Oh, my! I scheduled photos for the three kiddos tonight. When I made the appointment, I knew that scheduling all three kiddos could potentially be problematic. So, I planned to do it when my husband could tag along and help. In my mind's plan, after the photos he could entertain the kids at the kid-friendly area in the mall. Meanwhile, I planned to select the best pics of our bubbly brew.
Our bubbly brew crew wasn't bubbly at all. . . they were more like little witches boiling a stinky brew. Stinky dispositions and stinky smell (2 out of the 3 pooped during the photo expedition.) And the kid-friendly area in the mall was a bust too - CLOSED! Everyone in our clan was cranky and firing up in all directions.
Lil' sis was hungry and fussy wanting Mama to nurse and cuddle her. Big sis couldn't hold still or sit in place, and a few toddler tantrums were thrown in the mix. Big Bro did the best of all of my lil darlin's; but even still, he had an uncanny way of jumping in the photo as soon as the baby stopped crying for a split second.
Tyler had worked a long day, and had no break between work and "photo shoot" time. My darling husband has little patience for photo shoots in general, and wasn't sharing my enthusiasm and optimism. When we first arrived, he helped get the tots dressed, chased about the kids while they ran down the mall hallway, brought back Gracie screaming and kicking to prove her desdain at being caught, and held the baby under a black sheet draping to prop her up. But, as the minutes turned to an hour . . .while I danced on my head and clapped my hands goofily about like flippers - he sat on a bench and sighed a bit. He was not venomously opposed to taking pictures of our wee ones, but he lost hope for any decent shots long before the photographer, hoping to make some cash, or I did.
The gal who photographed was young and definitley was lacking in the "tricks up her sleeve" department when it came to getting tiny tots to cooperate and smile. Another person helping in the studio would have been key, as has been the case in some other photo shops we've used. . .but no one else was working in the shop. The props were not kid friendly; although they advertised as a children's portrait studio. These problems agrivated an already agitated bunch of unpredictable darlin's ages 3 and under! The time dragged to two hours.
The photo shop was suppose to be a place where you have your photos shot and order the pics all in the same time session. . . but it looks like I'll be braving the shop tomorrow to scope out the fruits of our labor, as our crew wasn't going to last another second in there tonight. Hopefully one or two of the photos will be worth buying.
I am quite confident that if these photographers videotaped the chaos involved with photographing families like mine - with tiny children - they would make so much money on the "reality" videos. . . it might even become the next "reality t.v. show." Then, photographers could actually make the photographs a reasonable price! And all of us Mommy's would buy the videos as a keepsake memory of "the story behind the cute pictures."
