by Ashley
Full disclosure: I actually wrote this post back in August. I have no idea how/why I forgot about it until now, but I wanted to publish it as part of my “making do” series (see others here, here and here). So, as you read, sorry about the dated language (i.e., I mention October being “almost a year ago” when….clearly its been a full year at this point since last October, lol). At any rate, enjoy!
The first week of preschool the teacher sent notes home with our girls asking for us to bring a recent family photo to school for a special project. It turns out that the kids used the pictures to draw their own versions and each was hung on the wall side-by-side for parents to see.
You should have seen the photos that the other parents had sent with their kids. They were beautiful! All professionally done family portraits that I’m sure will be held onto and looked back on for years to come.
Us? We’ve only had 2 professional photos done with the girls in their whole lives. The first was a “newborn” photo shoot (I say “newborn” in quotations because the girls were born very prematurely, so they spent the first month of their lives in the NICU. As a result the newborn shoot that is usually done in the first week of life was actually done when they were 3 months old).
The second professional photo was taken last October at the Sears studio (using a Groupon) for our family Christmas card. I suppose that was recent enough, though its nearly a year old at this point and we’re all wearing our “Sunday best” in a very posed position, so I wasn’t fond of using it as our “recent family photo.”
Instead I decided to select a photo that my mother-in-law had taken with her iPhone when she was in town visiting last month. We had gone to a local ostrich farm and let the girls feed the animals. In the photo, Chris and I are each holding a girl and there are ostriches all behind us.
There are so many imperfections about that photo: we’re all hot and sweaty, Chris and I are wearing sunglasses, and the girls aren’t even facing the camera. But its the real “us.” And I love it.
I don’t have a digital copy of the family photo since my MIL had sent us a printed version only, but enjoy this photo of Bailey from the same day at the Ostrich farm.
I’m so glad that we used this for our recent family photo.
We’ll have our turn to get professional photos down the road. Right now I’m putting more monetary value on trying to find us a reasonable kitchen table to accommodate our whole family. Professional photos really aren’t making the top of the list. And you know what? We’ll survive just fine.
Hey now, remember that goal to get a suitable kitchen table to accommodate our whole family? Wow, almost forgot all about that! Needs to happen ASAP!
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
We just had family portraits done. A friend of the family who is a photographer came and took the photos and then gave us the disk. We paid for just the cost of the disk and then can pick the portrait we like best and have them printed anywhere (including our own printer). So, it cost us next to nothing for family portraits. Ask around maybe you can find someone to do the same for you if you would like an updated family portrait.
This is what I’d like to do. I have a friend with a nice camera and her husband “tinkers” with photography as a hobby. They aren’t pros, but would be better than using my iPhone and trying to manipulate the delayed timer, lol.
Photos by a pro are so expensive. I don’t blame you for using a “non” professional photo. It’s also true that those photos show the real us instead of a planned and staged family.
I think I commented with this info before but for the last 8 or so years, I have been able to barter with a local professional photographer for family pictures in exchange for website services. Since I don’t print that many, this saves me from having to buy a package or waste prints, but gets me really good pictures and touch ups if needed.
Of course, being a scrapbooker, have pictures is HUGE to me.
Professional family pictures are one of those things I wish we could afford. We have a tripod and a good camera, so we’ve been able to take some by ourselves. But I really wish I could hire a pro, just once!