Pictures in the Park

This was a hare-brained idea if I ever had one. I'm not sure what I was thinking...taking the girls to a public place, where we always have a zillion people wanting to take our picture anyway, and hoping to get them all to cooperate, man the camera, try to stay out of the mud, and not get totally hot and sweaty in the process!

Here's a great image of how the girls felt about the idea. We can call this: Upset, Ambivalent, and Uncooperative, from left to right. I took two of my local friends with me, my helper and my neighbor. I wasn't surprised when I stopped to get the girls arranged and try to take some pictures that a huge crowd formed (probably 40 people), but they were. I was still trying to focus on getting a few good shots, but they were so annoyed by the crowd that they weren't helping me at all with the girls, just being annoyed! While they were muttering under their breath and debating if they should shoo everyone away, I was getting these shots: (which showed up here curiously grainy, I'm not sure why, the originals are much sharper)

Ok, not bad!

Fairly cute--no one is looking at the camera, but hey, you can't ask for everything! There were about 30 more, not worth posting. We then changed locations to let the crowd disperse. This bridge seemed like a perfect photo-op.

In the midst of this somewhere, I realized I have no creative ideas for photos. Line them up, stand them there, take the picture. I was beginning to despair of my own ability, not to mention the continued annoyed-ness of my friends and the girls who were more interested in doing anything rather than smile for a picture! And, my camera was doing weird things; focusing on the background and blurring the girls--I probably have 25 shots like that. In the midst of people crowding around and the girls going every which way, I didn't take time to adjust the camera. Hmmm, what to do? Ok, this one is keepable...

Clara Anne, off in dreamland...

Seriously, the best one I got of the three of them!

Something must be done! Do I give up and go home? Or. . . or . . . wait! The professional kids photo shop is right across the street! Let's go there!

So, we did. Pictures in the Park ended in Pictures at the Photo Studio. Amazingly, (after all that drama) the girls did great. Christin wasn't terribly happy to miss her morning nap, but a few candy treats helped her make it through. We got some great pictures, even with all three of them! The difference between me doing it and them doing it was clear: professional lighting and backgrounds, about 5 people working to pose the girls, adjust their clothes and hair, get them to smile, and take the pictures certainly beat my one-man show!

This time, for the first time, we used some of the photo studio's clothing for some pictures. Clara Anne was so excited about a princess dress that she got to wear, complete with a crown pinned into her hair. They set her up on a wooden swing trailing with ivy and had her lying on her tummy with her propped up dreamily on her elbows, hands to her chin. She loved it.

So, though our morning didn't quite go as planned, I am glad that we did the professional photos again. The girls are only young once and I know I won't regret having the photos later! We were all glad when it was done though--whew! My friend treated us to lunch and we returned home for some serious naps. Mission accomplished!