I have to confess that I cheated on this year's Christmas card photo. The thought of strangling my kids on the couch again as we wrestle them into submission during the 5 seconds before the self timer goes off feeling like 10 minutes for an ultimately uninteresting and forced photo, made me want to hurl so I thought of something else. Whatevs!!!!
Back on October 3rd, we all took a lengthy road trip to Rindge, NH for a mini-session with Kate Preftakes Photography. And I gotta tell you, this was not all peaches & cream from my point of view.
As a photographer, I VALUE and UNDERSTAND the commitment to taking the time to make a great family portrait. My husband did not. From the moment he found out about the booking (in August), to the day of the session (in October), I heard unmitigated bitching and whining and anger. And he forgot about it several times in between August and October, so every time he re-remembered it, the bitching was renewed with added vigor.
So that morning we hopped in the car and began the long 1.5 hour drive to Rindge, which would have been a pleasant drive for just the two of us, but with two little kids that is agony. Parker is usually such a pleasant child, but that day he was off his game and he started howling precisely 10 minutes into our drive. He was PISSED by the time we got there. Drew was agitated and annoyed. Ironically, I had totally expected Drew to be our problem child for this activity since he usually IS the unpredictable one. But that day Parker was out of sorts and not happy about the long drive.
We arrived at Kate's gorgeous home and our mini-session went so quick! Kate was wonderful to work with and got some great family shots and individual ones of the kids. Less than 30 minutes later we packed it all up back in the car and headed back home for the repeat 1.5 hour drive back. LOL. Kids were NOT happy about that.
Fast forward two weeks later, and Kate let us know our proofing gallery was ready and we got to see our photos. They were gorgeous. And guess who LOVED THEM??? Dave. Well, all of us really, but Dave was made a believer that day and told me I was right to have those photos made. He even ordered several for his desk at work.
Photo by Kate Preftakes Photography
We ordered prints, and the grandmothers ordered prints, and those are well and good. But I'm a digital girl and that's how I use my photos, so I ordered my favorite as a digital file. I'm watching the sales to have it made into a lovely canvas. But also, as Christmas card time rolled around and I started stressing about making yet another agonizing photo of my two kids, I remembered the beautiful family portrait that Kate made for us and I was like -OF COURSE! it's the obvious choice for our Christmas card this year.
So -boom- done. It was the easiest card I've designed in many years, and definitely the easiest photo since I didn't have to take it. :) Love it! As a result I had them designed, ordered, delivered, stamped and addressed before Thanksgiving. LOL.
So..... are you seeing a theme here? It seems my Christmas card photo each year always has a story behind it, like these stories from 2009 and 2007.