An Adventure in Family Photography

Some things work or make more sense on paper than they do in practice. Planning for a day of family photographs falls into this category as my wife and I recently discovered. When the idea was first proposed by my wife I'll admit that I was fairly excited about the idea as our kids are now two and six years old and we have yet to have any professional pictures taken of us together.

Our excitement quickly turned to revulsion once the day arrived and we realized just how much work it took not only to get and keep the kids clean but to get them dressed nicely for the photo shoot. The early part of the day was frenzied and involved my wife and I chasing the kids around the house, keeping them indoors, and fighting with them over clothing. A few times the youngest dirtied herself by sneaking outback and playing in the dirt and I was afraid we'd have to cancel the appointment with the Orange County professional portrait photographer.

We finally managed to leave the house though we were a few minutes late for our appointment. The photographer was very flexible though and took us on. I fool heartedly thought the worst was now behind us as we began to prepare for the first round of photos. It was at this point that my children commenced with their Tom Foolery and the first session quickly turned into a nightmare.

Our youngest became upset with us when we made a futile attempt at calming her down, and we could not convince our oldest to speak softly and to stop laughing. It was during these odious moments that our fabulous photographer pulled out some stuff animals and waved them in front of the kids. The kids responded and settled down just long enough to get through our shoot.

Having portraits taken was definitely a worthwhile experience and one I would recommend to anyone who's got children. I would even endure this process again though I think my wife would agree with me when I say that we'd want to wait a few years until the kids are a bit older and more capable of at least semi-mature behavior. A trying experience yes, but one that helped us capture a special point in time.