear you saw him do it that one time three nights ago and surely he will again if only the photographer tries a little harder and blah, blah, blah. Despite the fact that all Picture People photos wind up looking exactly the same no matter what (as evidenced below), you seem to be very insistent that you get five poses of your little man in his blue polo shirt with plaid shorts, another six poses of him in his board shorts, four more of him in a suit, and don't forget the dozen of him in his sweater vest and slacks! No worries that he's still basically a blob and can't do anything but blobby blob blob his self in a bean bag chair. I'm sure you ended up with dozens of unique photos that you will cherish forever.
We ended up waiting well over an hour past our appointment time. You know, that appointment time that was first thing in the morning because it wasn't my first rodeo and I'm not dumb enough to schedule anything for the afternoon. Ever tried to keep a bored kid from destroying a white sundress and her perfectly braided hair for over an hour? It's really fun, especially when you have a bored husband on your hands. I'm not sure which one of them complained more about the situation, but I really wish they would have taken their complaints to either the parents or photographer responsible for the delay.
(Side note: Oh, new parents. If you truly want a ton of unique poses and wardrobe changes and a photographer who will take the time to get a smile out of your baby? DON'T GO TO THE FREAKIN' MALL. Hire a real photographer. I can even give you the contact information for a few who will do a fantastic job. The Picture People is for generic, fast, "adequate" photos. That's it.)
Anyway, it took two trips to the mall and a whole lot of patience to complete the mission this year, but it's done. Thank goodness.
And now I might just have to buy the lighting equipment I would need to take the damn photographs myself next year. Maybe.
2006--The window for naked baby photos is very narrow, so I took full advantage of it and skipped the dress the first year.
2007--Newly walking babies cannot be expected to do anything except run in circles, which is exactly what Alexis did that year.
2008--This level of cooperation has only been seen at The Picture People. I have no clue why that is.
2009--The daisies looked GOOD that year. Too bad the guy who bought our old house killed them all. (I moved some to the new house. They're still working their way back to amazing.)
2010--The posing thing still baffles me. Why is it that when *I* hold a nearly identical camera, the kid's face gets buried in the sand?
2011--We waited so long the daisies were wilted. First time that had ever happened.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Reader Comments (17)
Oh my gosh, I started going to JC Penny because Picture People at SHV took too long! Secondly, naked baby butt pictures are the world's best thing. Chubby Baby Alexis is freakin adorable.
@Amanda--I swear to you that Picture People used to have halfway decent service. Not anymore, though. NOT AT ALL.
this is when i would be writing to the picture people with this blog attached. there should be no excuse for going into someone's time slot when it comes to kids and pictures! she is just too cute! :)
I was wondering where this years daisy picture post was the other day...
I love them!
Dude. You absolutely, positively can take next year's picture without any crazy special lighting equipment. I know you can!
The only problem would be sufficiently bribing her to get that smile . . . but I'm sure someone could rustle up a pony for you :-)
Thanks!
I may have secretly been wondering if your daisies met with the same fate as mine. Somehow, I killed them all. I have no idea what I did (or didn't do) but there wasn't even a hint this year. {SIGH}
She looks beautiful in every one, by the way.
@The Mommy--I have SO. MANY. DAISIES. The ones I transplanted will be in good shape next year, but the ones I planted from see last year are RIDICULOUS. I think every last seed survived, so now I have way too many daisies crammed all over the place. I'm going to have to start giving them away. HINT HINT. ;-)
The pictures look adorable--and I love that you take one each year. What a wonderful tradition!
So, I'm curious--and interested in looking around for a photographer who could do good portraits without being totally out-of-my range expensive. You said you could provide contact info for a few photographers who would do a fantastic job--would you mind sharing?
(PS I hope you're not put off by some random person commenting on your blog! I've been lurking around here for some time now. I love to follow your entries--as a fellow Pittsburgher and a (hopefully in the near) future mom, they make laugh, smile, and nod along with you. Thank you. :) )
The pictures are GORGEOUS (due to the subject, of course), but I'm curious as to why you go to PP when you take such amazing pictures of Alexis? They don't do much in the way of editing the photos and the whole experience is usually pretty annoying.
And, why couldn't I have seen this idea 5 years ago? I'm thinking it's a little late (for me) to start now!
@Robyn-- Three reasons:
1. She doesn't pose for me like that. I can get in and out of a studio in 10 minutes with good photos, but have to chase her all day long if I'm the one behind the camera.
2. Consistency. Their photos always look the same no matter what, which is exactly what I want for those.
3. Price. I usually only buy the framed 10x13" that I need, and I can get it there for less than I can anywhere thanks to coupons and Groupons and such.
Still, I may have to give up and do something else next year.
Those pictures are gorgeous. We used to do Sears, and like you tried to get the first morning appointment. My favorite was when my youngest was 1 - he was in a mood and did nothing but stand there and scream. I finally looked at the photog and said "take it". She did. It is by far the funniest picture and totally captures that era of his grumpy development. I can't decide whether to use it on the graduation announcements or wedding invitations.
We took pictures of my son Blake every year on his birthday at Sears from the time he was one. (of course there are tons of pro babe pics as well) We got his Sr. pics done by a professional and they cost so much it was the first year we missed was when he turned 18 We figured it was August and how much would he change in 3-4 months. And now that I think about it we didn't get his 19 yo pic taken because he was in college. :-( This growing up thing stinks! Tradition killer!!! haha
I love love love the daisy pics of your precious baby girl. She gets prettier and more antimated each year. The flowers are just a side note. She looks fab in this pic and the daisies still look nice.
I am freakin jealous of that kid's tan. LORD! :)
I love how every time I scrolled down I was all "Oh, *THAT* one is my favorite. Look at her personality sparklin' in her eyes!" and then "Oh, no, THAT is my fave!" etc, etc. The kid can't take a bad photo. Unpossible.
I love the yearly theme photos. I wish I'd done something like that with my kiddos!
She is sun-kissed and so are those daisies! The extreme heat of this summer explains it all! ;-)
It's still a nice picture. As much as you are into photography, I'm surprise you aren't clicking them...
As if it's even possible, I had an even more nightmare-ish experience with PP at Robinson (also using Groupon). It was our first time there - I went with another mom, and we had 6 kids ages 6 and under, and no spouses to help (the youngest was 2 months old!). We made sure we had (what we thought were) the first appointments of the day at 10 and 10:30am. All told, we were there for about 4 hours. I'm not kidding!!!
If you haven't already, email Groupon to complain - I got a credit for what I paid. And PP lost a customer - I will never return. If anyone is looking for a great family and child photographer in the area, my family has used Kathy Wolfe (kathywolfephotography.com).
You take WAY WAY WAY better pics than PP - stop going there and do it yourself next year. :)