Photo Shoot

Have you ever tried to photograph six distinct personalities (between the ages of 1 and 12) in the same shot? Impossible! Well, actually, I'm sure it's not impossible for more seasoned photographers. But any mom will tell you that trying to take a picture of all the cousins happily looking at the camera at once is pretty comical at best. If the photo is for something special,--say the new picture frame Jessica bought Mom for her birthday--, well a photo shoot like that can be really stressful.



Mom's birthday happens to be today, so Jessica's idea was to get a picture of all the kids together at our July 4th celebration so Mom could have a photo to put in that new frame. The kids started off on the swingset, but they were too spread out.




So we decided to move them over in front of the wall. "This will only take a minute, Guys, then you can get back to playing." No, really! Thus begins the comedy of the older two trying to corral and contain the youngest two. Now I'm taking photos while trying to suppress my laughter. Not so great if you want clear shots.

(Jess, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. I know you were frustrated, but I couldn't help but laugh.)



It became pretty clear that we were not going to get a suitable group photo that day. Even when they were all in the shot, half of them were looking somewhere else. What we really needed was for my Dad to something really silly behind us to keep the kids' attention. Ah, well, there's always next time.

Later, when I was editing photos from the day, I realized that in several of these "botched" shots, at least one of the kids had a nice expression. So I cropped them down to feature the individuals.









Have any of you had similar family photo shoots? Does anyone out there have super suggestions for a great group shot? How about a tip for engaging the kid who always seems determined to escape from the shot? Do tell! I love reading your comments and suggestions!